Our new monitoring Project in Frankfurt

The new steel-concrete bridge in Frankfurt am Main was equipped with our composite distributed fibre optic Nerve-Sensors and spot temperature sensors to monitor the technical condition of the structure over time.

Thanks to a monolithic cross-section of the EpsilonSensors and their perfect integration with the surrounding concrete, even very small, localized events could be clearly detectable by the system at the very beginning stage. Distributed sensing allowed not only for the detection of the cracks’ pattern over length but also for calculating their widths by strain integration.

The performed measurements with Nerve-Sensors and DFOS-based device provided detailed and unique data on the structural behaviour of the concrete slab in question. Analysis of strains, cracks and temperatures allows us for a better understanding of the bridge operation. The first data from measurement sessions showed the great potential of the installed system in the detection of multiple microcracks with minor widths. However, from the bridge structural safety and durability point of view, it is important to control the development of the cracks during long-term monitoring, which will be ensured by ongoing periodical DFOS sessions.