Optical Fiber Sensor Design for Ground Slope Movement Monitoring for Railway Safety Operations

Scour and slope instability are a major issue in keeping the railway structures safe and operational. Conventional measurement techniques do not allow real-time monitoring of slope movement and/or are time/resource consuming. Novel fiber optic technology could be utilized to continuously monitor variations in movement in the slopes along embankments adjacent to railway tracks so that early detection and warnings can be issued to avoid catastrophic events, as well as to enhance maintenance operations. To this end, a fiber optic Bragg grating-based sensor network embedded into a steel bar has been utilized to evaluate its feasibility to be installed in a railway embankment for slope movement monitoring. The paper highlights the initial laboratory results followed by a discussion on the practical implementation of the sensor system.