Structural Monitoring with Fiber Optic Technology

Book excerpt: This book is the first to address the field of structurally integrated fiber optic sensors. Fiber optic sensors embedded within materials and systems are able to measure a variety of parameters (i.e. temperature, vibration, deformation, strain, etc.) that allows for real time non-destructive evaluation. Examples include the following: monitoring structural fatigue in aging aircraft or loads in bridge structures. In more advanced applications, fiber optic sensors control actuators that allow materials to adapt to their environment. This gives rise to the names, "smart," "intelligent," and/or "adaptive" materials or structures. Structural Monitoring with Fiber Optic Technology is the firs single author book on the new field of fiber optic structural sensing. As such it provides: coverage of the fundamentals of the technology, a coherent and systematic discussion on the most important aspects of the subject, a broad view of the subject, while retaining a degree of focus on those advances most significant in terms of their future potential, particularly in regard to broad implementation of the technology. The book provides an introduction to the relevant value to structural monitoring. It also highlights the advantages of fiber optic based sensors over conventional electrical measurement technology. 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. Most of these large scale applications are drawn from the civil engineering community as they have been the first to strongly embrace fiber optic structural monitoring. This is especiallytrue for bridges, where innovative new designs and the use of fiber reinforced polymer composite materials to replace steel represents a major advance that is expected to revolutionize the construction industry. Examples include new bridges, which are serving as testbeds for these new materials and are instrumented with arrays of fiber optic structural sensors. In one case, this state-of-the-art monitoring system permits engineers at a distant site to track the response of the bridge to traffic loads and keep an eye on the long term performance of the 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 being instrumented with arrays of fiber optic sensors are also included. * The author directed one of the leading laboratories in the development of this technology and its application to civil engineering * Provides a strong, concise foundation in the basics of the technology * Includes many examples of the application of the technology, including many major field site case studies * Richly illustrated with 615 figures, many redrawn to make them easier to understand; also includes over 600 references * Written in a style designed to help the reader unfamiliar with fiber optic technology appreciate what can be accomplished with this new form of structural monitoring