Distributed fiber optical sensing inside the foundation slab of a high-rise building

In this paper, the results of distributed strain measurements inside the foundation slab of a high-rise building are presented. Optical fibers that have been embedded directly into the concrete by attaching them to the reinforcement are used as sensors. The measurements were obtained using a measurement system that is based on Rayleigh scattering and provides very high spatial resolution. Prior works have shown that embedding of fiber optical sensors into concrete is possible. This paper adds an example for their application in an actual high-rise building, while most other publications focus on laboratory structures or bridges. This opens up new applications in the construction industry. Structural health monitoring and safety applications could benefit from this new technology. Besides organizational issues, the main challenge can be identified as proper compensation of thermal induced expansion and the processing and interpretation of the resulting high-resolution data.