Long-term reliability assessment of OBR based DOFS on reinforced concrete elements

Abstract

The authors conducted a laboratory experiment where two reinforced concrete beams were instrumented with a Distributed Optical Fiber Sensors that were adhered to allow the measuring of strain on four different longitudinal segments on their bottom surface. A fatigue test was then conducted on these elements where the load range was the one expected on a standard highway bridge between its permanent and the additional traffic load. Furthermore, each longitudinal segment of the DOFS was adhered to the concrete using a different adhesive in order to assess the optimal one in these fatigue conditions. The obtained data is then compared with strain gauges that were also instrumented on the concrete beams.