Eigenfrequency analysis using fiber optic sensors and low-cost accelerometers for structural damage detection

Abstract

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is crucial for infrastructure safety and integrity. Arduino-based sensors are gaining popularity in low-cost SHM structures. Distributed fiber optic systems (DFOS), such as Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS), are employed for accurate SHM despite their high costs, computational demands, and energy consumption. The primary objectives of this work are to compare the accuracy of an accelerometer named LARA (Low-cost Adaptable Reliable Accelerometer (LARA)) that utilizes both Arduino and Raspberry Pi technologies with a DAS system in detecting structural damage and to explore the potential advantages of combining LARA and DAS to create an effective SHM tool. This study is the first to enhance the design of LARA. Subsequently, LARA and DAS were used in a laboratory setting to analyze eigenfrequency changes in a beam model with induced localized damage. Finally, this study evaluated the precision and reliability of LARA and its potential role as a trigger for DAS in detecting localized damage. The findings show that both LARA and DAS can identify changes in the eigenfrequencies of damaged structures with deviations as small as 3.68 %. Consequently, LARA demonstrated its potential as a trigger for DAS, significantly reducing the computational demands while enriching the analysis. This approach offers highly accurate eigenfrequency measurements and enhances the analytical capabilities of DAS by identifying the primary axes of the detected eigenfrequencies.