SHM is defined as the process of acquiring and analyzing data from on-board sensors to evaluate the health of a structure. Main characteristic inherent to any SHM system is that sensors have to be embedded or permanently attached to the structure, and from this fact it comes the main advantage of SHM compared to NDT, the inspection process can be automated, without disassembly huge savings are expected in maintenance costs.
The European Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring Series (EWSHM) started in 2002 and has grown over the years significantly to become the strong counterpart to the International Workshop on SHM (IWSHM) held in Stanford/CA every odd year.