Researchers with University of Massachusetts Lowell (UMass Lowell) (Lowell, Massachusetts, USA) are partnering with building materials company Saint-Gobain (Courbevoie, France) to create sensor-laden textiles to monitor the structural health and integrity of infrastructure such as buildings, roadways, bridges, tunnels, pipelines, dams, railway tracks, and more.
The work will develop fabrics integrated with optical fibers and sensors. These “sensing fabrics” can be applied to existing structures to monitor strain or detect cracks in their early stages, allowing asset owners to take corrective actions before corrosion and any failure can occur.
“Optical fiber sensors are very suitable for structural health monitoring due to their light weight, low cost, survivability in harsh environments, and immunity to electromagnetic environments,” explains Zingwei Wang, an electrical and computer engineering professor at UMass Lowell. “More importantly, they can provide fully distributed sensing information about an object’s structural integrity. Combined with novel textile technology, the sensing fabrics will be relatively easy to install and maintain.”
According to project officials, the sensing textile can be used on concrete ties and steel rails, as well as under ballasts to monitor an asset’s structural health. Scientists, engineers, interns, and other officials at Saint-Gobain will be trained in the technology, while the materials company and school also plan to hold training workshops designed to educate users on the system’s capabilities and the value of infrastructure sensing.
The research was supported by grants from the federally funded Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA) nonprofit institute and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.