This paper presents the results of using distributed Brillouin fibre sensors to detect crack formation in a simply supported reinforced concrete beam subjected to four-point loading. A Brillouin multiple-peak fitting method was used to enhance the spatial and strain resolutions of the measurements. By doing this, the distributed strain profile along the beam was determined with a 5 cm read-out resolution in comparison with the 15 cm spatial resolution of the fibres. The location of the cracks was identified by locating the positions in the strain profile where the strain suddenly changes, by searching for the maximum compressive or tensile peaks in the Brillouin frequency spectrum, as opposed to conventional strain reading, which focuses solely on the maximum Brillouin peak. The amplitude of the Brillouin peak for the suddenly changed strain (crack) was found to be smaller than half of the amplitude of the maximum Brillouin peak at the maximum strain location corresponding to the average strain of the material, which would have been neglected by standard peak or area fitting methods, especially for fine cracks or the initial crack build-up period.
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