EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF EMBEDDED FIBER-OPTIC

STRAIN GAUGES IN CONCRETE STRUCTURES

By S. F. Masri, ~ M. S. Agbabian, z A. M. Abdel-Ghaffar, 3 M. Higazy, 4

R. O. Claus, 5 and M. J. de Vries 6
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ABSTRACT" Embedded fiber-optic sensors have the potential of providing valuable

information about the condition of the host structure when these sensors are used
within an integrated health-monitoring network attached to the structure. Although
such sensors have been developed during the past 15 years for initial specialized
applications in aerospace, hydrospace, and biomedical systems, recent attention
has been given to the transitioning of these methods to the evaluation of civil
structures. This paper reviews the state of the art of the application of fiber-optic
sensors in the structural mechanics field and reports some of the results of an
experimental study concerned with the use of embedded short-gauge-length optical-
fiber sensors for the quantitative measurement of strain in reinforced concrete
structures. Assessment of the validity of the measurements was accompfished through
direct comparison between the performance of these sensors and collocated foil
strain gauges. Pairs of fiber sensor elements and reference foil strain gauges were
attached to specific rebar elements within a three-dimensional reinforcement cage
in a reinforced concrete beam-column assemblage. The fiber sensors were extrinsic
Fabry-Perot interferometric elements operating at 1,300 nm. The beam-column
joint was subjected to cyclic dynamic loads leading to significant strain levels.
Quantitative measurements of those strains were obtained from both the fiber and
foil strain gauges. Measured values of strains varied by about 5% between the two
types of sensors. Results of this study indicate that properly installed fiber-optic
strain gauges not only can survive the harsh environment involved in the embedment
process, but can also yield accurate quantitative strain information from reinforced
concrete structures.

INTRODUCTION

Background
T h e m o n i t o r i n g a n d c o n t r o l o f civil i n f r a s t r u c t u r e s y s t e m s a r e s u b j e c t s
that have received increasing attention due to the recognition by engineers
of t h e g r e a t p o t e n t i a l o f " s m a r t - s t r u c t u r e s " c o n c e p t s t o i m p r o v e t h e effi-
ciency a n d r e l i a b i l i t y o f l a r g e civil s t r u c t u r e s . T h e e n v i s i o n e d f u t u r e g e n -
e r a t i o n o f s m a r t s t r u c t u r e s will b e c a p a b l e o f a d a p t i n g to t h e i r c h a n g i n g
environment through the automatic actions furnished by on-line feedback
control algorithms, which rely on sensors and actuators that are incorporated
in t h e s t r u c t u r e s . I n d i c a t i v e o f t h e e x t e n t o f i n t e r e s t in t h o s e r e l a t e d fields
are t w o r e l a t i v e l y r e c e n t w o r k s h o p s t h a t w e r e c o n v e n e d b y t h e U . S . N a t i o n a l
Science F o u n d a t i o n : t h e 1988 " I n t e r n a t i o n a l W o r k s h o p o n N o n d e s t r u c t i v e

~Prof., Dept. of Civ. Engrg., Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, C A

90089-2531.
ZProf., Dept. of Civ. Engrg., Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA.
3Prof., Dept. of Civ. Engrg., Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA.
4Res. Assoc., Dept. of Civ. Engrg., Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles,
CA.
5Prof., Fiber & Electro-Optics Res. Ctr., Virginia Polytech. Inst. and State Univ.,
Blacksburg, V A 24061.
6Res. Asst., Fiber & Electro-Optics Res. Ctr., Virginia Polytech. Inst. and State
Univ., Blacksburg, VA.
Note. Discussion open until January 1, 1995. To extend the closing date one
month, a written request must be filed with the A S C E Manager of Journals. The
manuscript for this paper was submitted for review and possible publication on
October 22, 1993. This paper is part of the Journal of Engineering Mechanics, Vol.
120, No. 8, August, 1994. 9 ISSN 0733-9399/94/0008-1696/$2.00 + $.25 per
page. Paper No. 7243.

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J. Eng. Mech., 1994, 120(8): 1696-1717

 Evaluation for Performance of Civil Structures and the 1990 "U.S. National
Workshop on Structural Control Research." The proceedings of these work-
shops include long lists of research topics that require further investigation
and development before the full potential of smart structures is realized.
Among the key research topics that require further study are distributed
sensor networks that can be used not only to quantify various structural
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measurands, but also to conveniently communicate with the centralized data

processors.

