Digital Twin Visualization of Distributed Fibre Optic Strain Data for a High-performance Early Warning System

Unexpected collapse of civil assets can be mitigated by implementing structural health monitoring. Distributed Fibre Optic Strain Sensing (DFOSS) is a favoured monitoring solution comprising a fibre optic cable installed on the structure, connected to a special analyser to return accurate real-time strains along the entire cable. DFOSS is particularly suited for uninterrupted asset monitoring because it can detect events that discrete sensors would fail to register. The cable is also inexpensive and durable. Despite this, DFOSS has yet to be employed commercially in Hong Kong. A key barrier to commercial adoption is the lack of an accessible platform to assist in making informed timely decisions based upon streamed DFOSS data. This paper presents a design to integrate DFOSS data into a digital twin platform to satisfy this need. Specific features of the integration deliver value to the user, including 4D visualization, BIM model superposition, dashboard charts, alert management, and functions to aggregate data and filter noise. Application of the DFOSS integration is showcased by visualizing data from a DFOSS installation at a deep excavation in Hong Kong, demonstrating that construction-induced strains can be visualized to facilitate responsive decision-making. The integration represents a critical step towards industry procurement of DFOSS.