Bridge Spatial Displacement Monitoring with Fiber Optic Deformations Sensors

Our laboratory fitted an highway bridge near Geneva (Switzerland) with more than 100 low-coherence fiber optic deformation sensors. The Versoix Bridge is a classical concrete bridge consisting in two parallel prestressed concrete beams supporting a 30 cm concrete deck and two overhangs. To enlarge the bridge, the beams were widened and the overhang extended. In order to increase the knowledge on the behaviour between the old and the new concrete, low-coherence fiber optic sensors was chosen in order to measure the displacements of the fresh concrete during the setting phase and to monitor its long term deformations. The aim is to retrieve the spatial displacements of the bridge in an earth-bound coordinate system by monitoring its internal deformations. The curvature of the bridge is measured locally at multiple locations along the bridge span by installing sensors at different distances from the neutral axis. By taking the double integral of the curvature and respecting the boundary conditions, it is than possible to retrieve the deformation of the bridge. The choice of the optimal emplacement of the sensors and the mathematical model required to interpreter the results are also presented.