APPLICATION OF DISTRIBUTED FIBRE OPTIC

SENSOR IN INSTRUMENTED PILE LOAD TEST

B.P. Tee1, A.S.A. Rashid2, R.A. Abdullah3, K.A. Kassim4, H. Mohamad5
1,2,3,4
Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
5
Department of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, 32610 Bandar Seri Iskandar, Perak,
Malaysia

Received Date: 07/06/2017

ABSTRACT
In instrumented axial pile load test, obtaining reliable strain profile is crucial when analysing the
load-transfer and shaft friction of the test pile. For conventional instrumented pile load test, point-
based sensor such as vibration wire strain gauges and tell-tale extensometers were installed to
measure strains and pile shortenings at designated pile depth. To obtain reliable strain profile,
extensive quantity of point-based sensor need to be installed in the instrumented test pile especially
when the test pile is long and with large variation in soil stratum. Recent technological
advancement of optical fibre sensing has led new ways in measuring the performance of
instrumented test pile. The distributed sensing, namely Brillouin Optical Time Domain Analysis
(BOTDA) is a novel technique of measuring strains in a continuous manner which has inherent
distinct advantages over conventional point-based sensors. This article presents one of the earliest
deployment BOTDA optical fibre sensors in instrumented test pile in Malaysia. Comparison was
made with conventional point-based sensor and it show excellent agreement. Interpretation of load-
transfer and shaft friction based on distributed fibre optic sensor method was also discussed.

Keywords: Bored pile, BOTDA, Distributed Fibre Optic Sensor, Instrumented Load Test

Introduction
A new method to measure the performance of pile was developed by using a fibre optic
sensing system which involves the unique marriage of fibre optics, optoelectronics and
composite material science [1,2]. Several advantages could be gained from this fibre-optic
sensor such as geometrical adaptability, dual task of sensor and path for transmission of the
signal, precision and sensitivity over large measurement ranges, and immunity to
electromagnetic interference and electrical hazard. In addition, this technology is capable
to sense over its full length of the single optical fibre cable (potentially up to 100km long)
against any strain and temperature changes. Therefore, a single optical fibre can substitute
thousands point of strain gauges and could provide a cheaper sensing method to monitor
deformation of large or long extended structures. Furthermore, distributed strain sensing is
often considered more important than having a very accurate localized strain sensor but
limited in numbers particularly when evaluating the interaction of forces between the
structure and the soil [3]. This method has been widely use in measuring the performance
of geotechnical structure such as piled foundations [4,5], retaining walls [6], and tunnels
[7]. In this paper, an instrumented bored pile performed in Malaysia on the basis of
distributed fibre optic strain sensing was explained which consist of the field study
background, measurement principles, installation methods and data interpretation. The
obtained result from the conventional vibrating wire strain gauges and tell-tale
extensometer were compared with the data from the Distributed Fibre Optic Sensor.
Distributed Fibre Optic Sensing (FO) Technology
A commercially available Brillouin Optical Time Domain Analysis (BOTDA) interrogator
(OZ Optic Ltd.) was used in this study to measure the load distribution characteristic along
the pile shaft. Two different light sources were employed on the BOTDA system and
launched from two ends of an optical circuit. The system uses the backward stimulated
Brillouin scattering (SBS) where the pumping pulse light launched at one end of the fibre
and propagates in the fibre, while the continuous wave (CW) light is launched at the
opposite end of the fibre and propagates in the opposite direction. The pump pulse
generates backward Brillouin gain whereas the CW light interacts (amplifies) with the
pump pulse light to create stimulated Brillouin scattering. The Brillouin frequency shift in
the single mode fibre is proportional to the change in the strain of that scattering location.
By resolving this frequency shifts and the propagation time, a full strain profile can
subsequently be obtained. The 5.0 mm diameter optical sensing cable arrangement is
shown in Figure 1. It is specifically designed for embedded in cast-in-situ concrete pile.
The fibre optic sensing cable consists of a single core single mode optical fibre reinforced
with six strands of steel wires and polyethylene cable jacket. The external plastic coating
and the inner glass core are fixed together so that the strain applied externally (from the
concrete) is fully transferred from the coating to the inner core.

Polyethylene
cable jacket
0.9mm Ø
Fibre Optic Polyethylene
Cable (0.25mm Ø) Cable Jacket
(1.2mm Thick)
6 nos. of 0.8mmØ
steel wire
Steel wire

Hytrel
5.0 mm Ø

Figure 1: Arrangement of optical strain sensing cable.

