• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.357-382
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• 2015

This paper provides an overview of the use of different Distributed Optical Fiber Sensor systems (DOFSs) to perform Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) in the specific case of civil engineering structures. Nowadays, there are several methods available for extracting distributed measurements from optical fiber, and their use have to be according with the aims of the SHM performance. The continuous-in-space data is the common advantage of the different DOFSs over other conventional health monitoring systems and, depending on the particular characteristics of each DOFS, a global and/or local health structural evaluation is possible with different accuracy. Firstly, the fundamentals of different DOFSs and their principal advantages and disadvantages are presented. Then, laboratory and field tests using different DOFSs systems to measure strain in structural elements and civil structures are presented and discussed. Finally, based on the current applications, conclusions and future trends of DOFSs in SHM in civil structures are proposed.