A method for monitoring the structural health of a structural component having plural fiber Bragg grating, FBG, sensors distributed in a network of FBG sensors attached to the surface of the structural component, the method comprising: a) exciting the structural component by exciting at least one actuator using continuous waves across a predetermined range of frequencies, to generate a dynamic deformation field in the structural component, the dynamic deformation field having sinusoidal timed variations at the same frequencies as an excitation signal imposed on the at least one actuator; the method characterized by: b) measuring a deformation field using the plural FBG sensors distributed in the network of FBG sensors attached to the surface of the structural component including synchronizing actuation of said at least one actuator with sensing using the plural FBG sensors to obtain strain measurements; c) filtering the measurements of the deformation field to select only that portion of the deformation field corresponding to the frequencies of the sinusoidal actuation generated by the at least one actuator; d) in response at least in part to the filtered measurement of the deformation field, generating a two-dimensional deformation field map indicating the amplitudes and phases of the surface strains, said deformation field map being based on the amplitude and phase measured by of the plural FBG sensors; e) repeating the procedure for multiple excitation frequencies of the at least one actuator; f) comparing the two-dimensional deformation field maps obtained by the different excitation frequencies for the detection of structural damage; and g) performing computational analysis of the so-obtained two-dimensional field deformation field maps with the aid of pattern recognition methods to identify structural damage. a) exciting the structural component by exciting at least one actuator using continuous waves across a predetermined range of frequencies, to generate a dynamic deformation field in the structural component, the dynamic deformation field having sinusoidal timed variations at the same frequencies as an excitation signal imposed on the at least one actuator; b) measuring a deformation field using the plural FBG sensors distributed in the network of FBG sensors attached to the surface of the structural component including synchronizing actuation of said at least one actuator with sensing using the plural FBG sensors to obtain strain measurements; c) filtering the measurements of the deformation field to select only that portion of the deformation field corresponding to the frequencies of the sinusoidal actuation generated by the at least one actuator; d) in response at least in part to the filtered measurement of the deformation field, generating a two-dimensional deformation field map indicating the amplitudes and phases of the surface strains, said deformation field map being based on the amplitude and phase measured by of the plural FBG sensors; e) repeating the procedure for multiple excitation frequencies of the at least one actuator; f) comparing the two-dimensional deformation field maps obtained by the different excitation frequencies for the detection of structural damage; and g) performing computational analysis of the so-obtained two-dimensional field deformation field maps with the aid of pattern recognition methods to identify structural damage.