CEE Seminar Distributed Sensing – Providing New Insights into Fundamental Infrastructure Behavior
Recent developments in sensing have enabled insights into structural behavior that would have been impossible even a decade ago. This talk will introduce the concept of distributed sensing using technologies such as digital image correlation (DIC) and distributed fiber optic sensing (DFOS). A series of infrastructure monitoring case studies involving both reinforced concrete and steel structures will be used to illustrate how these distributed sensing technologies can provide insights into structural behavior that have never before been possible. Three case studies will be used to demonstrate how these new insights can be used in the design of new structures and the assessment of existing structures to keep them in service longer thus reducing their carbon footprint. In the first case study, the use of distributed data to analyze the behavior of reinforced concrete beams in a way that has never before been possible will be introduced. The second case study will look at how distributed sensors might be used to detect thermal buckling in rail tracks while at the same time illustrating that there are also challenges that come with having such robust data sets that must be overcome. The final case study will bring together field monitoring and lab data to better understand the performance of buried corrugated steel culverts under vehicle load and highlight how current design procedures do not capture this behavior.