Structural health monitoring of Cerasol® roof tiles with embedded FBG sensors

ABSTRACT There are currently little widely used structural health monitoring (SHM) techniques for structural adhesive joints. In this study, integrated fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensors are used to examine the structural integrity and reliability of functional adhesive joints. There is an even greater demand for structural monitoring during operation or quality control of adhesive joints during production as more industries embrace high performance structural adhesives in fail-safe designs. Smartroof® photovoltaic (PV) roof tiles are used in this study to validate a real-time health monitoring of the adhesive connection between the PV glass plate and the polymer frame. A structural epoxy and a modified siloxane (MS) polymer are assessed. To assure measurement accuracy and to provide a better understanding of the strain sensing mechanism, the data is qualitatively compared with a finite element model. It is demonstrated that using embedded FBG sensors is accurate and adequate for in situ real-time structural health monitoring. Nevertheless, it remains difficult to ensure and manage the fibre’s position in the adhesive layer.