Recent application and development of structural health monitoring systems and intelligent structures in Korea

Active development and application of structural health monitoring systems in Korea started in the early of 1990's. Focus has been first concentrated on bridge structures since they constitute the most vulnerable part of civil structures directly related to public transportation, which by extent is closely related to public safety. At the very beginning, health monitoring systems were installed in existing bridges in order to collect field data by full scale load capacity test for design verification and, subsequently, monitor long-term performance and durability of the bridges in the scope of systematic inspection and maintenance programs. Recently, modern and integrated monitoring systems have been introduced in most of the newly erected long-span bridges since the design stage. The evolution of bridge monitoring system may be classified into 3 main generations according to the developing stage and functionality. This paper reviews the development and application of monitoring systems for both existing and newly built bridges in Korea and describes their objectives and characteristics. Recent activities of research and development on intelligent structures are also briefly described.