The purpose of structural health monitoring (SHM) is to lead a structure to be safer at a lower cost. In SHM, it is important to evaluate the actual state of the structure. Recently, fiber-optic sensors have been developed actively, and one can measure nearly all of the physical measurands of interest by them. Since they also have excellent characteristics such as high sensitivity, immunity from electromagnetic interference, good mechanical characteristics and distributed configuration, they have been applied to “smart structures.” Capability of quasi or fully distributed sensing is especially the significant advantage compared to conventional sensors. We have applied the fiberoptic distributed sensors to SHM in the field and we developed the integrated systems with the fiberoptic sensors and CAD/CAE for two large composite structures. These systems could give us useful information on the structural state, such as deformation and temperature during/after manufacture.
