Implementation of Fiber Bragg Grating Sensor on Bridge Scouring Problem

The security evaluation system of a bridge should include the serviceable life and its corresponding environment terms such as the located conditions of the pier, the types of girder and pier, the spans of its supports and length, and the loading systems. A health monitoring system is commonly used to ensure the safety of a bridge. In general, the inclinometer, strain gauge, displacement gauge, and accelerometer are the conventional instruments used in health monitoring, however, the noise and resolution of these conventional systems have limited their applications. Moreover, the scouring damage problem has become a major issue in recent years. In order to perform the real-time monitoring of the depth of a scouring in a flood and alleviate its corresponding damage concerns, the fiber Bragg grating sensor (FBG) approach is proposed. This paper describes utilizing FBG sensors to monitor the depth of scouring in a lab test. From experimental results, the novel scouring system shows good performance of the scouring depth in real-time response. A field test is proposed using this system to monitor the scouring in the near future.