Structural health monitoring (SHM) is the observation and analysis of engineering structures such as bridges and buildings to monitor changes to the material and geometric properties. Using periodically sampled measurements and analyzing these, damage can be quickly identified. Structural health monitoring is important, because all structures are subject to internal and external factors that could cause malfunctions or damage because of wear. To observe these malfunctions it is important to use a damage identification system. Because of a system like this, unnecessary check-ups or maintenance could be avoided and replaced by maintenance that has been proven to be necessary. Damage could be detected at an early stage, before any crucial damage has taken place.
Examples of frequently occurring problems are leaking gasket joints, bolts coming loose or bolts breaking due to fatigue issues. Structural health monitoring could prevent these problems. Examples of infrastructures that are prone to these problems include bridges, tunnels, railways, wind turbines, energy plants, pipelines and cranes. Check-ups and re-tightening procedures are very common for heavily loaded bolted constructions such as cranes and wind turbines. With BoltSafe, we want to prevent these procedures and provide better control over bolted constructions.