Motivation
Over the past several decades, considerable resources were devoted by
telephone companies worldwide to develop and implement the technology
for economically producing high-grade optical fibers for communications
networks. The availability of such fibers has provided instrumentation en-
gineers with the opportunity to exploit the characteristics of the fibers for
sensing a variety of measurand transmitters. One such measurand trans-
mitter, which is essential for assessing the integrity of civil structures, and
can be measured by a properly configured fiber-optic network, is the strain,
which can be quantified at various locations within the structure (Butter
and Hocker 1978; Giallorenzi et al. 1982, Akhavan et al. 1985; Culshaw
and Dakin 1989; Sirkis and Haslach 1990; and Narendran et al. 1992).
Several types of fiber-optic strain sensors have been proposed and tested.
However, while there have been some field tests of fiber-optic strain gauges
in the structural engineering field (Huston e t a l . 1991; Fuhr et al. 1992;
Huston et al. 1992a, b, 1993), there is a paucity of quantitative information
about field testing of fiber-optic sensors that are embedded in materials of
construction used in the civil engineering field, particularly reinforced con-
crete. Not only is there a need for accurate assessment of the precision of
such gauges in quantifying strain measurements, but also there is a need to
look into implementation and deployment issues related to the degree of
ruggedness of these fiber-optic gauges when imbedded in concrete structures
under harsh environments, which are usually encountered in the construc-
tion field.

OPTICAL-FIBER MATERIAL AND PROPERTIES

Optical-fiber systems have been developed during the past 25 years for
primary applications in long-distance, high-speed digital information com-
munication. Optical fibers may also be applied to the measurement of en-
vironmental parameters such as strain, temperature, vibration, chemical
concentrations, and electromagnetic fields. Optical fibers are typically cy-
lindrical and fabricated from polymer, glass, or ceramic materials. They
consist of central core regions of material surrounded by concentric cladding
regions. Typical outer dimensions of fiber claddings are more than 100
microns; core dimensions are, in part, determined by the desired wave-
guiding properties of the fiber. The materials in the core and the cladding
of the fiber are designed to have slightly different indices of refraction. The
index of the core is required to be slightly greater than the index of the
cladding, so a relatively large family of light rays incident at the core/cladding
interface is repeatedly reflected back into the core of the fiber upon multiple
reflections and effectively contributes to light propagation along the length
of the fiber.
Light-ray propagation in the fiber may also be considered by solving the
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J. Eng. Mech., 1994, 120(8): 1696-1717

 electromagnetic waveguide equations in the core and cladding regions of
the fiber, equating solutions at the core/cladding interface, and identifying
proper solutions (Keiser 1991). Each unique solution to the propagation
equation is termed a different waveguide mode, and is specified by its spatial
periodicity in the radial, azimuthial, and fiber-axis dimensions. The number
of modes supported by a fiber may be controlled by varying the difference
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between the indices of refraction of the core and cladding, the outer diameter
of the core, and the optical wavelength of operation. For large numbers of
modes, half of the square of the normalized propagation constant of the
fiber, the V number given by
2~ra
V = X ~/n2 - n~ (1)

is approximately proportional to the number of modes in the fiber. Here,

a = radius of the core of the fiber; k = optical source wavelength in free
space; and nl and n2 = indices of refraction of the core and cladding ma-
terials, respectively. The fiber waveguide parameters in the expression for
the V number also control the apparent field of view or numerical aperture
(NA) of a fiber given by
NA = ~,/-n~ - n~ = no sin 0~ax (2)
where no = index of the material surrounding the end of the fiber and 0ma•
= angle between the front input surface of the fiber and the wave propa-
gation vector corresponding to the ray that enters the fiber at the steepest
angle and propagates down the guide by total internal reflection, as shown
in Fig. 1.
Fibers are termed single mode, two mode, few mode or multimode de-
pending upon the number of waveguide-mode solutions that exist for the
particular choice of material, waveguide, and source parameters (Buckman
1992). For V numbers below approximately 2.405, a number corresponding
to the first zero crossing of the radial field component basis function, a fiber
is single mode, that is, a single linearly polarized mode optical field solution
exists for the guide. If the fiber parameters are altered to increase the V
number to between approximately 2.4 and 3.8, a second linearly polarized
mode field solution exists; this one degenerates for circular-core fibers. The
degeneracy may be removed by distorting the shape of the fiber core into
an ellipse, resulting in a two-mode elliptical-core fiber (Blake 1987; Veng-

I ,'Refracted
no [ ,...' ray n2 Cladding
I ."~ ~ Reflected
. . . . . . 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

nl Core

n2 Cladding

FIG. 1. Basic Geometry of Optical Fiber Acceptance Angle

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 sarkar 1991; Wang 1991). Still further increases in V number lead to few
mode and multimode fibers.
Typical single-mode fiber-core diameters, for an optical wavelength of
operation of approximately one micron and conventional silica-fiber wave-
guide materials, are on the order of 10 microns or less. Multimode fiber
typically has a core diameter of 50 or 62.5 microns and can support thousands
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of discrete optical modes.

