Structural Health Monitoring Fiber Optic Sensors

Following the modern technological needs requiring highly increased safety and standards in structures (especially civil) located in densely populated areas with increased seismic activity or other safety critical perturbations, various technologies have been developed, aiming towards improved monitoring requirements, needs for structural performance evaluation and increased safety in general. Fibre-optic technologies provide a lot in the field of structural monitoring as a basis for condition assessment before, during or after a random (e.g. earthquake), human-imposed (e.g. blast) or other operational (e.g. increased load) event. This chapter provides an overview of the structural health monitoring concept and particular requirements per application area, the monitoring systems currently available on the market and a thorough analysis of the fibre optic technologies available today. The chapter starts with the definition of structural health monitoring in terms of the specific industrial needs for monitoring and sensing. It then presents a detailed analysis of the fibre-based monitoring solutions available, their concept of operation and operational (measuring) characteristics and capabilities and closes with a presentation of typical fibre optic installation examples where fibre optics are installed for structural health monitoring.