Chapter 1: Introduction: 1.1 Background

Chapter 1: Introduction
This chapter presents the background (Section 1.1) and objectives (Section 1.2)
of the research carried out. Section 1.3 describes the significance and scope of this
research and provides definitions of the terms used. Finally, Section 1.4 includes an
outline of the remaining chapters of the thesis.
1.1
BACKGROUND
Structural health monitoring (SHM) has attracted much attention in both
research and development in recent years. SHM involves collecting and analysing
information obtained through measurements and analyses of a structure in order to
evaluate its performance and to assess damage. Such assessment will enable timely
retrofitting and prevention of collapse of the structure. In general, a structural health
monitoring system consists of measurements, a signal processing system and data
interpretation. Measurements can be made under static or dynamic conditions. Most
of the literature refers to dynamic measurements of parameters such as natural
frequencies, mode shapes and damping ratio. Natural frequency is one of the most
convenient characteristics derived from a modal analysis and there are many
applications using the natural frequency. However, these applications are restricted
in detecting the existence of structural damage. Many mode shape-based methods for
damage identification have been proposed. Mode shape measurements are uncertain
in practical testing due to environmental noise. It is difficult to obtain accurate mode
shapes using limited sensors. It is also difficult to obtain higher mode shapes in
practice. A damping ratio is a measurement of the reduction in the amplitude of
vibration of a structure. Only a limited amount of research has been published in this
area as it is a challenging problem to obtain an accurate and reliable damping ratio in
practice. Although most researchers have focused on these characteristics, research
using strain and vertical displacement is still on-going. Strain and vertical
displacement can be measured under static and dynamic conditions. Strain can only
provide location specific information about a structure. Strain history measurement is
an important aspect in dynamic characteristics, e.g. fatigue analysis. Vertical

displacements can also be applied to dynamic measurement, but it is difficult to
obtain these measurements practically and accurately. However, the vertical
displacements are one of the most relevant parameters for structural health
monitoring of bridges, in both the short and long term. Vertical displacements can be
used to evaluate performance via loading tests, rate the bridge capacity and predict
service life of bridges, as well as being used for damage identification.
Bridge managers around the globe are always looking for a simple way to
measure vertical displacements of bridges. Conventional vertical displacement
measurement methods such as using linear variable differential transformer (LVDT),
land survey and Global Positioning System (GPS) are sometimes impractical as
specialised operators are required and measurements can be affected by weather.
Thus there is limited research on applying vertical displacements of bridges for
structural health monitoring and damage identification as it is difficult to carry out
such measurements precisely.
1.2
OBJECTIVES
This project aims to develop a practical, simple and inexpensive vertical
displacement measurement method using optical sensors for structural health

monitoring of bridges. The proposed method should be able to determine vertical
displacement of a bridges span with accuracy and reliability. The research will be
achieved upon completion of the following objectives:
Due to geometry of beam type bridges such as slab-on-girder or box-girder

bridges, their vertical displacements can be determined by curvature and
slope measurements. Innovative methods will be proposed to measure
vertical displacements of bridges using curvature and slope measurements.
Due to the outstanding advantages of FBGs including multiplexing

capability, immunity of electromagnetic interference (EMI) as well as high
resolution and accuracy, using FBG sensors for curvature and slope
measurement will be proposed. The applications of FBG strain sensors for
curvature measurement will be investigated.
For the slope measurement, a novel FBG inclination sensor will be

proposed and its performance, including accuracy, resolution, repeatability,
response time and response under vibration, will be investigated.
Suggestions and recommendations for the FBG inclination sensors will
also be provided.
A series of simulation tests will be conducted to verify the performance of

the proposed vertical displacement measurement methods under various
conditions such as: different support conditions, varying flexural rigidities
along the spans, different loadings and with no prior knowledge of the
loading.
An experimental validation will also be carried out to investigate the

performances of the proposed methods using FBG sensors.
Recommendations for the vertical displacement measurements in bridges