Background of the Test Pile

A static load test was carried out on an instrumented bored pile with a dimension of 23.9m
length and 1200mm diameter (Figure 2). It was encountered that the ground conditions
consist of fairly uniform sandy silt residual soil with bedrock underlain the sandy silt layer.
The test pile for this project was designed to undertake full shaft friction only by ignoring
the contribution of base resistance.
 TO BOTDA TO BOTDA
ANALYZER Fibre Optic Strain
ANALYZER
Sensing Cable (S1)

3.00 m
Link Main Steel
LEVEL 1
Reinforcement
S
1
- Bored Pile
FIBRE OPTIC Fibre Optic Temperature

4.00 m
Sensing Cable (T1)
TEMPERATURE
SENSOR
y T

S
T
S
y
12T25
LEVEL 2 CONCRETE Fibre Optic Strain
GRADE C35 Sensor Cable (S2)
S
FIBRE OPTIC

x
5.00 m

STRAIN SENSOR

SECTION 1
-

LEVEL 3

LEGEND:
VIBRATING WIRE STRAIN GAUGE
3.50 m

(VWSG) (2 NOS. VWSG AT EACH LEVEL)

VIBRATING WIRE STRAIN GAUGE
(VWSG) (4 NOS. VWSG AT EACH LEVEL)
LEVEL 4
S OR FIBRE OPTIC STRAIN SENSOR (2 PAIRS
5.00 m

AT EACH PILE)
LEVEL 5 OR FIBRE OPTIC TEMPERATURE SENSOR
T (1 PAIR AT EACH PILE)
2.90 m

LEVEL 6
0.50 m

INSTRUMENTATION SETUP DETAILS OF 1200mm Ø BORED PILE

Figure 2: Instrumentation setup, bored pile detail and standard penetration test (SPT-N)
values of bored hole.

Instrumentation
Figure 3 shows the installation of vibrating wire strain gauges (VWSG), distributed fibre
optic sensing cables for measuring strain changes in the pile. Tell-tale extensometers were
also installed to measure pile shortening. As indicated in Figure 2, pairs of VWSG was tied
to the main reinforcement bars at Level 1 to Level 5 and two pairs of VWSG were tied to
Level 6. Two pairs of distributed fibre optic strain sensing cable (S1a-S1b & S2a-S2b)
were also fixed to the main reinforcement bars from top to toe of pile (see Fig. 2). Another
pair of distributed temperature sensing cable (T1a-T1b) was also installed side by side with
the S2a-S2b cable to measure the temperature changes in order to compensate the
differential temperature effect to strain reading during each round of measurement in case
of any. All the fibre optic strain sensing cables were fixed straight along the main
reinforcement placed at 900 separations. The VWSGs electrical lead wires were brought to
the top of the pile with all the cables tied to the steel cage. The casing for rod extensometer
(Galvanised iron) was mounted and installed on the reinforcement cages.
In order to load the pile to the designed load, a pair of 1500 tonnes hydraulic jack was
used as shown in Figure 4. Load cell and Linear Voltage Displacement Transducers
(LVDTs) were used to measure the amount of load transferred and pile top settlement to
pile, respectively.
 Optical Fibre
Strain Sensing Vibrating Wire
Cable Strain Gauge

Optical Fibre
Temperature
Extensometer Sensing Cable

Figure 3: Installation of VWSG, extensometer, and optical fibre strain sensing cables.

Load Cell
Hydraulic
Jack

LVDT

Figure 4: Configuration of hydraulic jacks, load cells, LVDTs setup at pile top.

Load Test Procedures

ASTM D1143 (Standard Test Method for Piles Under Static Axial Compressive Load)
standard was referred to conduct the maintained load test [9]. The test pile was loaded up
to two load cycles. The deformation was taken for every 15 minutes during the loading and
unloading stage and the transducer readings were taken at 15 minutes for the first hour and
hourly interval thereafter at the maximum load at each cycle. A spatial resolution of 5ns
was set on the BOTDA analyser, which is equivalent to a gauge length of 50cm. However,
the reading trace can be plotted at every 5cm along the cable’s distance based on 10,000
averaging times (done automatically) to increase measurement accuracy. Prior to that, each
optical sensing cable used in the field test must be calibrated in laboratory; in this case the
strain coefficient obtained was 20µε/MHz.