Finally, the materials which form the optical fiber and the coating ma-
terial, which surrounds the waveguiding region of the fiber, determine both
the thermal and mechanical performance of the fiber (of particular impor-
tance in civil structures) and determine which sensors can be fabricated
using the fiber. Most optical fibers are fabricated from silica, which has a
very low coefficient of thermal expansion on the order of 10-7/~ an index
of refraction of 1.458 for the core, and 1.456 for the cladding at room
temperature, at approximately a 1 micron wavelength, and a softening tem-
perature of approximately 1,000~ depending upon the levels and types of
impurities used to dope the glass.

OPTICAL-FIBER SENSORS
Optical-fiber sensors have been developed over the past 15 years for
applications in materials and structural analysis, electromagnetic field and
chemical concentration detection, and biomedical applications. Their ad-
vantages for measurements include inherent immunity to electromagnetic
interference; avoidance of ground loops; wide variety of measurand trans-
mitters, excellent dynamic range, accuracy, and resolution; operation at
temperatures up to approximately 800~ for silica fibers and up to 1,700~
for sapphire fibers; and avoidance of sparks for applications in explosive
environments such as those encountered along pipeline structures and oil
and gas-storage facilities.
Optical-fiber sensors may be categorized by their method of operation,
the optical field observable that is analyzed, or the environmental pertur-
bation that is detected. Broadly, such sensors may be distinguished as either
extrinsic or intrinsic devices. Light, which propagates in extrinsic fiber sen-
sors, exits the fiber at some point, interacts with the environment to be
analyzed, and reenters the input fiber, or another fiber connected to de-
tection optoelectronics. Intrinsic fiber sensors depend upon the modulation
of one or more of the optical field observables associated with the field that
propagates in the fiber itself to allow the measurement of external envi-
ronmental effects.
More specifically, optical fiber sensors may be classified according to the
environmental properties they are used to measure or the optical properties,
which are key to the performance of the measurement. Thus, optical-fiber
sensors for the detection of temperature, pressure, strain, vibration, chem-
ical concentrations, and many other phenomena may be described. To per-
form these measurements, variations in the phase, intensity, polarization,
wavelength, frequency, timing, or modal content of the optical-fiber field
are detected. Interferometric optical-fiber methods, which interrogate changes
in the phase of a single propagating optical field component, are the most
sensitive of these and provide a baseline for sensor comparison. They may
be implemented in several configurations and used for the detection of
strain, vibration, and acoustic-ultrasonic fields as described in this paper for
use in the evaluation of civil structures.
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 Optical-Fiber Interferometric Sensors
Optical interferometers measure the changes in the phase difference be-
tween light in different optical modes or paths. The phase difference is
observed as an intensity modulation dependent upon constructive and de-
structive interference. They are thus intrinsically differential methods that
rely on the existence of two or more optical paths in the measurement
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geometry. Several different geometries may be implemented depending

upon the arrangement of these paths using either bulk optic components or
equivalent in-line fiber components. Because the operation of each inter-
ferometer configuration depends upon the measurement of the phase of a
signal field with respect to the constant phase of one reference field, the
optical fiber used in these configurations must be single mode rather than
multimode. Alternative and strictly noninterferometric methods in the same
sense may use few-mode and multimode fibers.

lnterferometric Fiber Sensor Theory

The theory of operation for optical fiber interferometers is essentially the
same regardless of geometry. The delay in the optical phase, measured in
radians, of light travelling through a single-mode optical fiber is
+ = nk/~ (3)
where n = index of refraction of the core of the fiber; k = optical wave-
number in vacuum; and L = length of the fiber over which the phase delay
is measured. A small change in this phase delay, which may occur at some
position along the length of the fiber, may be expressed to first order as
Ogp OL On Ok
- + -- + -- (4)
qb L n k
Such a change may be associated with effects internal to the fiber for intrinsic
sensors in which light remains within the fiber waveguide all along its length,
or external to the fiber for extrinsic sensors in which light exits the fiber at
some point along the length, interacts with the local environment, then
reenters the waveguide and is transmitted to detection circuitry. Several
types of extrinsic and intrinsic fiber sensors have been used to monitor local
dynamic strain, ultrasonic wave motion on materials, and vibrational effects,
as described in this paper. Note that the interferometric cavity for intrinsic
interferometric sensors is a section of fiber, while for extrinsic inteffero-
metric sensors, this cavity is typically air. For the measurement of large
amplitude fields, cross terms such as
On
n. 0L (5a)

