The evolution of optical fiber sensors technologies during the 35 last years and their applications in structural health monitoring

Conference of 7th European Workshop on Structural Health Monitoring, EWSHM 2014 ; Conference Date: 8 July 2014 Through 11 July 2014; Conference Code:113023International audienceSince late 70s, (quasi-)distributed Optical Fiber Sensors have been developed, 12 countries having produced 85% of the global effort in this field. Since mid-80s, OFSs have caught attention in many sectors where SHM is a matter of concern (civil engineering, composites, oil & gas, renewable energies, safety.). Today, OFS became a strategic domain, especially in Asia, and China invests a lot since 7-8 years. The top 12 countries involved in SHM are almost the same than in OFS, having published 80% of the total number of SHM papers. Moreover, statistics proves that the "optical fiber" is now the second sensing technology for SHM, and 2/3 concern the FBG-based sensing