An overview of technological advancements in the application of structural health monitoring on glass elements

Abstract

Abstract The concepts behind employing structural health monitoring (SHM) to the glass structures are in their early stages. While limited information by the application of SHM on glass-made elements could obtain through the literature, recent technological advances enrich the state of the art around the glass elements. As yet because of the novelty in both using SHM and the application of laminated glasses (LGs) for structural purposes, the historical background around the application of SHM on glass elements does not exceed 20 years, and the novelty of the concepts around the LGs may be even more. With this in mind, the demanded assessments have to be incepted from the very basis of both the glass and SHM sciences to place the stepping stones of the fundamental stage, which would be a platform for the extending evaluations of glass elements at higher levels. This study is an endeavor to bring forward the available approaches for elaborating SHM on structural elements composed of glass with an emphasis on glass façades. According to the outcomes, the requirement for early detection due to its brittle content proffers SHM as the limited available alternatives for damage detection of the systems composed of it.