Organisers: Prof. Chul-Woo Kim, Prof. Kunitomo Sugiura & Prof. Yasuo Kitane, Kyoto University, Japan ; Prof. Takeshi Kitahara, Kanto Gakuin University, Japan ; Prof. Shozo Nakamura, Nagasaki University, Japan
Emails: kim.chulwoo.5u@kyoto-u.ac.jp ; sugiura.kunitomo.4n@kyoto-u.ac.jp ; kitane.yasuo.2x@kyoto-u.ac.jp ; kitahara@kanto-gakuin.ac.jp ; shozo@nagasaki-u.ac.jp
Summary: To minimize the risk of structural failure in infrastructure and reduce life cycle costs, effective inspection methods for preventive maintenance are crucial. Structural health monitoring (SHM) has been recognized by infrastructure owners and industry professionals as a method with the potential to enhance the safety and reliability of structures, ultimately reducing operational costs. Despite growing research and increased adoption of SHM in the industry, the technology has not yet gained widespread acceptance among field-level officials and infrastructure owners, likely due to a lack of convincing results in real-world applications. However, rapid advancements in sensing, signal processing, and artificial intelligence are showing significant promise for integrating SHM into practical infrastructure maintenance. The aim of this special session is to provide a forum where scientists and engineers from academia and industry can present their latest research findings on infrastructure inspection and maintenance, with a focus on real-world applications and successes. The topics covered in this special session include performance evaluation of aging infrastructures, damage detection, long- and short-term applications of structural health monitoring, inspection-based and monitoring-based decision-making on structural integrity, physics-informed artificial intelligence, and innovative methods for bridge maintenance.