Bored Piles Imperfection Detection Using Optical Fibre Sensor: Laboratory Simulated

Abstract

Actual experimentation of the bored pile imperfection detection is infeasible to be conducted since the issues of limitation in imitating the actual bored pile construction and absent of practical observable condition during monitoring activity. Through this study, the bored pile is idealized to a reinforced concrete column (RC column) to ease the laboratory simulation and pile damage determination. Distributed Optical Fibre Strain Sensing (DOFSS) through Brillouin Optical Time-Domain Analysis (BOTDA) is used to detect the imperfection. The objectives of this study are to measure the effect of imperfection of bored pile through load column test and to compare the optical fibre sensor reading with conventional instruments. Firstly, the RC columns were designed and the sensors are embedded into the RC column which then loaded by few loading stages. Subsequently, the BOTDA analyser and the conventional sensors reading unit will read the strain of the RC column. After the experimentation conducted, it is proven that the fibre optic sensor is reliable and good in consistency for strain measurement compared to other conventional sensors, and the effect of imperfection of bored pile through load column test able to be measured.