Use of fiber-optic sensors to monitor concrete dams: recent breakthroughs and new opportunities.

Structural health monitoring of dams is a cornerstone tool for engineers to assess and ensure dam safety. One of the keystones of structural health monitoring is the acquisition of data with sensors to assess the overall health of the structure. Sensor technologies have experienced notable advances in recent years, such as the incorporation of devices based on fiber-optic technology. Here, we focus on the application of fiber-optic sensors (FOSs) to the monitoring of concrete dams. We review the literature and report the latest advances in fiber-optic technology available in the market as well as those used for research applications and compare the performance of FOSs with conventional devices and the requirements recommended by practitioners. FOSs have better performance than conventional sensors when it comes to monitoring most of the variables of interest to monitor concrete dams, such as temperature, strain, vibration, among others. Moreover, fiber-optic sensors have some inherent features that make them an excellent choice, such as high spatial resolution, easiness of data acquisition, or continuous spatial monitoring of parameters along the wire, among others.