<title>Fiber optic smart bearing load structure</title>

Abstract

As proliferation of structures incorporating composite materials occurs, the benefits of in-situ monitoring of the building materials in order to increase reliability and improve maintainability of the overall structure are being recognized. For example, measurement of shear-strain and load within bridge bearings can be directly related to the health and longevity of the structure. In this paper, the embedding of single and multi-axis optical fiber strain sensors within liquid molded load cells for structures such as bridges is reported. Fabrication and testing processes are presented, as well as test results.