Embedded fiber-optic sensing for low-cost, high resolution monitoring in bridges and critical structures

Abstract

Under a collaboration led and funded by VicTrack, VicRoads, and other Victorian State agencies with funding from the Victoria Public Sector Innovation Fund (PSIF) in Australia, the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) and University of Melbourne (UoM) are developing Fibridge (overseen by a Project Governance Board chaired by VicTrack), a fiber-optic (FO) smart monitoring system for bridges to enable predictive maintenance using the industrial internet of things (IIoT). The system uses FO sensors attached to bridge structures to accurately measure and estimate parameters indicative of bridge state online, such as structural strain, thermal response, bending moments, shear/impact loads, and corros..