Objectives
Cracking is a primary concerns for health monitoring and damage assessment of large concrete structures in civil engineering. However, it is generaly difficult to locate cracks. Recent publications have shown that embedded fibre-optic sensors can be used for cracking detection and localisation. However, some technological issues must still be resolved and in particularly the quantitative interpretation of measured strain at cracks. It is linked to the strain transfer function of the fiber optic.
The project for ESR2 has three objectives:
- Assess the strain transfer mechanisms from the host or substrate material to the fiber optic by experimental test.
- Develop of a realistic model of the strain transfer in presence of cracks for proper evaluation of crack width.
- Implement fiber optic sensors on real concrete structure.
INFRASTAR provides innovative, multi-disciplinary and intersectoral training in innovative solutions to asset management of civil infrastructures. Focus is on the prediction of concrete infrastructure behaviour under fatigue, currently one of the most critical issues in the field. INFRASTAR considers two representative types of concrete infrastructures: bridges and wind turbine towers and foundations.