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A correlation between pulse diagnosis of human body and health monitoring of structures

C. C. Chang1, 2 and Henry T. Y. Yang2

1. Department of Civil Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong

2. Department of Mechanical and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, USA

Abstract: The concept of health monitoring is a key aspect of the field of medicine that has been practiced for a long time. A commonly used diagnostic and health monitoring practice is pulse diagnosis, which can be traced back approximately five thousand years in the recorded history of China. With advances in the development of modern technology, the concept of health monitoring of a variety of engineering structures in several applications has begun to attract widespread attention. Of particular interest in this study is the health monitoring of civil structures. It seems natural, and even beneficial, that these two health-monitoring methods, one as applies to the human body and the other to civil structures, should be analyzed and compared. In this paper, the basic concepts and theories of the two monitoring methods are first discussed. Similarities are then summarized and commented upon. It is hoped that this correlation analysis may help provide structural engineers with some insights into the intrinsic concept of using pulse diagnosis in human health monitoring, which may be of some benefit in the development of modern structural health monitoring methods.

Keywords: human health monitoring; pulse diagnosis; structural health monitoring; vibration-based techniques; local detection techniques