Distributed Fibre Optic Sensors Embedded in Technical Textiles for Structural Health Monitoring
Katerina Krebber, Philipp Lenke, Sascha Liehr, Nils Noether, Mario Wendt, Aleksander Wosniok, BAM Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (Germany)
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.
