Issues in infrastructure health monitoring for management

The most critical issues that have been identified as being needed to implement meaningful and beneficial applications of health monitoring for infrastructure management are discussed. Issues related to infrastructure health monitoring for management can be defined in three overlapping categories. In this context, engineering tools, methods, and knowledge should be developed and utilized to answer societal and educational aspects of the problem while taking advantage of the information tools and methodologies available today. The need for integrated research, education, and practice for infrastructure management is emphasized. The challenges in the integration of intelligent transportation and structural systems concepts within an optimum integrated asset management framework are described and illustrated. Examples from ongoing research on the health monitoring of short-span bridge families and long-span bridges are presented to illustrate the issues.