Using optical fibre sensors for structural health monitoring of Tsing Ma Bridge

Optical fibre sensors have been extensively employed as real-time damage detection tools in advanced aircraft and space vehicles. However, the practical applications of this kind of sensors to real civil engineering structures have not been widely adopted. A structural health monitoring system - Wind and Structural Health Monitoring System (WASHMS) for the Tsing Ma Bridge has been operated since the bridge commissioning in May 1997. This paper presents a study using fiber Bragg grating sensors to measure strain responses of the Tsing Ma Bridge and compare the results with those obtained from W ASHMS using traditional resistive strain gauges. The measurement results using FBG sensors were in excellent agreement with those acquired by WASHMS.