Development of sensor validation methodologies for structural health monitoring: A comprehensive review

Sensor faults, which occur when sensor outputs display unacceptable deviations from the true values of measured variable, will cause false alarms and missed detections in structural health monitoring (SHM) systems. The study about sensor validation is a relatively new research direction in the SHM field and it is meaningful to guarantee the accuracy and reliability of health-condition evaluations for monitored structures. This paper provides a comprehensive review of current research and development activities in sensor validation methodology for SHM. At first, seven typical sensor fault types are described and a detailed methodology categorization is provided. Following that, the progresses on sensor validation, which mainly focusses on the detection, isolation and reconstruction of sensor faults, are reviewed based on the categorization. Finally, concluding remarks and promising research efforts about sensor validation are summarized in detail.