Structural Health Monitoring—An Opportunity for MicroNano?
No, not our health! We are fine, thank you. We want to discuss the health monitoring of bridges, high rise buildings, dikes, etc. As one of the writers of this column is Dutch, we thought it fitting to start this article with an example from below sea level: there is a voluntary organization the Dutch call Dijkwacht (dike guard) which has existed for more than 700 years now. Its purpose is to check the condition (or health) of a dike during storms or high tides. A company in the Netherlands is now proposing to replace these brave and loyal guards with a sensor system which is able to continuously check the condition of the dikes. This initiative is part of worldwide trend to minimize safety risks associated with civil structures by continuously monitoring them.
Due to the graphs in this article, a PDF has been made available for download.
