Comparative study of microimage strain sensing system and FBG sensing system for strain measurement

Abstract

Strain is one of the conventional parameters that evaluate structural performance in the field of bridge health monitoring. Among the various techniques that have been utilized to measure strain, fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensing system has been broadly applied for long-term strain monitoring in civil engineering, whereas microimage strain sensing (MISS), with its corresponding sensors designed and fabricated, is a new technology for strain measurement. Furthermore, the MISS system is developed to monitor the strain of small and medium span bridges. To verify the performance of the MISS system in strain measurement, a comprehensive and comparative study of the MISS system and FBG strain sensor system is provided. First, the technical features of the two technologies were described. Moreover, more details were expounded in terms of service life, deployment, coverage, cost, and temperature dependence. Then, assisted data comparisons were carried out through component testing. Results show that the proposed MISS system is effective and robust. Therefore, the proposed MISS system will serve as a promising strain measuring alternative in the field of bridge structural health monitoring.