This paper investigates the use of distributed optical fiber sensors (DOFS) based on Optical Frequency Domain Reflectometry of Rayleigh backscattering for Structural Health Monitoring purposes in civil engineering structures. More specifically, the results of a series of laboratory experiments aimed at assessing the suitability and accuracy of DOFS for crack monitoring in reinforced concrete members subjected to external loading are reported. The experiments consisted on three-point bending tests of concrete beams, where a polyamide-coated optical fiber sensor was bonded directly onto the surface of an unaltered reinforcement bar and protected by a layer of silicone. The strain measurements obtained by the DOFS system exhibited an accuracy equivalent to that provided by traditional electrical foil gauges. Moreover, the analysis of the high spatial resolution strain profiles provided by the DOFS enabled the effective detection of crack formation. Furthermore, the comparison of the reinforcement strain profiles with measurements from a digital image correlation system revealed that determining the location of cracks and tracking the evolution of the crack width over time were both feasible, with most errors being below ±3 cm and ±20 µm, for the crack location and crack width, respectively.

Sustainable design of infrastructures has become a major matter of study since the recent establishment of the Agenda 2030. This paper provides a systematic literature review on the use of multi-criteria decision making techniques used so far for the sustainable design of bridges. Special attention is put as well on how the reviewed studies assess the sustainable performance of bridge designs along their life cycle from the economic, the environmental and the social perspective. Although SAW and AHP are recurrently used in the sustainable assessment of bridges, the analysis of the most recent articles show that the application of TOPSIS and PROMETHEE techniques are gaining increasing relevance for such purpose. Most of the studies focus on the research of the construction and the maintenance stage of bridges. However, a need for further analysis is identified when it comes to the assessment of the impacts resulting from the End of Life cycle stage of bridges from a sustainable point of view. The use of intuitionistic and neutrosophic logic have been detected as emerging alternatives to the fuzzy approach of decision making problems.

This paper explores the performance of distributed optical fiber sensors based on Rayleigh backscattering for the monitoring of strains in reinforced concrete elements subjected to different types of long-term external loading. In particular, the reliability and accuracy of robust fiber optic cables with an inner steel tube and an external protective polymeric cladding were investigated through a series of laboratory experiments involving large-scale reinforced concrete beams subjected to either sustained deflection or cyclic loading for 96 days. The unmatched spatial resolution of the strain measurements provided by the sensors allows for a level of detail that leads to new insights in the understanding of the structural behavior of reinforced concrete specimens. Moreover, the accuracy and stability of the sensors enabled the monitoring of subtle strain variations, both in the short-term due to changes of the external load and in the long-term due to time-dependent effects such as creep. Moreover, a comparison with Digital Image Correlation measurements revealed that the strain measurements and the calculation of deflection and crack widths derived thereof remain accurate over time. Therefore, the study concluded that this type of fiber optic has great potential to be used in real long-term monitoring applications in reinforced concrete structures.