STRUCTURAL

HEALTH
MONITORING

Present status and applications

Mousumi Majumder, Tarun Kumar

Gangopadhyay, Ashim Kumar Chakraborty,

VENTAJAS DE LA UTILIZACIN DE SENSORES FBG

FBGs are immune to electromagnetic interference (EMI)

and ground loops.

They are lightweight and have small physical

dimensions.

No wires are required to connect sensors to the control

system.

FBGs possess excellent resolution and range,

Water and corrosion resistance,

ability to be multiplexed, i

Immunity to harsh weather conditions,

compact sensor and harness size, and

reasonable cost per channel.

SENSORS FBG EN LA INGENIERA CIVIL

Strain studies in civil structures are pivotal in avoiding

unexpected catastrophic failures.

High cost of maintenance, lack of precision in visual

inspection and susceptibility of sensors to harsh
environ- mental conditions has made structural health
monitoring (SHM) a necessity.

The information from such SHM systems can provide

early warning for compromised integrity of structures
and thus help avoid severe losses.

Strain and temperature have so far been the

dominating measurands of interest.

CMO FUNCIONAN?

FBGs are obtained by

creating periodic variations
in the refractive index of the
core of an optical fibre

The Bragg wavelength is expressed as

STRAIN MEASUREMENT USING FBG

SENSORS
When strain is induced in an FBG, the relative change
in Bragg wavelength is expressed as

For an FBG of central wavelength of

1550 nm, typical strain sensitivity
is approximately 1.2
pm/microstrain

STRAINTEMPERATURE CROSSSENSITIVITY
The Bragg wavelength is also affected by temperature
B

changes. The relative change in the Bragg wavelength

due to temperature change is expressed as
For an FBG of central
wavelength of 1550 nm,
typical temperature
sensitivity is approximately
13 pm/ C

APPLICATIONS OF FBG STRAIN SENSORS

IN STRUCTURAL SENSING

Strain monitoring in civil infrastructure

40 FBG sensors
are remotely
monitor the realtime strain on
Europes first allfibre reinforced
composite bridge.

Puente West Mill, Oxfordshire UK

Strain monitoring in reinforced concrete beams

FBG sensors and

strain gauges were
surface mounted
on CFRP wrapped
concrete cylinders
along both axes
and subjected to
com- pressive
loading.

Strain monitoring in smart beams

Real-time strain monitoring of RC beams using FBG-embedded CFRP

The beams were tested using a 500 kN hydraulic

actuator and both FBGs and strain gauges were used
as strain sensors. At the initial cracking of the beams,
the calculated load and the measured load by the FBGs
are comparable.

Moisture/humidity measurement in civil applications

FBG-based moisture sensor

The hygroscopic property of polymide

had been made use of in these
sensors to coat them such that they
swell in the presence of aqueous
media and thereby cause a shift of the
characteristic Bragg wavelength.

The main thrust of technology

development at present should
be focused on the various
application areas of civil
infrastructure monitoring using
FBGs and the standardization of
the procedure.

-Mousumi Majumder, et al