Advances, challenges and perspectives in fiber optic sensing applications to airport concrete pavement structural health monitoring

Due to the recent awareness of climate change phenomena and ever-growing aircraft’s loads, superstructural health monitoring plays a pivotal role in effectively assessing an infrastructure’s degree of resilience. In this context, the contribution of non-destructive testing techniques - able to monitor structural conditions and survey extensive paved areas - needs to be reconsidered in favour of a potential synergy with real-time and pre-embedded monitoring sensors. By allowing seemingly continuous acquisition and immediate monitoring of strain and thermic pavement properties, fiber optic sensors’ applications could be deployed to measure rigid pavement behaviour and predict correspondent residual life. The present research focuses on the validation of such a technology through an ad hoc experimental setup, in order to assess the feasibility of an asset-wise, real-time data-driven concrete pavement management system. In conclusion, the encouraging outcomes of the experimental activities allow to consider the network of embedded structural health monitoring systems as an effective opportunity for managing extensive infrastructures, planning rehabilitation and maintenance strategies, ultimately preventing abrupt damage and unserviceability issues.