An overview of intelligent fault detection in systems and structures

This paper describes a coherent strategy for intelligent fault detection. All of the features of the strategy are discussed in detail. These encompass: (i) a taxonomy for the relevant concepts, i.e. a precise definition of what constitutes a fault etc., (ii) a specification for operational evaluation which makes use of a hierarchical damage identification scheme, (iii) an approach to sensor prescription and optimisation and (iv) a data processing methodology based on a data fusion model.