Data Analysis and Interpretation

Axial and bending strains
The derivation of pile axial deformation from optical fibre sensor is done by averaging the
strain along two fibres placed symmetrically (at 180o separation) with respect to the axis.
As shown in Figure 9, the measured strains ε1 and ε2 can be used to derive the quantities of
axial components; axial strain in Eq. (1) and axial displacement, u or elastic compression
in Eq. (2).
ε (z) = (ε 1 + ε 2)/2 (1)
u(z) = ò e dz (2)

In case when loading at the top of the pile is not symmetrical such as eccentric load,
which can induce moment, the measurement of bending moment can be calculated by
looking at the curvature changes, κ between two opposite fibres [5].
κ (z) = (ε 1 - ε 2)/D = M/EI (3)
where, D is distance between the two fibres or diameter of pile,
M is bending moment, and
EI is flexural stiffness of the pile.

Measurement Results
Figure 5 shows the pile load displacement curve. At the first cycle, test load of 11802kN
induced settlement of 4.86mm, and at 22163kN in the second cycle, the settlement at the
pile top was 14.5mm. The maximum pile top settlement was about 1.25% of pile diameter
at 200% working load (WL).

% Pile diameter
-0.15 0.05 0.25 0.45 0.65 0.85 1.05 1.25
24000 225

22000
200
20000
% Pile Top Imposed Working Load
175
18000

16000 150
Axial Load (kN)

14000
125
12000
100
10000

8000 75

6000
50
4000
25
2000

0 0
-2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Se lement (mm)

Figure 5: Load displacement for test pile.

Figures 6(a) and (b) show comparison of the strain measurements from vibrating wire
strain gauges (VWSG) and Fibre Optic (FO) sensors, both of which showed excellent
agreement between them.
 Strain, (me )
0 -200 -400 -600 -800 -1000 -1200 -1400
0

4
-1500.0
6

8 -1250.0
y=x
F.O. - 25% WL y = 1.0422x
Pile Depth, (m)

10 R² = 0.968
F.O. - 50% WL
-1000.0
F.O. - 75% WL
12 F.O. - 100% WL

VWSG, me
F.O. - 125% WL
14 F.O. - 150% WL -750.0
F.O. - 175% WL
16 F.O. - 200% WL
V.W.S.G. - 25% WL -500.0
V.W.S.G. - 50% WL
18
V.W.S.G. - 75% WL
V.W.S.G. - 100% WL -250.0
20 V.W.S.G. - 125% WL
V.W.S.G. - 150% WL
22 V.W.S.G. - 175% WL
0.0
V.W.S.G. - 200% WL
0.0 -250.0 -500.0 -750.0 -1000.0 -1250.0 -1500.0
24 Fibre Optic Sensor, m e

(a) (b)
Figure 6: Comparison of strain distribution between FO & VWSG.

To convert strain measurement to the load distribution along the pile shaft, P(z) at each
level, the following formula was used:
P(z) = ε (Ec Ac + Es As) (4)
where
ε = average change in strain readings
Ac = cross-sectional area of concrete
Ec = modulus of concrete
As = cross-sectional area of steel reinforcement
Es = Young's Modulus of elasticity in steel (= 200 kN/mm2)
The modulus of concrete under loading, Ec are known to be strained-dependent
particularly at high stresses region [10]. Ec is back-calculated by assuming that the load at
near pile top was equal to the applied load at the pile top. Figure 7 shows the comparison
of Ec back-calculated based on both FO and VWSG that shows excellent agreement. By
adapted the strain-dependent relationship of concrete modulus, the load distribution along
pile shaft was computed as shown in Figure 8. It can be seen that the load transferred to the
pile as being mainly through its shaft friction. Very little load is transferred to the base as
the strain measured at pile base was very minimum. Further comparative plots of the field
case study can be referred to [8].
 100

Secant Modulus of Concrete, Ec (kN/mm2)

90

80

70

60

50

40 VWSG : y = -0.0145x + 31.407

30 FO: y = -0.0123x + 30.108
20

10

0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300
Change in Strain (x 10-6)

Figure 7: Strained-dependent Concrete Modulus, Ec (FO vs VWSG).

Load (kN)
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000
0

8
Depth of Pile (m)

10

12
F.O. - 50% WL
F.O. - 75% WL
14 F.O. - 100% WL
F.O. - 125% WL
F.O. - 150% WL
F.O. - 175% WL
16
F.O. - 200% WL
VWSG - 50% WL
VWSG - 75% WL
18
VWSG - 100% WL
VWSG - 125% WL
VWSG - 150% WL
20 VWSG - 175% WL
VWSG - 200% WL

22

24

Figure 8. Load distribution along pile shaft (FO vs VWSG).

