The health monitoring of a prestressed concrete beam by using fiber Bragg grating sensors

This paper presents the complete test results of a prestressed concrete (PC) beam, including the hydration temperature of the hardening process, the behavior of the PC beam under sustained loading and assessment of damage, such as the locations of cracks and their corresponding depth. Hydration temperatures during the hardening process were determined using fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors, while the behavior of the PC beam, under sustained loading, was evaluated and compared using conventional sensors as well as FBG sensors embedded in, or surfaced mounted onto, the PC beam. In addition, a new concept, involving an optical FBG based technique to detect and locate structural damage, such as crack location and depth, is demonstrated.