will be provided.
1.3
SIGNIFICANCE AND SCOPE

The conventional vertical displacement measurement methods are often
impractical for structural health monitoring, as specialised operators are required and
measurements can be affected by weather. However, the vertical displacements are
one of the most relevant parameters for structural health monitoring of bridges in
both the short and long terms. They can be used to evaluate performance via loading
tests, rating the bridge capacity and predicting service life of bridges. Besides, in the
literature, only a limited number of researchers have investigated using vertical
displacements for damage identification. This may be due to the lack of accurate and
reliable vertical displacement measurement methods. As a consequence, the
displacement-based structural health monitoring (including performance monitoring
and damage identification) methods cannot compete with the vibration-based
structural health monitoring methods.
The proposed vertical displacement measurement methods are simple, but have
not attracted much attention in the literature. This is because the conventional
curvature and inclination sensors are based on electrical signals which are rarely
distinguished from noise, due to electro-magnetic interference (EMI) in the field.
Due to FBGs outstanding advantages including multiplexing capability,
immunity of EMI as well as high resolution and accuracy, the use of FBG sensors for
curvature and slope measurements are proposed and their performances are
investigated. As there is a lack of suitable FBG inclination sensors in the market for
fulfilling the requirements of the proposed vertical displacement methods, five FBG
inclination sensors were fabricated and tested for the verification tests of the
proposed vertical displacement measurement methods. Their performances,
including accuracy, resolution and sensitivity, are reported. Based on the experience
gained from the fabrication of the sensors, the friction at the joints of the sensors
highly affect the accuracy of the measurement. To overcome this limitation, a novel,
frictionless FBG inclination sensor with extremely high sensitivity and resolution is
proposed. Its performances in static and dynamic measurements are investigated
including accuracy, resolution and sensitivity, as well as response time and response
under vibration.
Due to the proposed vertical displacement measurement methods with FBG
sensing technology as well as the success of the FBG inclination sensor development,
the vertical displacements of bridges can be measured practically and simply. The
methods do not require a stationary reference, specialised person or large amount
data processing. They are also not affected by weather, such as rain and low visibility
in fog. The vertical displacement curve is determined instead of a point measurement.
The proposed methods can be used for developing a fully automatic vertical
displacement monitoring system for bridges.
This research focuses on the vertical displacement measurement methods for
beam-like bridges and their applications. As well, this research focuses on the
curvature and slope measurements of bridges using FBG sensors to implement the
proposed methods. With respect to FBGs, this research focuses on the FBG
technology that would make the measurement more practical.
1.4
THESIS OUTLINE
The thesis is organised into eight chapters as follows:
Chapter 1 introduces the background of this thesis and the research problem in
the area of vertical displacement measurement and application to bridges. The

significance and the scope are also presented.
Chapter 2 presents an overview of structural health monitoring of bridges. It
also reviews the conventional and modern vertical displacement measurement
methods of bridges as well as damage identification methods. Finally, a summary of
findings and the research problem are then presented.
Chapter 3 presents the algorithm of the proposed vertical displacement
measurement methods. The curvature and inclination approaches are presented.
Chapter 4 presents the overview of the FBG sensing technology including the
principle, sensing system, fabrication methods, stripping methods, hydrogen loading,
influence of exposure parameters on the mechanical strength of FBGs, characteristics
and types of FBG sensors. The curvature measurement using FBG strain sensors and
the development of the FBG inclination sensor are described. The performance of the
developed FBG inclination sensor is investigated, including the accuracy, resolution,
vibration response, oscillation effect, resonance and temperature variation.
Chapter 5 presents a series of simulation tests to verify the proposed vertical
displacement measurement methods that can be implemented with various support
conditions and various flexural rigidities along the spans, as well as under nonuniformly distributed loads. The self-compensation capacity of the measurement
methods is also demonstrated by selectively deactivating various numbers of sensors
in order to simulate that some sensors are faulty. The performance of the proposed
methods with noise of 10% in the measurements is also studied.
Chapter 6 presents two beam loading tests in the laboratory. The test beam was
installed with nine pairs of FBG strain sensors on the top surface and underneath
surface and five FBG inclination sensors for curvature and slope measurements. The
vertical displacements are measured using the proposed methods. The first test is to
apply an incremental loading at the mid-span. Another test is to apply loadings at
different locations along the span. The performances of the proposed methods are
presented.
Chapter 7 summarises the findings and the conclusions from this study.
Recommendations of the proposed vertical displacement measurement methods,
FBG inclination sensor development and further applications of vertical
displacements for bridges are provided.

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Chapter 1: Introduction

an important aspect in dynamic characteristics, e.g. fatigue analysis. Vertical

displacement measurement method using optical sensors for structural health

Due to geometry of beam type bridges such as slab-on-girder or box-girder

Due to the outstanding advantages of FBGs including multiplexing

For the slope measurement, a novel FBG inclination sensor will be

A series of simulation tests will be conducted to verify the performance of

An experimental validation will also be carried out to investigate the

Recommendations for the vertical displacement measurements in bridges

SIGNIFICANCE AND SCOPE

the area of vertical displacement measurement and application to bridges. The

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