Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) materials are currently used for strengthening civil engineering infrastructures. The
strengthening system is dependant on the bond characteristics of the FRP to the external surface of the structure to be
effective in resisting the applied loads. This paper presents an innovative self-monitoring FRP strengthening system. The
system consists of two components which can be embedded in FRP materials to monitor the global and local behavior of
the strengthened structure respectively. The first component of the system is designed to evaluate the applied load acting
on a structure based on elongation of the FRP layer along the entire span of the structure. Success of the global system
has been demonstrated using a full-scale prestressed concrete bridge girder which was loaded up to failure. The test
results indicate that this type of sensor can be used to accurately determine the load prior to failure within 15 percent of
the measured value. The second sensor component consists of fiber Bragg grating sensors. The sensors were used to
monitor the behavior of steel double-lap shear splices tested under tensile loading up to failure. The measurements were
used to identify abnormal structural behavior such as epoxy cracking and FRP debonding. Test results were also
compared to numerical values obtained from a three dimensional shear-lag model which was developed to predict the
sensor response.
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