and
Ok
I,. oL (sb)
would appear in (5a,b) in the case of intrinsic sensor operation due to the
modulation of the index of refraction of the glass in the core of the fiber
due to the photoelastic effect, which occurs when the fiber is strained, and
the change that occurs in the propagation constant due to the strain-induced
deformation of the waveguide. Extrinsic sensors avoid such first-order cross-
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 sensitivity problems for small changes in strain, or similarly in temperature,
due to the relative insensitivity of air to external modulation effects.

INTERFEROMETRIC-FIBER SENSORS FOR STRUCTURES

Extrinsic Fabry-Perot Fiber Sensors
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The fiber-optic strain gauge arrangement for the extrinsic Fabry-Perot

(EEP) fiber sensor is shown in Fig. 2. A single mode fiber (k0 = 1,300 nm
chosen to allow simple low-cost system implementation) is used as the in-
put/output fiber, and a multimode fiber, used purely as a reflector, form
an air gap that acts as a low-finesse Fabry-Perot cavity. The far end of the
hollow-core tube is fused to the multimode fiber to accurately define the
right-hand limit of the sensor-gauge length. The hollow-core tube is then
attached to the single-mode fiber with an appropriate epoxy. The gauge
length is defined by the distance between the fused region and the left end
of the tube minus the length the epoxy wicks up into the tube. This value
is measured using a translation stage with an accuracy of _+5 ixm under a
microscope. The sensors used in this study were produced with typical gauge
lengths of 4 mm. The Fresnel reflection from the glass/air interface at the
front of the air gap (reference reflection) and the reflection from the air/glass
interface at the far end of the air gap (sensing reflection) interfere in the
input/output fiber.
Although multiple reflections occur within the air gap, the effect of re-
flections subsequent to the ones aforementioned can be shown to be neg-
ligible (Claus et al. 1992). As the test material is strained the silica tube,
and hence the air gap, changes in length, which causes a change in the phase
difference between the reference reflection and the sensing reflection. This
changes the intensity of the light monitored at the output arm of a coupler.
The interference of the two-wave interferometer can be evaluated in terms
of a plane-wave approximation. The observed intensity at the detector is a
superposition of the two reflections and can be shown to be (Claus and
Cantrell 1980)
Iaet = I U~ + U212 = A~ ~- A~ + 2A~A2 cos(qba - qb2) (6)
which can be written as

I,c, -- A 2 1 + a + 2stan[sin l(NA)]C~

+
(a + 2stan[sin-l(NA)l] ] (7)
where it has been assumed that d~l = 0; 42 = 2s(2~/h); and h = wavelength
of operation in free space. In (6) and (7) Ui(x, y, t) = complex amplitude
of the interfering electromagnetic waves; a = fiber core radius; t = trans-
mission coefficient of the air-glass interface (~0.96); s = separation; N A
= numerical aperture of the single-mode fiber, given by N A =
~ 2 - --~ . n2, nl = refractive index of the core; and n2 = refractive index of
the cladding.
The detected signal current is proportional to the phase difference be-
tween the two reflected optical fields, and thus to displacement or strain
(Murphy 1991a). Changes in the separation distance s between the surfaces
of the fibers aligned in the support tube produce modulation of the signal
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J. Eng. Mech., 1994, 120(8): 1696-1717

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single mode tape 5 minute epoxy multi mode

fiber ~ / tape

0
1 Mult imode fiber

J. Eng. Mech., 1994, 120(8): 1696-1717

Adhe s • ve

FIG. 2. Extrinsic Fabry-Perot Sensor System

 current. This modulation is sinusoidal, decreasing in amplitude as s in-
creases. By attaching the support tube and the input fiber to a material, the
gauge length of the extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometer (EFPI) sensor is
defined. Displacement or extension may be determined directly, and strain
then calculated as the ratio between the endface displacement measured
and this gauge length.
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An important field demonstration utilized these sensors during 10g load

fatigue tests on a metal F15 airframe (Murphy 1991b). Fig. 3 shows a com-
parison between the measured strain data obtained by the EFPI sensors
and conventional foil strain gauges located nearby on the underside of one
wing. The EFPI sensors demonstrated minimum detectable displacement
on the order of 0.t nm, or strain on the order of 0.01 ixstrain (more than
two orders of magnitude more sensitive than the foil strain gauge), the EFPI
and foil strain gauge sensor signals differed by less than 1% over the entire
test, hysteresis was negligible, and the EFPI sensor elements operated, as
analytically modeled, in a practical aircraft test environment, attached to a
structural component.
Other applications of these sensors include their use to measure cracks
in composite ceramic filter material (Murphy 1991c), the detection of ul-
trasonic surface and bulk elastic stress waves (Claus et al. 1992), and the
measurement of loading on a reinforced concrete bridge (Wang et al. 1992).

Weighted Optical Fiber Sensors for Structural Modal Analysis

Another interesting potential application of optical fiber sensors is in the
selective measurement of specific vibrational modes of structures (Murphy
et al. 1992). This may be especially important for the real-time active control
of large civil structures. Two methods have been used to weight the sen-
sitivity of a fiber along its length. The first utilizes differences in the prop-
agation constants between the first two modes in a fiber which may be
achieved by writing a photoinduced refractive index grating in germanium-

Cyclic Loading
2200
o Str~n
2000 -
9 Optical g:~
1800 -

1600- ~o
9 ~o
l ~r b ~'~ db e 4
14oo- ~ ~' i d~ .-" i, ot i
.=. fb
12oo..
1000- P l
9 tb ! i 4 ,l
800 - ~ o
9 P p i i o ,'. = i
600 -
9 "t =,, ?.i
400 - b
~..'~ ~9 "q
200 - j ~

O -- ,
0 4; 8; I;~0 160 200
Time (Seconds)
FIG. 3. Fiber Sensor Measurements for F15 Test

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 doped, two-mode, elliptical core fiber. The output signal from an interfer-
ometric sensor employing such a fiber can be expressed as
I(t) = Io + I,c cos[+(t)] (8)
where + = phase difference between the LPol and the L P ~ e" modes and
can be written as
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+(t) = ~: A~,q(X)e(x, t) dx (9)

where e = strain experienced by the fiber; AI3eq = difference in the prop-

agation constants of the LPm and LP~I ~" modes; and x = longitudinal
direction along the fiber axis. To evaluate the vibration modes of a simple
clamped-clamped beam, for example, we express strain as
aay(x, t)
~(x, t) - ax 2 (10)
where y(x, t) = deflection on the beam away from its equilibrium point.
We decompose the solution for y(x, t) by writing

y(x, t) = ~ ,n(x)~o(t) (11)

n=l

where +,(x) = mode shapes of the beam; and G(t) = modal amplitudes.
Substitution of (9)-(11) and integration by parts leads to the equation

+(t) = ~_ G(t)
n=l [ Q(L) +
so A[3"q(X)*n(x)dx
] (12)

for a particular mode number n, where

Q(L) = [A~eq(X)l~Irn(X)]L (13)
and the prime indicates spatial derivative with respect to x. The key to the
weighted-sensing approach is that the vibration mode shapes are orthogonal,
i.e.

fOLl~m(X)On(X ) dx = ~nm (14)

where gmn = Kronecker delta. Comparison suggests the picking of a possible

weighting function given by Al3"q(X) = *n(x). Alternatively, the same type
of filtering effect may be realized using a taper in the diameter of the fiber
along its length.
The potential importance of such integrated effect weighted fiber sensors
for structural control lies in the internal signal processing which the sensor
performs on the modal information detected. This type of processing may
be used to simplify structural control hardware and software systems.

EXPERIMENTAL APPARATUS
Specimen Fabrication
The test specimen was a one-third scale model of a reinforced concrete
m ultistory frame joint prototype. The choice of the one-third scale was
dictated by the capacity of the testing machine. Details of the test article
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J. Eng. Mech., 1994, 120(8): 1696-1717

 are shown in Fig. 4 and a photograph of the fabricated specimen is shown
in Fig. 5.
The concrete mix was designed according to UBC 2605 (d) 3B. Ordinary
portland cement type IX was used with a m~iximum aggregate size of 0.375
in. and a water/cement ratio of 0.76 by weight. The mix had a 5 in. slump
and yielded a 27 MPa (4 ksi) average strength at 28 days. A 3.0 fl oz.
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pozzolan 322 N was admixed to every 100 lb of cement. Grade 60 reinforcing

steel of minimum yield stress of 410 MPa (60 ksi) and tensile strength of
520 MPa (75 ksi) was used. Number 3 deformed rebars were used for
longitudinal reinforcement of the beam and column, and number 2 smooth
bars were used for the beam's stirrups and the column's hoops.

Test Article
Details of the test rig are shown in Fig. 6. The specimen was tested in a
horizontal plane with the boundary conditions designed to provide the nec-
essary points of contraflexure at the end of the beam and column. The beam
and column ends were bolted to steel angles and capped with plates 1/2 in.
thick. A set of links and base plates were used to provide the necessary
boundary conditions. Prescribed displacements were imposed on the beam
end that was mounted on the shake table. The seismic shake table system
used here is a two-station, precision, electro-hydraulic testing apparatus
designed for imposing dynamic loads in the seismic range of frequencies.
The servo-hydraulic devices comprise two shake tables equipped with hy-
drostatic bearings, two series hydraulic actuators and their associated servo
valves, two series hydraulic service manifolds, and a series hydraulic power
supply. Each actuator has a +_5.6 kips static capacity and a stroke of -+ 2
in. The system's feedback controller provides different schemes for motion
generation.

Instrumentation
The lateral displacement imposed by the hydraulic actuator was measured
by a built-in transducer, while the driving force was measured by a force
gauge. Information about the deflection of the test structure at various
locations was obtained through the use of several linear variable differential
transformers (LVDTs).
Strain gauges were placed on the main steel rebars and on selected beam
and column stirrups. All rebar and stirrup surfaces were ground to the
required smoothness at the appropriate gauge location prior to attachment.
Surface cleaning then followed using a spray degreaser. A special catalyst
was applied to the bonding face of the conventional gauge, which was
instantaneously glued by Cyanoacrylate adhesive. Adequate pressure was
imposed on the gauge surfaces to ascertain full bonding.
Two fiber-optic strain-gauges (EFPI sensors) were attached at each con-
ventional gauge location to allow correlation analysis between the different
modes of measurements. The EFPI sensors were bonded to the steel bars
by means of an epoxy adhesive. Waterproofing with a silicon layer then
followed to prevent gauge damage.
Details of the instrumentation setup and data acquisition system for the
test specimen are shown in Fig. 7. An overall photograph of the test article,
fixture, and loading apparatus is shown in Fig. 8.
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J. Eng. Mech., 1994, 120(8): 1696-1717

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Hoope

[scsl
~nO.2

! 6,0.
i;
, i
e,O, a-~ 8o0, A-A
;J
Z 8--y
8

N
I 1 o

nO,2 S~lr'F'upo
,i
rio , :2 E~ 5 l/2 .I 3 ~':I 3 i,~

J. Eng. Mech., 1994, 120(8): 1696-1717

4 "'1 I I i~ ,,.

62 3/4

0~B~9$onB I~ InC~G5

FIG. 4. Details of Reinforced Concrete Test Structure

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FIG. 5. Photograph of Fabricated Test Specimen

EXPERIMENTS
Test Procedure
A simple technique was adopted to prevent out-of-plane motion during
testing while maintaining a minimum friction level. Multilayer lubricated
steel sheets were mounted at predefined locations to ensure the specimen
horizontal leveling and inhibit out-of-plane twisting. The level of friction
energy dissipation was minimized by proper lubrication of all pins and joints.
All pins were designed to act in a single or double shear mode, rather than
flexure, in order to prevent premature yielding resulting from cyclic bending
of the pins' cross sections.
To achieve accurate deflection measurements, a series of preliminary tests
was performed along with an elastic analysis for the test-rig components.
Column prestressing was achieved by a 1/2 in. threaded rod as a prestressing
tendon. The rod was either compressed or tensioned by reversing the di-
rection of the applied torque. The axial load level was monitored by an on-
line voltmeter and controlled through a strain gauge mounted on the pre-
stressing tendon.
A sequence of tests was conducted to study the performance of the fiber-
optic gauges under a variety of static and dynamic loads. In each test, a
load-controlled column axial straining was imposed simultaneously with a
displacement-controlled cyclic transverse loading on the beam. While the
axial load was kept constant, the transverse cyclic loading was progressively
increased every few cycles, and the time history of the excitation as well as
the output of the foil gauges and fiber-optic gauges were acquired and stored
on-line through the use of an A/D converter.
A photograph of the fully instrumented test article after testing to failure
is shown in Fig. 9. Details of the inlet/outlet interface between the fiber-
optic gauges and the structural member are shown in Fig. 10.
Each test was carried out in three consecutive stages representing 30%,
60%, and 100% of the ultimate displacement capacity of the test specimen.
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USC-Synchron 1 zecl Shal~ 1 ng-Tal~ Ie Sye'l:em

