Sun Baochen

Strain monitoring of railway bridges using optic fiber sensors

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to suggest that Fraby‐Perot optic sensor is a practical measurement gage to monitor the strain of great structures such as railway bridges.Design/methodology/approach – A remote strain monitoring system based on F‐P optic fiber and virtual instrument is designed to monitor the strains of a railway bridge.Findings – The application results show that the Fraby‐Perot optical fiber sensors can accurately measure strain and they are suitable for the long‐term and automatic monitoring. In addition, the system has several advantages over conventional structural instruments including fast response, ability of both static and dynamic monitoring, absolute measurement, immunity to interferences such as lightning strikes, electromagnetic noise and radio frequency, low attenuation of light signals in long fiber optic cables.Practical implications – Health monitoring of structures is getting more and more recognition all over the world because it can minimize the cost of reparat...