Structural Health Monitoring in mainland China: Review and Future Trends

TLDR

Structural health monitoring uses sensing to infer loads, environmental effects, and structural behavior by solving inverse problems. The paper reviews the decade‑long development of advanced sensing technologies in mainland China and outlines future challenges and trends. It surveys optical fiber, PZT, smart cement, and corrosion‑detection sensors and their use in earthquake, wind, and life‑cycle performance studies in China.

Abstract

Structural health monitoring (SHM) technology has been successfully applied to understand the loads, environment actions, and behaviors of a structure subjected to various actions through solving a reverse problem. The sensing technology is a critical part of SHM. In this article, the development of advanced sensing technology and sensors in mainland China in the past decade, such as optic fiber sensing technology, wave propagation-based piezoelectric ceramic (PZT) sensing technology, smart cement-based sensing technology, and corrosion detection technology, have been critically reviewed. In addition, the article also summarizes the application of SHM technologies in earthquake engineering, wind engineering and life-cycle performance evaluation and corresponding progress achieved in mainland China. The challenges and future trends in the development of sensing technology and SHM are put forward in this paper.