A fiber Bragg grating sensor for detection of liquid water in concrete structures

摘要

Concrete structures rely greatly on the integrity of their supporting rebars to remain serviceable for their intended purposes. Unfortunately, rebars are vulnerable to corrosion due to the ingress of water from the environment, which often also carries a multitude of ionic particles that encourage corrosion. Liquid phase water may enter the structure through cracks that may not be obvious to human observation. Thus, a fiber Bragg grating sensor was designed that is able to detect (i.e. 'on-off') the presence of liquid water in order to provide an early warning signal for the ingress of water. Two tests were conducted to verify the functionality of the sensor: the first experiment tested the repeatability of the sensor to cyclic input of various volumes of water, and the second tested the sensor's response to flooding conditions. The sensor showed a good repeatability, with fast response times (<10 min to reach a level guaranteeing the presence of water) and a recovery time of 11-15 h, depending on the input volume. The flooding test showed similar performance and viability of the sensor during flooding conditions.