Innovative design and sensing performance of a novel large-strain sensor for prestressed FRP plates

Owing to the low measuring range of traditional fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors and the complexity, imprecision, and lack of practicality in existing large-strain sensors, this paper introduces a novel type of large-strain sensor based on pre-relaxation and continuous sensing technology. This design aims to realize the whole-process strain monitoring of prestressed fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) plates. Static tensile tests were conducted on 9 large-strain sensor specimens. The effects of pre-relaxation degree, section number, pre-tension time, and prestressing level were evaluated. The results reveal that, the pre-relaxed sensor, proved its efficacy in capturing the strain pertinent to the post-tensioned operational state of the FRP plate, and a sensing performance of up to 18923 με can be facilitated and further extended by a pre-relaxation and continuous sensing technique. Moreover, it is recommended that during the fabrication of the large-strain sensor, two pre-tensions be applied, with a prestressing level between 115%∼125% of the pre-relaxation degree. • The pre-relaxed sensor, proved its efficacy in capturing the strain pertinent to the post-tensioned operational state of the FRP plate. • A sensing performance of up to 18923 με can be facilitated and further extended by pre-relaxation and continuous sensing technology. • The large-strain sensor can be pre-tensioned to obtain a large linear load range.