Note: A concrete erosion sensor based on a chirped fibre optic Bragg grating

Erosion of concrete surfaces in major civil structures is a common problem, which in certain circumstances can undermine the structural and operational integrities of the structure. The manual monitoring of the erosion process can be difficult and dangerous under certain circumstances (such as within hydrotunnels and spillways of dams). This paper describes a concrete erosion sensor based on a chirped fibre Bragg grating (FBG) which is able to monitor the extent of concrete erosion at a single point to sub-millimetre accuracy. The chirped FBG length embedded below the concrete surface decreases as a result of concrete erosion and consequently the reflected light spectrum bandwidth narrows. A simple procedure is presented to determine the extent of erosion, and this procedure is applied to an experimental demonstration of the sensing device.