Fiber Bragg grating sensors for strain monitoring of steelwork

Over the last few years, fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors have attracted a lot of interest and they are being used in various applications. This paper describes the FBG sensors used for strain monitoring of bogie and other steelworks. FBG sensors and resistance strain gauges are set on different position of steel girder, and weight is loaded on the steel girder. Strain value of the steel girder can be caught by two kinds of sensors when weight loaded is changed. Result of experiment shows that strain value obtained by resistance strain gauges and FBG sensor is coinciding. There is a linear correlation between value of strain and the weight loaded on the steel girder. FBG sensors with different encapsulations are set on bogie by acrylic plastic materials in order to monitor its dynamic strains. When sinusoidal load with its frequency from 0.15Hz to 2Hz was set on the bogie, FBG sensor system with data sampling rate of 20Hz were used to monitoring the dynamic strains. Strain data caught by FBG sensor system can offer accurate description of dynamic strain, and value of strain provided by FBG sensor suits theoretical values well. The experimental observations show that FBG sensors can be set on steelworks easily, and can monitor both static strain and dynamic strains well. © 2009 SPIE.