Concrete structure safety monitoring systems

由混凝土制成的大型基础设施在长时间暴露在潮湿和盐分下容易退化并最终失效，最近世界各地发生的灾难性事件证明了这一点。这个项目研究了一种新的方法来检测钢筋混凝土中使用的金属支架(“钢筋”)的腐蚀开始。将使用的技术是基于在**桥梁和其他结构的制造过程中嵌入钢筋旁边的混凝土中的光纤。这些纤维将具有沿其**长度分布的传感元件，用于检测纤维上的湿气进入和特殊涂层的腐蚀。通过很早就检测到**潜在腐蚀事件的位置，将有可能针对有问题的区域，使用更传统的结构测试方法进行进一步**分析。人们相信，所使用的**传感元件和光纤的成本相对较低，以及远程和仅**间歇性地询问系统的可能性(因为腐蚀增长的时间非常缓慢)，将使该解决方案在加拿大和世界上建造的新**基础设施中得到广泛应用，使这种基础设施变得“智能”。

Large infrastructures made of concrete are susceptible to degradation and eventual failure over long lifetimes of**exposure to moisture and salts, as evidenced by recent catastrophic events around the world. This project deals**with a novel approach to detect the onset of corrosion in the metal supports ("rebars") used in reinforced**concrete. The technology to be used is based on optical fibers embedded into concrete alongside rebars during**fabrication of bridges and other structures. These fibers will have sensing elements distributed along their**length for the detection of moisture ingress and of the corrosion of special coatings on the fiber. By detecting**the location of potential corrosion events very early, it will be possible to target problematic areas for further**analysis using more conventional structural testing methods. It is believed that the relatively low cost of the**sensing elements and fiber used, along with the possibility to interrogate the system remotely and only**intermittently (since the timescale of corrosion growth is very slow) will make this solution widely used in new**infrastructure built in Canada and the world, making such infrastructure "intelligent".