Structural Health Monitoring in Nigeria: Bridging the Gap Between Literature and Practical Application

Abstract

Structures are designed to withstand several environmental loading conditions and to ensure the safe transfer of these loads to the foundation within specified periods. However, loss of lives and adverse economic effects are potential problems caused by the collapse of structures. Operational and structural health monitoring (SHM) for buildings can be used to mitigate building failure in Nigeria. Damage detection with the use of camera-based techniques, ground penetration radar (GPR), fibre optic sensors (FOS), and piezoelectric films are considered in this study. These techniques were analysed from available literature to evaluate their application and validate their effectiveness concerning availability, practical application, operational evaluation, data acquisition, and processing. This study characterizes the performance of SHM systems, how they can be used, and their availability in Nigeria. Consequently, proposing BHM as a tool for building failure mitigation in Nigeria. Keywords— Building health monitoring (BHM), Ground penetration radar (GPR), Fibre optic sensors (FOS), Piezoelectric films, Building failure in Nigeria, Vision-based technique