PSI - Issue 64

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2023) 000 – 000

www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia

ScienceDirect

Procedia Structural Integrity 64 (2024) 1673–1680

SMAR 2024 – 7th International Conference on Smart Monitoring, Assessment and Rehabilitation of Civil Structures DFOS monitoring system of the longest Polish footbridge made of FRP composites Maciej Kulpa a* , Tomasz Siwowski a Rzeszow University of Technology, Powstancow Warszawy 12, Rzeszow 35-959, Poland Abstract The high durability, low weight, and excellent mechanical properties of fibre-reinforced polymers are the main reasons for the increasing popularity of composites as a material for pedestrian and bicycle bridges. This was also the case with the widening of an existing Carpathian bridge in the centre of Rzeszów (Poland). Th e new footbridge located next to the bridge consists of five simply supported spans of 4.17 + 23.55 + 23.67 + 23.67 + 23.47 m, with the total length of the superstructure 104.95 m, and is believed to be the longest Polish footbridge made of FRP composites. The footbridge spans were created in the form of sandwich panels, which were manufactured in a single infusion process by the VARTM (vacuum-assisted resin transfer moulding) method. Since the footbridge spans are made of innovative but not fully recognised / proved construction material, a decision was made to equip the structure with a reliable structural health monitoring (SHM) system. The system based on distributed fibre optic sensors (DFOS) was selected and implemented for monitoring. One of the spans was equipped with sensors in the form of SM9 / 125 single-mode fibres in an acrylic coating. The optical fibres of the DFOS system were placed inside the composite structure between the fabrics of the selected laminates, before the infusion process. Because of that, the sensors are completely integrated into the material and are not exposed to damage or the influence of the environment. The paper presents the DFOS SHM system, its implementation in the FRP structure, and the measurement results obtained during the proof load tests performed on the new structure before it was open to the public. © 2024 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of SMAR 2024 Organizers

Peer-review under responsibility of SMAR 2024 Organizers Keywords: Optical sensors, DFOS, footbridge, monitoring, glass fibers

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +48-17-865-10-22; fax: +48-17-854-12-60. E-mail address: kulpa@prz.edu.pl

2452-3216 © 2024 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of SMAR 2024 Organizers

2452-3216 © 2024 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0) Peer-review under responsibility of SMAR 2024 Organizers 10.1016/j.prostr.2024.09.172