FBG‐Based Sensing for Structural Health Monitoring of Road Infrastructure

Abstract

Public road infrastructure is developed all around the world. To save resources, ensure public safety, and provide longer-lasting road infrastructure, structural health monitoring (SHM) applications for roads have to be researched and developed. Asphalt is one of the largest used surface materials for the road building industry. This material also provides relatively easy fiber optical sensor technology installment, which can be effectively used for SHM applications—road infrastructure monitoring as well as for resource optimization when road building or their repairs are planned. This article focuses on the research of the fiber Bragg grating (FBG) optical temperature and strain sensor applications in road SHM, which is part of the greater interdisciplinary research project started at the Riga Technical University in the year 2017. Experimental work described in this article was realized in one of the largest Latvian road sites where the FBG strain and temperature sensors were installed into asphalt pavement, and experiments were carried out in two main scenarios. Firstly, in a controlled environment with a calibrated falling weight deflectometer (FWD) to test the installed FBG sensors. Secondly, by evaluating the real-time traffic impact on the measured strain and temperature, where different types of vehicles passed the asphalt span in which the sensors were embedded. The findings in this research illustrate that by gathering and combining data from calibrated FWD measurements, measurements from embedded FBG optical sensors which were providing the essential information of how the pavement structure could sustain the load and information about the traffic intensity on the specific road section, and the structural life of the pavement can be evaluated and predicted. Thus, it enables the optimal pavement future design for necessary requirements and constraints as well as efficient use, maintenance, and timely repairs of the public roads, directly contributing to the overall safety of our transportation system.

The Effect of Temperature, Rest Periods and Ageing on the Response of Bituminous Materials in Fatigue Tests: Considerations and Proposals on Analytical Dimensioning Models

“…Moreover, special attention should be paid to the ageing resistance of the bitumens used and to the bonding between layers in the pavement construction, irrespective of the thickness and the method followed in the pavement design. In addition to all these considerations, it is recommended to establish a closer link with the real performance conditions of the road and use advanced techniques to measure the different distresses [28,29].…”

Road Pavement Structural Health Monitoring by Embedded Fiber-Bragg-Grating-Based Optical Sensors

“…FBG technology allows for the relatively easy and convenient implementation of FOS into a necessary architecture. FBG sensors are versatile in the matter of the parameters to be measured; for instance, strain [13,14], temperature [9,15], pressure [16], humidity [9,17], and many more can be measured and monitored. With regard to industry, FBG FOS realization is topical in structural health monitoring (SHM) applications for dams [10,18], pipelines [10,16], slopes [10], tunnels [10,19], bridges [10,20], railroads [21], roads [14,22], and so on.…”

Test Strategy Optimization Based on Soft Sensing and Ensemble Belief Measurement

“…With the increasing use of electric devices, prognostic and health management engineering (PHM engineering) has played an extremely significant role in product lifetime management over decades [ 1 ]. PHM engineering ensures electric devices’ lifetime healthy operation and provides appropriate resource assignment for product management [ 2 ].…”