Development of piezoelectric-based technology for application in civil structural health monitoring

Piezoelectric material, as one of the great potential materials, had attracted lots of attention all over the world due to its distinguish advantages. In this paper, the development of piezoelectric-based technology for application in the field of civil structural health monitoring (CSHM), was summarized and discussed. Based on the different identification mechanisms, the piezoelectric transducer-based technology can be divided into two main approaches as the active or passive sensing and detection methods. This paper summarized the development of these two approaches and discussed their applications in the area of civil structural health monitoring, such as structural and concrete engineering, bridge engineering, pipeline engineering, protection engineering for geological hazards and earthquake disasters, and so on. In addition, the electrical mechanical impedance (EMI) technique, as one of the active identification methods, was also detailly presented. Finally, its great potential for the piezoelectric-based technique was presented based on the detail discussion, especially in the areas of civil structural health monitoring.