Structural Monitoring with Fiber Optic Technology

Fiber optic technology is destined to form the backbone of the 21st Century's Information Age. During the past 10 years it has also become apparent that fiber optic technology is very well suited to structural monitoring and is capable of tasks not practical or economically viable with conventional technology. Structural Monitoring with Fiber Optic Technology provides an introduction to the relevant background material needed to understand and appreciate the technology that underpins this new form of structural monitoring. The book richly illustrates the subject matter with 615 figures and provides many examples of fiber optic structural sensing, including a detailed overview of a number of major field site applications. A conscious effort has been made to focus on those aspects of the technology that show the greatest promise in terms of future development and broad implementation. Although the civil engineering community has been the first to really embrace fiber optic structural monitoring, as seen in the abundant examples of applications, the technology is equally applicable to other industrial sectors, such as the aerospace and marine industry.A number of innovative bridges have been built recently to demonstrate that fiber reinforced polymer composite materials can be used to replace steel in many of its functions. This includes stay-cables, prestressing tendons and shear reinforcements. Fiber reinforced polymer rehabilitation and strengthening wraps and patches are equally showing great promise. In both instances the use of fiber optic structural sensing systems has been shown to be well suited for monitoring the sue of these new materials. The combination of these two new technologies represents a major advance that is expected to revolutionize the construction industry. In one example a state-of-the-art fiber optic monitoring system permits engineers at a distant monitoring site to closely observe the response of this innovative bridge to traffic loads and track the long term performance of its new materials. Fiber optic structural sensing technology is equally applicable to other industrial sectors, such as the aerospace and marine industries. Indeed, several examples of ships instrumented with arrays of fiber optic structural sensors are also included.