Fibre optic strain sensors used in practical applications have to provide reliable measurements. Therefore, the applied sensor and the sensor systems must be validated experimentally. This can be achieved with facilities which use physically independent measurement systems in order to avoid the influences caused by the application of a reference sensor. This paper describes the testing methods of the specially developed validation facility KALFOS for the qualification and evaluation of surface-applied strain sensors. For reliable sensor results, the performance of fibre optic strain patches with and without FBG under combined thermal and mechanical loading was investigated. Additionally, the strain gauge factor of the fibre optic strain patches with FBG was determined experimentally and compared to the specified strain gauge factor. These results will be the basis for the development of guidelines and standards concerning the application of the sensors.
Reinforced concrete piles are used in case of structures that are constructed on soft ground to transfer the loads into deeper strata with sufficient bearing capacity. In order to determine the pile’s behavior and possible damage, static and dynamic pile tests are carried out. Dynamic measurements taken from the pile head can show the bearing behavior and structural integrity by using the theory of wave propagation. In order to receive more precise information about the pile features, now, a string of sensors is embedded at different levels of the pile. A fiber optic strain wave sensor, based on the extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometer (EFPI), has already been developed and tested in full-scale field tests by Schallert (2010). It was possible to detect the introduced deformation caused by the static load and the dilatational wave during dynamic loading. Although the full-scale tests were successful, the engineering design of the sensor body left room - from the economical point of view - to be optimized. After laboratory tests with the optimized sensor, a cast-in-situ bored pile has been built at the BAM Test Site Technical Safety in Horstwalde, South of Berlin. Additionally to the EFPI sensors, fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors, temperature sensors and resistance strain gauge (RSG) sensors are embedded in order to compare the signals with each other. In this paper, the modified sensor and the Setup of the cast-in-situ bored pile along with results of dynamic tests are shown.