Integrated distributed fiber optic sensing technology-based structural monitoring of the pound lock

In this paper, an integrated distributed fiber optic sensing technology, which includes Raman optical time-domain reflectometry (ROTDR), Brillouin optical time-domain analysis (BOTDA), and fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensing technologies, is adopted to monitor the temperature and the stress/strain variations of a reinforced concrete pound lock structure during the construction process. The Raman optical time-domain reflectometry was used to monitor the internal temperature variation throughout the concrete curing process when concrete hydration heat was released in the base plate of the lock head. The FBG temperature sensors were adopted to measure the surface temperature of the concrete, and the temperature data were used to compensate the results that are measured by BOTDA sensing technology to get the real concrete strain of the base plate. To better understand the stress/strain state of the base plate before and after filling water in the lock, the BOTDA sensing cable and FBG temperature sensors monitoring continued throughout the whole construction process. The observation provided a positive indication that the proposed integrated distributed fiber optic sensing technology may have great potential in performance monitoring of hydraulic structures.