Researchers Gyubeom Shin, Shih-Hung Chiu and Maksymilian Jasiak from the Berkeley Center for Smart Infrastructure (CSI) deployed experimental fiber optic ground anchors at two Caltrans (California Department of Transportation) highway construction project sites near Los Angeles.
A total of 16 ground anchors were fabricated with the support of DYWIDAG, and then installed and load tested with the support of Drill Tech Drilling & Shoring at two test sites.
Each ground anchor included a novel “SmART Strand” Prestressing Steel Strand with Optical Fiber for Tension Monitoring produced by Sumitomo Electric Industries in Japan. Uniquely, this research project was the first deployment of SmART Strand for geotechnical ground anchors in North America.
Fiber optic sensing-embedded ground anchor design
Fiber optic sensing-embedded ground anchor installation
Fiber optic sensing-embedded ground anchor researchers from CSI