Fiber Bragg grating sensors for use in pavement structural strain-temperature monitoring

摘要

In this paper, we describe the development and realization of a newly high-resolution temperature and strain sensor with fiber Bragg grating (FBG) technology. The FBG sensor consists of a reference fiber grating and a grating pair scheme that could offer the potential of simultaneous measurement of strain and temperature for monitoring pavement structures. Experimental results showed that measurement errors of 6 με and 0.13°C for strain and temperature could be achieved, respectively. The reliability and long-term stability for temperature measurement with this type of sensor were examined by mounting sensors on the surface of asphalt and concrete specimens. Small root mean square temperature variations (better than 1°C) and excellent long-term stability (within 2%) were obtained. The maximum variations in temperature for 48 hours were only 1.94% and 2.32% for asphalt and concrete specimens, respectively. The feasibility of strain measurement for pavement structures was conducted by mounting the packaged sensor on the surface of an asphalt specimen under the indirect tensile loading condition. The measured strains from the packaged FBG sensor agreed linearly with applied loads. A finite-element model (FEM) was conducted to verify the strains obtained from the sensors. In comparison with experimental data and numerical results, the numerical values were all located within FBG measurement error ranges. The strain differences between measurements from the FBG sensor and FEM predictions were between 5% and 7%. This type of simple and low-cost FBG sensor is expected to benefit the developments and applications of pavement structures or transportation infrastructure.