Structural Health Monitoring Market Analysis

Market Insight- Global Structural Health Monitoring Market

Market Overview

Structural health monitoring (SHM) is the practice of implementing a damage detection and characterization strategy for engineering structures namely buildings and bridges. In layman’s terms, it is the process of gaining knowledge of the integrity of the in-service structures on a constant real-time basis. The SHM process includes the observation of a system over time with the help of periodically sampled response measurements from an array of sensors. There are different processes involved in SHM namely operational evaluation, data acquisition, normalization, and cleansing, feature extraction and data compression, and statistical model development. SHM system’s elements include structure, sensors, data acquisition systems, data transfer and storage mechanism, data management, and data interpretation and diagnosis.

The global structural health monitoring market was valued for US$ 2,328 Mn in 2019 is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 14.0 % during the forecast period.

Market Dynamics- Drivers

1. Increasing government initiatives for public safety combined with standardization of the SHM system is expected to drive growth of the global structural health monitoring market during the forecast period

Heavy structures such as dams, bridges, and buildings are prone to different intense loadings during their lifetime. These loadings get stronger during typhoons, cyclones, hurricanes, earthquakes, etc. These events can severely impact the integrity of an entire structure and lead to catastrophic damage and loss of life. However, implementation of SHM systems would minimize the repair and maintenance costs throughout a structure’s lifecycle. These systems play a crucial role in monitoring and maintenance of structural integrity of buildings of high importance per se hospitals or national monuments. Moreover, proactive initiatives by the government of various countries to address the aforementioned challenges are expected to drive the global structural health monitoring market growth during the forecast period. For instance, in October 2014, the Ministry of Transportation in China approved national design code for structural health monitoring, which specifies that SHM systems need to be designed simultaneously with infrastructures to ensure quality and integrity of the same when the infrastructures are being constructed. Furthermore, Regulation gosudarstvennyy standart Russia (GOST R) 53778-2010 has been extended and approved into the Eurasian standard GOST 31937-2011. This standard mandates implementation of structural health monitoring systems – similar to what is mandated in GOST R 53778-2010 – in countries such as Russia, Tajikistan, and the Ukraine. This standard is approved by National Standard Department of Russian Standards for Buildings and Constructions.

2. High availability of low-cost sensors is expected to propel the global structural health monitoring market growth over the forecast period

In the recent past, the cost and size of various sensors such as temperature, vibration, and load have reduced significantly. This is owing to rampant advancements in technology in the semiconductor industry combined with intense competition among different manufacturers, typically in the Asia Pacific. Such sensors play a vital role in the SHM system and facilitate by collecting and formulating information required for monitoring and testing of various structures such as dams and bridges. Furthermore, availability of small and cost-effective sensors allow reduction in overall cost, which includes installation and additional material costs such as cables and other components. Thus, these factors are expected to propel the market growth in the near future.

Europe region dominated the global structural health monitoring market in 2019, accounting for 32.8% share in terms of value, followed by North America and APAC, respectively.

Source: Coherent Market Insights

Market Dynamics- Restraints

1. Lack of skilled professionals is expected to hinder the global structural health monitoring market growth over the forecast period

Majority of structural health monitoring devices present in the market are based on conventional damage tolerance technology. This, in turn, has led to development of non-destructive inspection (NDI) techniques, some of which are laborious and require highly skilled professionals, i.e. operator/inspectors. For instance, applications in aircraft and ships require disassembly of components, which in turn requires grounding of aircraft and docking of ships, thus resulting in loss of time. Furthermore, the low availability of skilled professionals for implementing, designing, and maintaining SHM systems are expected to hinder the global structural health monitoring market growth over the forecast period.

2. Threats concerning cyber-attacks on connected SHM systems are expected to restrain growth of the global structural health monitoring system market during the forecast period

Majority of SHM systems available operate on wireless technologies and are connected to the Internet, thus making them vulnerable to cyber-attacks due to lack of security measures. Furthermore, important structures such as government secured facilities, dams, bridges, airlines are susceptible to attacks and can lead to a large number of fatalities if system integrity is breached. This is a critical issue that needs to be addressed at the design level of SHM systems. Hence, these factors are expected to hamper the market growth up to a certain extent.

Market Opportunities

1. Growing investments in smart city projects are expected to present lucrative growth opportunities

Proactive government initiatives and investment in development of smart cities, especially in Africa and India are expected to present lucrative growth opportunities for market players. Deployment of SHM will play a crucial role in development of smart cities, in order to monitor various structures such as buildings and roads.

2. Integration of SHM system with mass notification systems (MNS) to pose major business opportunities

SHM systems are primarily constrained to monitoring structures and reporting to the concerning trained personnel. However, in the event of failure of structure alerting is only option limited to the personnel in charge of maintaining the structure. Moreover, Integrating MNS with SHM systems provides a means to incorporate public alerting system measures in the event of emergencies and minimize the number of casualties. These factors are expected to provide major growth opportunities for market players over the forecast period.

Source: Coherent Market Insights

Market Trends

1. Key solution providers are focused on low-cost energy harvesting monitoring systems

Major and local players are focused on innovating monitoring solutions that harvest energy from renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, in order to reduce the amount of energy utilized by such monitoring systems. For instance, in March 2015, Sorin Group partnered with various research institutes and universities in order to develop autonomous energy harvesting wireless sensor modules, primarily for monitoring various applications such as aircraft and marine infrastructure.

2. Growing adoption of distributed optic fiber in SHM solution

Major SHM solution providers in the market are focused on developing SHM systems based on distributed optic fiber technology, in order to monitor load and detect damages to a structure. For instance, in August 2016, Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), a U.S.-based research facility, entered into a partnership with Material Science Division in order to develop structural health monitoring systems based on fiber laser sensor technology for detecting acoustic emission from cracks in riveted lap joints using distributed feedback. Furthermore, in December 2015, Omnisens Lynx introduced fiber optic-based monitoring system for detection of oil or gas leakage in pipelines, to detect geo-hazards and seismic activity and intrusion detection, based on vibration/ acoustic sensing, distributed temperature sensing and strain sensing.

Segment information:

In global structural health monitoring market, by type segment, Wired SHM System sub-segment dominated the global market in 2019, accounting for 64.6% share in terms of value.

Source: Coherent Market Insights

Competitive Section

Key players operating in the global structural health monitoring market are Nova Metrix LLC, National Instruments Corporation, Kinemetrics Inc., Advitam Inc. (Vinci SA), Hottinger Baldwin Messtechnik GmbH, Digitexx Data Systems, Inc., Geocomp Corporation, Acellent Technologies, Inc., Strainstall UK Limited (James Fisher & Sons PLC), and COWI A/S.

Key Developments

1. Key companies in the market are focused on business expansion, in order to gain competitive edge in the market. For instance, in August 2016, Hottinger Baldwin Messtechnik GmbH inaugurated an office in Chennai, India – HBM India – which is a division of Spectris Technology Pvt. Ltd., in order to strengthen the presence and cater to growing demand for SHM systems in the country.
2. Major market players are involved in collaborations and partnerships, in order to enhance their market presence. For instance, in June 2016, National Instruments Corporation Company collaborated with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) to provide hardware and software combination for resolving data management issues and to make more efficient decisions using sensor data.