Description: Structural Monitoring with Fiber Optic Technology is the first single-author monograph on the new field of fiber optic structural sensing. As such it provides coverage of the fundamentals of the technology, a coherent and systematic discussion on the most important aspects of the subject, and a broad overview of the subject, while retaining a degree of focus on those advances most significant in terms of their future potential, particularly in regard to broad implementation of the technology. The book provides an introduction to the relevant background material needed to understand and appreciate fiber optic technology from the standpoint of its value to structural monitoring. It also highlights the advantages of fiber optic-based sensors over conventional electrical measurement technology.

The book richly illustrates the subject matter with 615 figures and provides many examples of fiber optic structural sensing, including a detailed overview of a number of major field site applications. Most of these large-scale applications are drawn from the civil engineering community as they have been the first to strongly embrace fiber optic structural monitoring. This is especially true for bridges where innovative new designs and the use of fiber-reinforced polymer composite materials to replace steel represents a major advance that ts expected to revolutionize the construction industry. Examples include new bridges which are serving as testbeds for these new materials and are instrumented with arrays of fiber optic structural sensors. In one case this state-of-the-art monitoring system permits engineers at a distant site to track the response of the bridge to traffic loads and keep an eye onthe long-term performance of the new materials. Fiber optic structural sensing technology is equally applicable to other industrial sectors, such as the aerospace and marine industries. Indeed, several examples of ships being instrumented with arrays of fiber optic sensors are also included.

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