Structural health monitoring 2012. Sixth European Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring. Proceedings. Vol.2

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is an emerging technology, dealing with the development and implementation of techniques and systems where monitoring, inspection and damage detection become an integral part of structures and thus a matter of automation. It further merges with a variety of techniques related to diagnostics and prognostics. SHM emerged from the field of smart structures and laterally encompasses disciplines such as structural dynamics, materials and structures, fatigue and fracture, non-destructive testing and evaluation, sensors and actuators, microelectronics, signal processing and much more. To be effective in the development of SHM systems, a multidisciplinary approach is therefore required. Without this global view it will be difficult for engineers to holistically manage the operation of an engineering structure through its life cycle in the future and to generate new breakthroughs in structural engineering. The European Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring (EWSHM) was first successfully run in 2002 in Cachan near Paris/France, followed by events held in Munich/Germany (2004), Granada/Spain (2006), Krakow/Poland (2008) and Sorrento/Italy (2010). It has grown over the years significantly and has become the strong counterpart to the International Workshop on SHM (IWSHM) held in Stanford/CA every odd year. In 2012 EWSHM will be merged a very first time with the 1st European Conference of the Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) Society. Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) has become an increasingly important subject, specifically within the context of getting SHM into application. The Prognostics and Health Management Society (PHM Society) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of PHM as an engineering discipline. It was incorporated in early 2009, holds an annual conference in North America, and is founded on three basic principles: To provide free and unrestricted access to PHM knowledge; To promote interdisciplinary and international collaboration in PHM; To lead the advancement of PHM as an engineering discipline. This is the Society's first conference in Europe and the first held jointly with SHM. The Conference will bring together the global community of PHM experts from industry, academia, and government in perse application areas such as energy, aerospace, transportation, automotive, and industrial automation. The conference will feature tutorials, a panel session, technical papers and a joint session with SHM. Bringing SHM and PHM therefore next to each other along two conferences held with a significant overlap will therefore provide the two communities with some new dimensions hopefully bringing added value to both of them.