Distributed fiber optic sensors embedded in technical textiles for structural health monitoring
(2010)
Technical textiles with embedded distributed fiber optic sensors have been developed for the purposes of structural health monitoring in geotechnical and civil engineering. The distributed fiber optic sensors are based on Brillouin scattering in silica optical fibers and OTDR in polymer optical fibers. Such "smart" technical textiles can be used for reinforcement of geotechnical and masonry structures and the embedded fiber optic sensors can provide information about the condition of the structures and detect the presence of any damages and destructions in real time. Thus, structural health monitoring of critical geotechnical and civil infrastructures can be realized. The paper highlights the results achieved in this innovative field in the framework of several German and European projects.
Distributed polymer optical fiber sensors in geotextiles for monitoring of earthwork structures
(2009)
We present the latest advances in distributed strain measurement in perfluorinated polymer optical fibres (POFs) using backscatter techniques. Compared to previously introduced poly(methyl methacrylate) POFs, the measurement length can be extended to more than 500 m at improved spatial resolution of a few centimetres. It is shown that strain in a perfluorinated POF can be measured up to 100%. In parallel to these investigations, the incoherent optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR) technique is introduced to detect strained fibre sections and to measure distributed length change along the fibre with sub-millimetre resolution by applying a cross-correlation algorithm to the backscatter signal. The overall superior performance of the OFDR technique compared to the optical time domain reflectometry in terms of accuracy, dynamic range, spatial resolution and measurement speed is presented. The proposed sensor system is a promising technique for use in structural health monitoring applications where the precise detection of high strain is required.