Structural Health Monitoring: Continuous Detection

Bridges, tunnels, dams, and buildings deteriorate over time due to loading, environmental exposure, and outside factors. Visual inspections are a valuable component of any long-term infrastructure asset management plan, but visual findings are only surface-level, and can be infrequent. By also implementing a robust structural health monitoring program, asset owners gain insights into a structure’s engineering performance over time. These data facilitate modal analyses, change detection, and comparisons with allowable limits for stress, strain, and load.

Visual inspections can’t detect what’s happening inside the structure between visits. Structural health monitoring uses permanent sensors for continuous, real-time data on infrastructure condition, flagging damage, performance shifts, and integrity risks before they turn safety-critical. Sixense North America has been implementing SHM systems for 20+ years in the U.S. and Canada

Discover Our Structural Health Monitoring Solutions

Continuous Sensor-Based Monitoring: High-frequency data acquisition systems and sensor networks capture strain, vibration, displacement, tilt, temperature, and weather data, detecting changes in how the structure behaves before visible damage appears. Maintenance decisions rely on documented trends.
Real-Time Data Acquisition and Alerts: Beyond Monitoring software processes sensor data in real time, triggering automated alerts when readings exceed thresholds. Engineers get notified directly, shortening the gap between an event in the structure and the response.
Bridge and Infrastructure Health Monitoring Programs: Long-term health monitoring for bridges, tunnels, dams, and critical infrastructure delivers continuous performance data across the asset’s operational life, deployed on major bridge and infrastructure monitoring projects across the U.S. and Canada.
Hidden Defect Detection in Prestressed Structures: EverScan technologies identify hidden defects, premature aging, and load redistribution in cable-stayed and prestressed concrete structures visual inspections miss.

Why Choose Sixense for Structural Health Monitoring?

20+ Years of Infrastructure Monitoring Experience

We've monitored bridges, tunnels, dams, and buildings across the U.S. and Canada for over 2 decades. Projects like the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel Expansion, the MTO Bridge Management System, and Ohio River Lewis & Clark Bridge required long-term sensor deployment under active loading, seismic exposure, and harsh environmental conditions. That record gives our engineering team direct knowledge of how civil infrastructure behaves under stress, producing programs designed around each structure's real performance risks, not generic safety checklists.

Integrated Sensor Technologies and Data Platforms

Field instrumentation and data analysis operate as one system. Sensor arrays (strain gauges, accelerometers, tilt meters, fiber optic sensors, temperature probes) feed Beyond Monitoring, a cloud software platform with real-time visualization, automated alerts, and trend reporting. Engineers configure each sensor layout to match the structure's geometry and exposure, so the information captured reflects actual condition changes.

From Early Detection to Maintenance Planning

Continuous condition tracking turns raw sensor data into maintenance decisions. Structural health monitoring systems identify changes in the structure early, because damage to a structure compounds over time and repair costs escalate as asset availability drops. The process sets baselines at installation and logs every deviation against defined thresholds, providing engineering decision-makers with documented data for scheduling repairs.

Major Structural Health Monitoring Projects Across North America

Each Sixense project demonstrates sensor deployment, data collection, and monitoring at scale on critical civil infrastructure. Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel Expansion runs continuous performance tracking on one of the U.S. East Coast's busiest corridors. The MTO Bridge Management System covers Ontario's bridge network. The Lewis & Clark bridge SHM system has captured and reviewed data from over 180 hard-wired, high-frequency sensors since the bridge’s construction in 2016. The same sensor and platform approach scales from single-structure installs to multi-asset regional networks.

Our Approach to Structural Health Monitoring

Sensor Installation and System Design

Engineers design each sensor array to match the structure's material, geometry, and environmental exposure. Installation typically includes strain gauges, accelerometers, tilt meters, displacement gauges, fiber optic sensors, and environmental probes for temperature, wind speed, and humidity. Placement targets critical load paths, expansion joints, bearings, and zones with known fatigue or settlement vulnerability. The process starts with a site assessment of the structure's risk profile, so the technologies deployed address documented concerns. On civil construction projects, instrumentation goes in during the build phase to capture baseline readings before service.

