Structural health monitoring plays a crucial role in maintaining the long lifespan of large-scale infrastructure. In this paper, a new type of sensing technique for localized structural damage is proposed. This technology can be adopted to measure cracks by using a transparent capacitive sensor. The capacitive sensor is fabricated using a dielectric elastomer with attached stretchable transparent electrodes. The electrodes are ionic conductors. The materials of the sensor are transparent and inexpensive, which make the sensory sheets a feasible application for large surfaces without impeding optical signals. The performance transparency of the sensor is beneficial to visually detect the expansion of cracks through other non-destructive testing technologies. An experiment was conducted to determine the robustness of the capacitive sensor. Tests on perspex sheet and over-reinforced concrete beam demonstrated the ability of the sensor to detect strains and cracks over the surface that it covered.
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