Structural Health Monitoring of Composite Structures

Date published:

Structural Health Monitoring of Composite Structures
Ginu Rajan and B. Gangadhara Prusty, Editors
CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, Boca Raton, (2016)
491 pp., 175.96 USD
ISBN-13: 978-1-4987-3317-5

With 12 Chapters, 479 pages (plus a 10-page index), and 27 international contributors, this is a serious book with some serious value and it is worth briefly reviewing every chapter.

  1. Introduction to Composite Materials and Smart Structures is exactly what one would expect it to be: a very clear presentation of fundamentals with tables, photographs, and simple explanations of manufacturing processes, followed by a brief overview of applications and a fine bibliography.
  2. Structural Health Monitoring Methods for Composite Materials is a nice review of various approaches to the topic (elastic waves, acoustic emission, EM impedance, vibration, etc.) that uses clear graphs and photographs. A very extensive reference section completes a clear chapter.
  3. Introduction to Optical Fiber Sensors offers a fine review of modulation methods including schematics, equations, and practical applications. The classification of the sensors is very clear and the reference section is good, albeit a little bit dated (the most current reference is from 2012).
  4. Structural Health Monitoring of Composite Materials Using Fiber Bragg Gratings ought to be considered a book by itself. The specialized FBG topics and methods are covered in exquisite depth and detail, from fundamental equations to practical implementation methods and techniques. It has 153 references!
  5. Structural Health Monitoring of Composite Materials Using Distributed Fiber-Optic Sensors starts with an excellent introduction and overview, followed by some detailed and focused examples. The chapter offers a lot of visual information including many detailed graphics in color. The organization and the references are excellent.
  6. Importance of Strain Transfer Effects for Embedded Multiaxial Strain Sensing and Optical Fiber Coating Optimization is a long title written by the same authors as Chapter 4 and it shows. It is very detailed, very complete, supported by clear graphs (many in colors), illustrations, well-presented equations, and a fine bibliography.
  7. Monitoring Process Parameters Using Optical Fiber Sensors in Composite Production is focused on practical applications. There is some repetition of previous fundamental material but some of it is welcome in terms of ease-of-reading. The chapter is an appropriate blend of theory and applications.
  8. FBG-Based Structural Performance Monitoring and Safety Evaluation of a Composite Arch Bridge is a much focused example of a practical application. There is some repeat of FBG fundamental material that could be edited-out without hurting clarity in the context of this book. The illustrations are clear and some of the conclusions are very interesting.
  9. Smart Composite Textiles with Embedded Optical Fibers is another focused chapter presenting a relatively new application in a clear and effective fashion. Theory is kept to a minimum and the reading is very easy, supported by excellent graphics and photographs. The references are very current.
  10. Smart Aerospace Composite Structures is another application-focused chapter. As before, it is very clear in terms of combining text and graphs, although I had to wonder why a figure (10.19) showed six (6) different data sets (in colors) without a legend. The authors’ argument was to demonstrate that some situations are just too complex to yield predictable models.
  11. Advances in FRB-Based Smart Components and Structures is a good chapter, offering very clear explanations supported with graphs, photographs and selected equations. The references are somewhat current (2014) considering the title of the chapter.
  12. Fiber-Optic Structural Health Monitoring Systems for Marine Composite Structures may be the most specialized chapter in the book (it is co-authored by one of the editors) and it is heavy on details. Still, it makes for interesting reading, thanks to a good balance of text, tables, graphs and images.

If I had to describe this book in a single sentence, it would be “A well-edited and well-titled text that offers the reader a solid and detailed reference perspective of the topics using the appropriate tools at the appropriate locations.” Now, I am wondering why I did not choose the single-sentence option.

Dominique J. Chéenne
Columbia College Chicago
Chicago, IL, USA
dcheenne@earthlink.net