METHOD FOR SATISFYING CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS AND VERIFYING THE INTEGRITY OF STRUCTURAL HEALTH MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

A method is disclosed wherein a plurality of sensors mounted on a structure, a baseline data set for each of the plurality of sensors and a calibration procedure verify the integrity of a structural health management system. Initially a baseline data set is established. Before performing the structural health assessment a calibration-in data set for each of the plurality of sensors is collected. The calibration-in data set is compared to the baseline data set for each sensor of the plurality of sensors. If the calibration-in data set and the baseline data set match then a structure characterization is performed. If the calibration-in data set and the baseline data set do not match, a calibration-out procedure is performed to generate a calibration-out data set. If the calibration-out data set and the calibration-in data sets match, then a determination is made that the structural health management system was working.