Damage Detection and Monitoring in Composite Materials Using Metastable Alloy and Mechatronic Sensors

The state of the infrastructure is drawing much attention both in the US and abroad. Engineers have been seriously addressing and debating the various concerns regarding aging infrastructure for much of the previous decade. Bridges, tunnels, dams and other civil engineering structures have traditionally been designed and built with a finite design lifetime in mind. It has become necessary to develop safe and sound technical approaches for life extension as an alternative to costly replacement. Active [e.g., 1–3] and passive [e.g., 4–7] approaches for monitoring structural damage accumulation have been proposed