[l~l'yO'Pau! tQ A='cu=l;or- ( 2 ) I

e
IIIll
l l~
=~e~ing-TaDto t2

0 0 ..... ; I ..... I
@ o o o o o o o o
-3 O~o o o o ~t
0
o o o o o o o o

@ o o o o o o o o @ , o o o o o @1
o o o o o o o o ~ o o o o o
@ o o o o o o o o @ .~ .o. 9 o. ~ ~ 9 .~ o o o o o @1
io Ioll ,~ o...' o...:
o o o o o o o o 9 M ,. , ~' ",.O ~ ,* , , , ~ = ' . o o o o o
o o o o o o o o

J. Eng. Mech., 1994, 120(8): 1696-1717

o o o o o o QI

c C ~
.~'-o
.4~
I I I
18 ' -0.
1-
I
FIG. 6. Test Apparatus Used to Impose Dynamic Loads
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O
r

J. Eng. Mech., 1994, 120(8): 1696-1717

FIG. 7. Measurement System: (a) Instrumentation and Sensor Locations; (b) Data Acquisition System
 Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by Johannesburg University on 03/10/16. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.

FIBER-OPTIC S.GAUGE

CONVENTIONAL
FIBER-OPTIC LEADS STRAIN GAUGE

BEAM

-3 STIRRUPS
BEAM
LONG.

J. Eng. Mech., 1994, 120(8): 1696-1717

S.GAUGE LEAD

FIBER-OPTIC S.GAUGE
COLUMN HOOPS
(b)
FIG. 7. (Continued)
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FIG. 8. Overall View of Test Article

Damage assessment and crack tracing was performed at the end of each
test stage. A force gauge was used to monitor the compressive stress as well
as the restoring force at the beam tip. Stiffness degradation, crushing, and
spalling of concrete were used as measures of failure. Sample force-defor-
mation results, which provide clear evidence of cyclic degradation, for the
test article are shown in Fig. 11.

Measurements
In a typical test, dynamic measurements were acquired on line through
the use of A/D converters and were stored for later processing. Using the
theoretical results presented in earlier sections of this paper, the raw photo-
optical data were processed to extract strain measurements. Sample plots
of raw data corresponding to dynamic strain versus time are shown in Fig.
12. The trace in Fig. 12(a) corresponds to a fiber-optic strain-gauge output,
while the corresponding measurements from a collocated metal strain gauge
are shown in Fig. 12(b). The superimposed curves shown in Fig. 12(c)
provide a high resolution segment of the dynamic strain, in which the solid
line corresponds to the raw strain measurement obtained through the use
of the EFPI sensor and the dashed line corresponds to the output of a
conventional metal strain gauge. Eq. (7) is used to obtain the change in
sensor air-gap length from the plotted phase information in Fig. 12. The
gauge length, together with the change in air-gap length, provide the strain
information. Comparison of the processed strain data corresponding to a
representative fiber-optic gauge and a collocated-metal-foil gauge is shown
in Fig. 13.
As explained in the section entitled "Experimental Apparatus," the na-
ture of the hardware components used in conjunction with test apparatus
resulted in some dead-space nonlinearities in the pin joints, which is reflected
in the nonsymmetric form of the strain time-history curve. However, careful
inspection of the two curves corresponding to the independent strain mea-
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J. Eng. Mech., 1994, 120(8): 1696-1717

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FIG. 9. Photograph of Fully Instrumented Test Structure after Testing to Failure

surements shown in Fig. 13 reveals excellent agreement both qualitatively

and quantitatively. There is excellent fidelity as far as linearity is concerned,
and no hysteretic distortions.

COMMENT

This exploratory study of the feasibility of using embedded fiber-optic

strain gauges to monitor the strain time history of reinforced concrete struc-
tures clearly demonstrates that, with proper attention to instrumentation
and installation details, accurate and reliable quantitative measurements
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J. Eng. Mech., 1994, 120(8): 1696-1717

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FIG. 10. Details of Inlet-Outlet Interface between Optical Fibers and Test Structure

2500

2000

1500 SC1 (HSTI) I

P c / P u = 5 % [Tension} "'"
......i
1000! ........ ! ................... i...........

I:
...." ....
o 5001
0
I.L
C~ 0
e-"
"E
-500
"i .... ~ .... i.......... i .......... i ......... i ......
rr
-1000 9i .......... i .......... ! .......... i . . . . . .

