• Energy Research

In recent years, entropy measures, and more specifically, spectral entropy have emerged as an efficient method for the damage assessment of both mechanical systems and civil structures. In the present work, entropy measures are applied as a damage-sensitive feature for the real-time structural health monitoring of buried pipelines. The management of these underground Fluids Distribution Systems (FDSs) is critical for supplying clean water, oil, gas, and other goods. However, the health state of these systems tends to deteriorate over time so that they become more vulnerable to leaks or catastrophic failure events. Maintenance surveys and visual inspections are expensive and labour-intensive, due to the difficulties in accessing buried pipelines. Thus, Vibration-Based Inspection (VBI) techniques and continuous monitoring would be perfectly suited for the task. The approach is validated numerically on the soil-structure models of a typical pipeline structure (i.e. Steel Pipes - SPs).

The emphasis of this Special Issue is on showcasing the most recent advancements in the field of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), accounting for all its applications in mechanical systems and civil structures or infrastructures [...]

A complete surveillance strategy for wind turbines requires both the condition monitoring (CM) of their mechanical components and the structural health monitoring (SHM) of their load-bearing structural elements (foundations, tower, and blades). Therefore, it spans both the civil and mechanical engineering fields. Several traditional and advanced non-destructive techniques (NDTs) have been proposed for both areas of application throughout the last years. These include visual inspection (VI), acoustic emissions (AEs), ultrasonic testing (UT), infrared thermography (IRT), radiographic testing (RT), electromagnetic testing (ET), oil monitoring, and many other methods. These NDTs can be performed by human personnel, robots, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs); they can also be applied both for isolated wind turbines or systematically for whole onshore or offshore wind farms. These non-destructive approaches have been extensively reviewed here; more than 300 scientific articles, technical reports, and other documents are included in this review, encompassing all the main aspects of these survey strategies. Particular attention was dedicated to the latest developments in the last two decades (2000–2021). Highly influential research works, which received major attention from the scientific community, are highlighted and commented upon. Furthermore, for each strategy, a selection of relevant applications is reported by way of example, including newer and less developed strategies as well.