Abstract

This paper is a personal perspective of structural health monitoring technology and its applications as seen from a current literature and projects. Recently, laminated composites with built-in piezoelectrics have attracted significant attention among researchers because of their potential application to controlling vibrations, suppressing noise, as well as monitoring the health oft he structures. The investigated darnage detection system is based on the known fact that material discontinuities affect the propagation of elastic wave in solids. The change in material characteristics, such as a local change in stiffness or inertia caused by a crack or material damage, will affect the propagation of elastic waves and will modify the obtained signals. Wave frequencies associated with the highest detection sensitivity depend, among others, on the type of the structure, the type of material, and the type of the damage. The paper is not intended to be a compreherrsive survey but merely to present a flavour of recent activity in this important subject.