I : : p :
-1500
/ i i [ Pu: ULTIMATE COLUMN CAPACITf I
/ ~ ! ! : :
-2000

I i I I
-2500
-1 9 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5
Lateral Displacement "in"
FIG. 11. Sample Force-Deformation Results for Test Structure

can be obtained 9 As demonstrated in this study, the fiber-optic sensors are

capable of yielding strain measurements at discrete points anywhere in a
test structure. Of course, the fiber-optic sensors can also be h o o k e d up in
a way to provide an integrated strain measurement along the length of the
embedded or attached fiber.

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J. Eng. Mech., 1994, 120(8): 1696-1717

 2000 i ~ 1 , 1

1000 .... tt
o
O

-1000
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O
-2000

-300C
500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 :J500 4000

Acquired Data Points

1000

iiOouoeOuOii::il
O 0

-lOOO
@

-2000
....iiilMe,ai: ;: . :iili ........::' ............fl ......i ' iii.........
iiiii
i 9 i
1 i t I
-3O0O
500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000
Acquired Data Points

...... Metal Foil Gauge

20(10 . . . . . . . . ,............... i..........
1500 -~ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"5
lOoo ....... i... ................
O
Q)
500 ]:.~C ..............
(D
| 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

o
-5oo~......... ............

-IOOO .........

-I500 .......

-2000 f i
0 0.5 1.5 2.5 3.5 4 4.5

Acquired Data Points

FIG. 12. Sample Results of Dynamic Strain Measurements

W h i l e t h e p r e s e n t s t u d y w a s successful in m e e t i n g its goals, it is w o r t h w h i l e

to k e e p in m i n d t h a t t h e r e a r e n u m e r o u s t e c h n i c a l c h a l l e n g e s a n d r e s e a r c h
issues t h a t n e e d m o r e i n f o r m a t i o n a n d r e q u i r e f u r t h e r i n v e s t i g a t i o n . Fol-
lowing is a b r i e f list o f s o m e o f t h e p r o b l e m s r e q u i r i n g f u r t h e r s t u d y a n d

1714

J. Eng. Mech., 1994, 120(8): 1696-1717

 p~lq

1,0

0`1

0,4

0.2
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v 0,0

&,,,,
[,x,,]
-0.2

-0.4
,,,, ,,,,, o.,0
-0.6

-0.8 .J
","~. i\
,,i ~.~. #
it ....~
rJ-O.Oe
~
-I.0 / - , - , - , - , . 10.04
I I l I I 10

Time (sec)

FIG. 13. Comparison of Fiberoptic and Metal Foil Gauge Strain Measurements

evaluation:

9 Problems related to the embedding of fiber-optic sensors in concrete

during the casting process.
9 Modifications to normal casting process, with special emphasis de-
voted to the inlet and outlet from the structural member, since this
is the most vulnerable point for these sensors during the handling
operations involved in the installations of the sensors. Requirements
fof~'protective devices for the fibers at the interface need to be
developed and evaluated.
9 Effects and influence of the bonding material used to attach the
gauges at particular locations.
9 Degree of linearity of fiber-optic gauges with deformation level,
particularly at high strain level.
9 Degradation of gauge bond due to load level.
9 Influence of fiber-optic coating type on sensitivity of measurements
and on the capability to resist handling effects.
9 Long-range aging effects on embedded sensors.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

This paper reviews the state of the art of the application of fiber-optic
sensors in the structural mechanics field, and reports some of the results of
an experimental study concerned with the use of embedded short-gauge-
length optical-fiber sensors for the quantitative measurement of strain in
reinforced concrete structures. Assessment of the validity of the measure-
ments was accomplished through direct comparison between the perfor-
mance of these sensors and collocated-foil strain gauges: Pairs of fiber-sensor
elements and reference foil strain gauges were attached to specific rebar
elements within a three-dimensional reinforcement cage in a reinforced
concrete beam-column assemblage. The fiber sensors were extrinsic Fabry-
Perot interferometric elements operating at 1,300 nm. The beam-column
joint was subjected to cyclic dynamic loads leading to significant strain levels.
Quantitative measurements of those strains were obtained from both the

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J. Eng. Mech., 1994, 120(8): 1696-1717

 fiber and foil strain gauges. M e a s u r e d values of strains varied by about 5%
between the two types of sensors. Results of this study indicate that properly
installed fiber-optic strain gauges not only can survive the harsh environment
involved in the e m b e d m e n t process, but can also yield accurate quantitative
strain information from reinforced concrete structures.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This study was s u p p o r t e d in part by the National Science Foundation,
the Carpenters/Contractors C o o p e r a t i o n Committee, Inc., concrete re-
search project at USC, and the V P I F i b e r & Electro-Optics Research Cen-
ter. The assistance of R. Bueche in the experimental part of the study is
appreciated.

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