Fiber Optic Sensors for Structural Health Monitoring

From many points of view, fiber optic sensors are the ideal transducers for structural health monitoring. Being durable, stable and insensitive to external perturbations, they are especially useful for long-term health assessment of civil structures and geostructures. Many different fiber optic sensor technologies exist and offer a wide range of performances and suitability for different applications. In the last few years, fiber optic sensors have made a slow but significant entrance in the sensor panorama. After an initial euphoric phase when fiber optic sensors seemed on the verge of becoming prevalent in the whole world of sensing, it now appears that this technology is mainly attractive in the cases where it offers superior performance compared with the more proven conventional sensors. The additional value can include an improved quality of the measurements, a better reliability, the possibility of replacing manual readings and operator judgment with automatic measurements, an easier installation and maintenance or a lower lifetime cost. Finally, distributed fiber sensors offer new exciting possibilities that have no parallel in conventional sensors