Model-Based Method for Local Monitoring of Steel Structures

This paper introduces a novel method for monitoring steel structures for fatigue cracks. The method combines measurements from strain gauges (SG) with pre-conducted structural simulations to quantitatively and precisely determine the position and length of cracks in critical areas. Experimental results validate the reliability and effectiveness of this approach, demonstrating its ability to enable early crack detection. A key advantage of this method is its simplicity: it requires only three strain gauge bridges (one reference SG and two for crack detection). This makes the approach both cost-efficient and flexible. It is particularly suited for localized monitoring tasks and offers significant benefits over other, often more complex, methods.