Application of fiber bragg grating sensors in monitoring civil engineering structures

Abstract

Fiber Bragg grating (FBG) is finding increasing usage in aerospace guidance, marine structures and civil engineering applications. This is due to their lightweight, non-obtrusive, immunity to electromagnetic interference, high bandwidth and sensitivity, and solid-state properties. Analysis of case studies is carried out to study the applications of Fiber Bragg grating sensors in civil engineering structures. In this research, a fiber Bragg grating sensing system for strain measurement is being described. Low cost and simple grating-based FBG has been used to produce the strain and induce Bragg wavelength shifts. A brief experimental testing on an instrumented metal plate showed that the proposed system is able to perform strain measurements with linear response. A general guideline is proposed on the fabrication and installation of fiber Bragg gratings for structural monitoring in local conditions.