The project aims at conducting research, aiming to develop innovative diagnostic system based on the phenomenon of propagation of elastic waves excited and recorded by piezoelectric transducers attached to the structure diagnosed.

Carrying out the project will lead not only to acquire new knowledge, but will also contribute to significant improvements in the safety users of facilities, development of the Polish economy and science and will have a significant impact on the pace of socio - economic development of the country.

The project is realized by the Szewalski Institute of Fluid-Flow Machniery Polish Academy of Sciences in The Centre of Machnie Mechanics (O4) in the Department of Mechanics of Intelligent Structures (Z1).

In the frame of the project research tasks will be conducted in order to develop an new, on the international scale, non-destructive system devoted to global and local diagnostics of structures. The system will be particularly useful for critical structures for which failure is unacceptable.

In order to prevent the dangerous failures of structures is necessary to continuously monitor the structure condition. Moreover there is an increasing need for robust and precise measurement methods that not only detect and localise damage but also estimate the time to the failure.

The most dangerous is damage that grows unnoticed.

SHM system that is able to detect surface and subsurface damage in the early stage of growth will be useful in every branch of the economy. It will warn the structure user early enough to prevent form the critical failure. Methods based on elastic waves propagation can be used to monitor structures made of metallic, non-metallic and composite materials. It means that the metal, building, chemical, petrol and light industry can benefit from this technology. The project will be realised by the leading Polish research and development institution - the Szewalski Institute of Fluid-Flow Machinery Polish Academy of Sciences.