Long-term monitoring of concrete footbridge using optical metrology

An optical fiber sensor system that can be installed and used to give reliable and informative data has been developed, tested and evaluated for the past two years on a 50 year-old concrete foot bridge of known conditions. Besides environmental monitoring, the bridge has been subjected to different loading and specific damages have been induced. The evolution of the bridge has been recorded using the optical fiber system. During this two year survey, issues about installation, use, data capture and evaluation of performance have been identified and addressed giving invaluable information on the use of optical sensors to assess concrete structures not available in the present literature.