Multi-Cross-Reference Method for Highway-Bridge Damage Identification Based on Long-Gauge Fiber Bragg-Grating Sensors

Abstract

Highway bridges are vital infrastructure engineering whose safety severely influences the safety and stability of society. Damage identification, as the core part of structural health monitoring, plays an essential role in highway-bridge maintenance to help detect potential damage. There have been many studies conducted, with various damage identification methods proposed. However, there are still several problems with the durability of sensors and the reliability of methods, such as the issue of false alarm. Under this background, this paper proposed a multi-cross-reference method for highway-bridge damage identification method utilizing long-gauge fiber Bragg-grating (FBG) sensors. Through several numerical simulations and on-site testing, its feasibility under various conditions was verified. The results demonstrated that through this method the location of damage can be accurately identified with error of less than 5% in identified damage extent.