Continuous Data Acquisition and Transmission

Data acquisition systems collect measurements at intervals from Hz to hours, depending on monitored parameters and the structure's risk classification. Wired and wireless options feed the Beyond Monitoring software platform, where automated validation filters anomalies. This continuous data technology changes how owners manage infrastructure assets: engineers monitor condition trends in real time and respond to verified changes as they occur.

Analysis, Alerts, and Structural Health Reporting

Engineers analyze the structure's response by comparing live sensor data against baseline and expected engineering properties from structure design phase. This analysis detects deviations in strain, displacement, or vibration frequency before they develop into visible damage to the structure. When readings cross thresholds, the system fires automated alerts to project stakeholders. Periodic reports document condition evolution, consolidate the information needed to identify emerging risks, and recommend maintenance actions, feeding asset management planning with performance data owners need to schedule repairs.

Frequently Asked Questions About Structural Health Monitoring

What Is Structural Health Monitoring?

Structural health monitoring is a process using permanent sensors to collect continuous data on a structure’s condition over time. Strain gauges, accelerometers, and displacement sensors measure how the structure responds to loading, temperature shifts, and environmental exposure. When measurements indicate changes beyond baselines, the system flags damage before it’s visible. Asset owners use this data to schedule maintenance on documented behavior rather than fixed calendars.

What Types of Infrastructure Use Structural Health Monitoring?

Structural health monitoring systems are used on bridges, tunnels, dams, buildings, stadiums, and industrial facilities. Any civil structure exposed to dynamic loading, environmental stress, or aging benefits from continuous performance tracking. Bridge health monitoring is the largest segment, though construction projects increasingly install sensors during the build phase to capture baselines before the asset enters service. Critical assets with high traffic or public safety demands justify long-term programs.

What Sensors Are Used in SHM Systems?

Common sensor technologies include strain gauges, accelerometers, tilt meters, fiber optic sensors, piezometers, and temperature probes. Each captures a different parameter: strain gauges measure deformation, accelerometers track vibration and dynamic response, fiber optic sensors detect distributed strain and temperature. Selection depends on the structure’s material, environmental conditions, and the engineering questions the monitoring program needs to answer.

How Does an SHM System Detect Damage Early?

Structural health monitoring systems establish baselines at installation, recording how the structure behaves under normal loading and environmental conditions. Continuous data tracks deviations in real time. When sensor readings identify changes in strain, vibration frequency, or displacement beyond thresholds, automated alerts notify the health monitoring team. Damage gets flagged during analysis, not during the next visual inspection, which may be months away. Early detection and response cut the lag.

What Is the Difference Between SHM and Periodic Inspection?

Periodic inspection provides condition snapshots at scheduled intervals: an inspector visits the structure, documents visible defects, and leaves. The SHM system delivers continuous, sensor-based data between and during visits, capturing events and gradual changes over time.. The two approaches complement each other: SHM provides uninterrupted condition monitoring in real time, while inspections verify sensor findings on-site and assess what sensors can’t measure (surface corrosion, coating integrity, joint sealant). Neither replaces the other; SHM fills the information gap between visits.

How Long Does a Structural Health Monitoring System Operate?

Structural health monitoring systems are built for long-term operation, typically 10 to 30+ years depending on sensor type, environmental exposure, and maintenance. Robust sensors, fiber-optic communications, and industrial-grade data acquisition systems perform in harsh conditions (extreme temperature, humidity, vibration). Regular calibration extends operational life. Over the system’s operational time, sensor network costs are offset by fewer unplanned repairs and the ability to extend the structure’s service life through data-driven maintenance.

Contact Sixense for Structural Health Monitoring Today!

Aging bridges, tunnels, dams, pipelines, and buildings need more than scheduled inspections. Sixense North America provides structural health monitoring solutions combining field-proven sensor technologies with continuous data platforms, giving infrastructure and construction asset owners the information they need to protect critical assets. Contact our team to discuss your requirements.