Application of Optical Fiber Sensors for Structural Monitoring and Control

Experimental result of a full scale-steel frame with a smart active control system under shaking table test has been carried out in this paper. Newly, the concept of smart structure has been broached to the extent of structure control. The NEURO-FBG control system, which is composed of both neural networks and fiber Bragg grating sensors, has been theoretically analyzed and simulated to effectively control the structure under the strike of arbitrary earthquake. However, the feasibility of implementing the NEURO-FBG control system in actual structure is not yet proven. To this intention, a full-scale steel frame with the NEURO-FBG control system is examined by earthquakes simulated from a 5x5 shaking table. Minute schedule with several representative earthquakes is arranged to appraise the performance and robustness of the NEURO-FBG control system. As expected, signals detected from fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors have shown their superior characteristics in structure surveillance than conventional strain gauges. Moreover, experimental data recorded from earthquake excitation have also demonstrated the benefit of using NEURO-FBG control system than traditional active control. The results have demonstrated that the NEURO-FBG control system can be applied to buildings after the whole testing process. _____________ K.C.Chang Vise-president, National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering T.K.Lin, Research Assistant Fellow, National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering Y.B.Lin, Research Assistant Fellow, National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering