Encapsulation of Fiber Optic Sensors in 3D Printed Packages for Use in Civil Engineering Applications: A Preliminary Study.

Fiber optic sensors have considerable potential for measuring strains in the challenging environment posed by today's civil engineering applications. Their long-term reliability and stability are particularly important attributes for assessing, with confidence, effects such as cracking and response to normal (and abnormal) loads. However, given the fragile nature of the bare fiber, the sensors must be packaged to achieve adequate robustness but the resulting increased cost of installation can frequently limit the number of sensors which can be installed or their use may have to be ruled out altogether due to these financial constraints.