Smart Clay Bricks enabling Diffuse Strain Monitoring in Masonry Buildings: Progresses at Full-scale

Strain monitoring in masonry buildings can provide useful information regarding the onset of structural damage during operating conditions. This is because when cracks develop on masonry components, i.e., clay bricks and mortar layers, they induce discontinuities and redistributions in their original stress/strain configurations. Although the application of local strain measurements in Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of masonry buildings can be effective in detecting anomalies and modifications in their structural response caused by crack development, achieving diffuse strain monitoring remains a challenge in practical SHM applications, nowadays. This is mainly because strain sensors currently available on the market present several practical limitations, including scalability issues, which often make their large-scale application to masonry buildings difficult. In recent years, for overcoming the drawbacks of traditional sensor systems, innovative smart clay bricks have been developed, able to measure deformation when incorporated into load-bearing masonry structures. In that sense, this paper presents the latest advancements and applications of this brand-new sensing technology for SHM on real-scale masonry buildings.