30th International Conference on Structural Failures 2022

Once again, we had the pleasure to participate in the 30th International Conference on Structural Failures 2022, traditionally organised in Międzyzdroje, Poland. One of the ways to prevent failures of engineering structures is to use an appropriate monitoring system based on adequate measurement techniques. One of the papers discusses an example of using the DFOS Optical Fibre technique to analyse the deformation state of steel anchors of the University Bridge in Bydgoszcz.

This is one of the most famous bridge in Poland, due to its unusual geometry and construction solutions applied. The pylon consists of two parts in the shape of capital Greek letters: alpha and omega. The steel deck was suspended from the pylon using sixteen steel cables. After only 7 years of operation, it experienced a failure. A condition survey identified permanent (plastic) deformation of the plates within the cable anchorages to the steel girders. The paper presented an innovative method of analyzing deformations of these elements using geometrically continuous Fiber Optic measurements DFOS (Distributed Fiber Optic Sensing). The measurements were performed during the repair works and provided unique data allowing for the identification of the most stressed zones.