Vibration‐based health monitoring (VHM) has emerged as a promising technique for assessing the integrity of deep foundations by interpreting variations in dynamic response governed by soil–pile interaction. This review presents the theoretical background of foundation failure mechanisms, sensing technologies, and numerical approaches that underpin VHM for pile foundations, with emphasis on recent advances in fiber‐optic sensing, piezoceramic transducers, and acoustic emission measurement. Developments in optimal sensor placement, high‐rate data acquisition, and advanced signal‐processing techniques including time‐ and frequency‐domain analysis and machine‐learning‐based interpretation are examined in relation to their capability to identify damage mechanisms such as cracking, scouring, buckling, degradation of bearing capacity and shaft resistance, and postearthquake damage. A critical evaluation of physical model tests, field studies, and numerical investigations highlights the strong influence of pile geometry, embedment depth, material type, excitation method, and sensor configuration on the sensitivity of vibration‐based indicators. While VHM has demonstrated strong potential during installation and under controlled monitoring conditions, its application to existing and aging foundations, particularly deeply embedded and large‐diameter piles, remains limited. The findings underscore the need for unified VHM protocols, scalable and nonintrusive sensing strategies, and field‐validated diagnostic indicators that explicitly account for soil–pile interaction to support reliable long‐term performance assessment of pile foundations, especially for postdisaster damage evaluation.
Das et al. (Thu,) studied this question.