Structural Health Monitoring System Based on FBG Sensing Technique for Chinese Ancient Timber Buildings

Abstract

Due to the long-term service, Chinese ancient timber buildings show varying degrees of wear. Thus, structural health monitoring (SHM) for these cultural and historical treasures is desperately needed to evaluate the service status. Although there are some FBG sensing-based SHM systems, they are not suitable for Chinese ancient timber buildings due to the differences in architectural types, structural loads, materials, and environment. Besides, a technical gap in Fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensing-based column inclination monitoring exists. To overcome these weaknesses, this paper develops an FBG sensing-based structural health monitoring system for Chinese ancient Chuan-dou-type timber buildings that aims at monitoring structural deformation, i.e., beam deflection and column inclination, temperature, humidity, and fire around the building. An in-situ test and simulation analyses were conducted to verify the effectiveness of the developed SHM system. To validate the long-term-operation of the developed SHM system, monitoring data within 15 months were analyzed. The results show good agreement between the developed SHM system in this paper and other methods. In addition, the SHM system operated well in the first year after its deployment. This implies that the developed SHM system is applicable and effective in the health state monitoring of Chinese ancient Chuan-dou-type timber buildings, laying a foundation for damage prognosis of such types of timber buildings.

Fiber Bragg grating sensors for monitoring of physical parameters: a comprehensive review

“…In Ref. 92, structural deformation of Chinese ancient timber building was monitored using FBG-based sensor system. Physical parameters, such as temperature, fire, humidity, and inclination, were monitored within 15 months to validate the long-term process of SHM system.…”

Review of Application and Innovation of Geotextiles in Geotechnical Engineering

“…The cost of FBG sensor is relatively high, around than 20 US dollars for each point sensor [101]. Therefore, its high cost and vulnerability also limit the use of this fiber-optic sensor in intelligent geotextiles [102,103]. In order to meet the needs of large-area geotechnical structure monitoring, distributed optical fiber sensors came into being.…”

Strain Sensor Based on Embedded Fiber Bragg Grating in Thermoplastic Polyurethane Using the 3D Printing Technology for Improved Sensitivity

“…In contrast to the traditional processing and manufacturing technology used, in which raw materials are processed to produce end products, the 3D printing technology is an aspect of additive manufacturing, in which the raw materials are stacked layer-by-layer to "print" the end product and can be very useful in optical sensors [19]. An example of it is FBG sensor which is small in size [13] and lightweight [21], and has good compatibility with a wide range of substrates [4]. They can easily be embedded in a 3D-printed structure to perform a variety of real-time measurements, such as monitoring the strains and stresses developing within it [22].…”