Design and Data Modelling of Fibre Optic Systems to Monitor Reinforced Concrete Structural Elements

Abstract

Structural monitoring of built assets, performed to ensure safety, usability, and to better understand the assets' structural behaviour, is becoming common practice. One method to monitor structural behaviour is to use fibre optic systems to measure temperature and strain in structural elements. Fibre optic systems are relatively inexpensive, easy to install, versatile, and widely applicable. However, all the data acquired by monitoring systems are meaningless if they lack context within the built asset, and they are of little use if they cannot be appropriately exchanged and visualised. This paper presents an extension to the IFC data model standard for structural monitoring systems. The extension allows (1) to model structural monitoring systems, (2) to store and retrieve acquired data, and (3) to visualise the data directly on the BIM model. The James Dyson Building at the University of Cambridge is used as a case study, in which selected reinforced concrete columns, beams, and slabs have been instrumented with two types of fibre optic sensors. The case study demonstrates that the extension is able to fully describe the fibre optic monitoring system and that it can aid in its design, deployment, and further operation.