Application of Fiber Optic Sensors to Structural Monitoring

摘要

The monitoring of new and existing structures is one of the essential tools for a modern and efficient management of the infrastructure network. Sensors are the first building block in the monitoring chain and are responsible for the accuracy and reliability of the data. Progress in the sensing technology can therefore be produced by more accurate measurements, but also from systems that are easier to install, use and maintain. In the recent years, fiber optic sensors have moved the first steps in structural monitoring and in particular in civil engineering. Different sensing technologies have emerged and quite a few have evolved into commercial products. It is difficult to find a common reason for the success of so diverse types of sensors, each one seems to have found a niche where it can offer performance that surpass or complement the ones of the more traditional sensors. If three characteristics of fiber optic sensors should be highlighted as the probable reason of their present and future success, I would cite the stability of the measurements, the potential long-term reliability of the fibers and the possibility of performing distributed and remote measurements. In the near future it is therefore to expect that fiber optic sensors will consolidate their presence in the structural sensing industry.