School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore.
Maritime Institute, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore.
Sensors (Basel). 2018 Nov 15;18(11):3963. doi: 10.3390/s18113963.
With the development in the exploitation of maritime resources, the structural health monitoring (SHM) of offshore structures becomes necessary. This study focuses on addressing the practical issues of application of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors for the SHM of offshore structures, in particular an FPSO (floating, production, storage, and offloading unit) vessel. Due to the harsh marine environment and tough working conditions, the FBG sensors must have sufficient protection and good repeatability for long-term monitoring. Thorough research has been conducted to identify the most suitable, commercially available protection packaging for FBG sensors for offshore applications. Further, the performance of the selected FBG sensor packaging is tested under conditions of strong sunlight, heavy rain, and salty water in order to emulate the marine environment. Moreover, the installation method of the packaged FBG sensors is equally important, as it ensures the repeatability and durability of the sensors for their long-term performance. It is shown that the packaged FBG sensors can be installed using resin-based epoxy to maintain the repeatability of the sensor over the long-term. Further, the packaged FBG sensors are installed and tested on a simple FPSO model. The experimental results under full load and ballast draft conditions show that the proposed FBG sensors are competent for the SHM of offshore structures.
随着海洋资源开发的发展，海上结构物的结构健康监测（SHM）变得必要。本研究重点解决光纤布拉格光栅（FBG）传感器在海上结构物 SHM 中应用的实际问题，特别是浮式生产储卸油装置（FPSO）船。由于海洋环境恶劣和工作条件苛刻，FBG 传感器必须具有足够的保护和良好的重复性，以实现长期监测。已经进行了彻底的研究，以确定最适合、市售的用于海上应用的 FBG 传感器的保护包装。此外，选择的 FBG 传感器包装的性能在强阳光、大雨和咸水环境下进行测试，以模拟海洋环境。此外，封装 FBG 传感器的安装方法同样重要，因为它可以确保传感器的重复性和耐用性，以实现其长期性能。结果表明，封装的 FBG 传感器可以使用基于树脂的环氧树脂安装，以保持传感器的长期重复性。此外，封装的 FBG 传感器已安装并在简单的 FPSO 模型上进行了测试。满载和压载吃水条件下的实验结果表明，所提出的 FBG 传感器能够胜任海上结构物的 SHM。
