Structural Health Monitoring in Civil Engineering and Geotechnical Structures

Active, real-time structural health monitoring of conditions of civil and geotech infrastructure, such as bridges, dams, tunnels and buildings, is critical to the safety and lifecycle management of these systems. Fiber optic sensing, with its ability to provide fast, accurate and reliable measurements for large structures, is widely accepted and adopted for structural health monitoring (SHM) solutions.

Structural Health Monitoring Systems Based on Fiber Optic Sensing

Fiber optic sensors have several inherent benefits that make them ideal for SHM systems for civil and geotechnical structures. 

• Passive and dielectric –  immunity to EMI
• Corrosion-resistant sensors and cabling
• 100s or 1000s of sensors can be distributed over large structures
• Rugged instruments and sensors
• Long-term stability

Additionally, Luna’s fiber optic sensing solutions include sensors for a variety of measurements critical for an effective SHM system. These measurements can be multiplexed and acquired with a single instrument:

• Strain
• Long-gage strain –  surface and embedded
• Vibration
• Displacement
• Temperature

Luna’s HYPERION systems are particularly well suited for long-term SHM deployments. The rugged HYPERION interrogator system can acquire data from hundreds of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) and Fabry-Perot sensors. The HYPERION system delivers high-speed acquisition for capturing structural dynamics as well as high sensitivity for tracking minute changes over long periods of time. ENLIGHT software provides features needed for configuring, acquiring and logging data.