Structural reliability assessment based on optical monitoring system: case study

Optical systems are recognized to be an important tool for structural health monitoring, especially for real time safety assessment, due to simplified system configuration and low cost when compared to regular systems, namely electrical systems. This work aims to present a case study on structural health monitoring focused on reliability assessment and applying data collected by a simplified optical sensing system. This way, an elevated reinforced concrete water reservoir was instrumented with a bi-axial optical accelerometer and monitored since January 2014. Taking into account acceleration data, the natural frequencies and relative displacements were estimated. The reliability analysis was performed based on generalized extreme values distribution (GEV) and the results were employed to build a forecast of the reliability of the water elevated reservoir for the next 100 years. The results showed that the optical system combined with GEV analysis, implemented in this experimental work, can provide adequate data for structural reliability assessment.