 With the complete load transferred distribution along the pile, the mobilised shaft
friction, τ(z) can be obtained by differentiating Eq. (4) as follow:
1 ∂P EA ∂ ε
τ (z) = = (5)
πD ∂z πD ∂z
Mobilised shaft friction was computed and plotted as shown in Figure 9. The mobilised
shaft friction was plotted against average strain measured at each designed level in order to
observe the trend/stage of mobilised shaft friction. Generally, mobilised shaft friction
computed from both FO and VWSG well matched except Level 1 to Level 2. From Figure
9, Level 2 to 4 (with SPT-N value range from 10 to 50) had achieved maximum shaft
friction at range around 200 kN/m2 to 275 kN/m2 and mobilised toward residual stage. For
Level 4 to 6, the ground condition is much better than level above with SPT-N value more
than 50. Up to 200% WL, shaft friction at Level 4 to 5 achieved about 400 kN/m2 and
Level 5 to 6 about 300 kN/m2. The trend of mobilised shaft friction at Level 4 to 6 is still
increasing linearly and is yet to be fully mobilised. A parametric study was performed
based on the computed mobilized shaft friction and stiffness of soils to match the measured
load–displacement response [11]. Those parameter chosen well agreed with the parameter
recommended by the researchers.

500
FO - Level 1 to 2 FO - Level 2 to 3
450 FO - Level 3 to 4 FO - Level 4 to 5
Mobilised Unit Shaft Friction (kN/m2)

FO - Level 5 to 6 VWSG - Level 1 to 2

400 VWSG - Level 2 to 3 VWSG - Level 3 to 4
VWSG - Level 4 to 5 VWSG - Level 5 to 6
350

300

250

200

150

100

50

0
0 -100 -200 -300 -400 -500 -600 -700 -800 -900 -1000
Average Strain (m e)

Figure 9: Mobilised shaft friction at each designated level (FO vs VWSG).

For the axial displacement, u or pile shortening, it was computed based on Eq. (2) by
integrate once the continuous strain profile measured from the fibre optic sensor. The pile
shortening profile along pile depth was computed as shown in Figure 10. The shortening
profiles were computed with reference to pile top. With the shortening profile, pile
settlement at all interested level including pile toe can be calculated by deduct
measurement of pile top settlement to pile shortening. For this test pile, maximum
shortening achieved was 10.7mm at 200% WL. At similar load, pile top settlement
recorded was 14.5mm. By consider pile shortening, pile settlement at toe was 3.8mm.
Pile shortening can also be computed at designated level as shown in Figure 11. Two
pieces of tell-tale extensometer were installed for this test pile at similar level to level 1
and level 2 of VWSG. The measured result of tell-tale extensometer was included in
Figure 11. Both measurement of tell-tale extensometer and FO are well matched.
 Pile Shortening (mm)
0 -2 -4 -6 -8 -10 -12
0.0

25 % Working Load
-2.0
50 % Working Load
75 % Working Load
-4.0 100 % Working Load
125 % Working Load
150 % Working Load
-6.0
175 % Working Load
200 % Working Load
-8.0
Pile Depth (m)

-10.0

-12.0

-14.0

-16.0

-18.0

-20.0

-22.0

-24.0

Figure 10: Pile shortening profile along pile depth computed from FO.

-15.0

-14.0

FO @ 1.8 m Depth FO @ 5.5m depth FO @ 10.5m Depth

-13.0
FO @ 15.5m Depth FO @ 20.5m Depth FO @ 23.4m Depth
Tell-tale @ 1.8m Depth Tell-tale @ 5.5m Depth
-12.0

-11.0

-10.0
Pile Shortening (mm)

-9.0

-8.0

-7.0

-6.0

-5.0

-4.0

-3.0

-2.0

-1.0

0.0
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000
Applied Load (kN)

Figure 11: Pile shortening at designated depth computed from FO.

CONCLUSION
A novel way of instrumenting bored pile using distributed optical fibre strain sensing has
been successfully implemented for the first time in Malaysia. The field-test results
generally showed very good agreement between the conventional and FO sensors. A
particular advantage of using distributed measurement is that the full strain profile can be
obtained quite easily instead of discrete data from conventional strain gauges, which often
requires data extrapolation between limited sensing points, laborious installation time and
data problems arising from local erroneous measurements. In addition, the sensor can be
configured and integrated into the structure to measure three-dimensional deformation such
as bending and shortening of the piles. This potentially eliminates the need to install
various instrumentation schemes such as inclinometer, rod extensometers and minimisation
of instrumentation cost.

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