The possibility of using a plastic optical fibre as a sensing element in civil structural health monitoring

Abstract

In this paper we propose a low-cost fibre-optic sensor, primarily intended for application in civil structural health monitoring. The sensor is based on a plastic optical fibre as a sensing element. The sensing optical fibre is optimized for measuring small curvature displacements. The behaviour of the sensor is first measured on flexible structures to achieve the characteristic of the sensor. In this paper, we perform the curvature gauge characterization and discuss the results. The characterized sensor is then mounted on a fragile material construction to investigate its potential for crack detection. © 2013 The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.