The invention relates to the technical field of rail shape monitoring, in particular to a rail deformation sensing method and device based on a flat-ribbon optical cable. The device is characterized by comprising a bandlet optical cable, a conduction
optical fiber, a demodulator and a computer, a
fiber bragg
grating array which is weak in
reflectivity, determined in
grating distance and capable of being calibrated in position is accurately inscribed in two optical fibers in the flat-ribbon optical cable, interference of temperature fluctuation and
axial strain is effectively eliminated through double-optical-
fiber cooperative measurement and differential calculation, and when a rail is subjected to
sedimentation or bending deformation under the action of
train loads and environmental factors, the
fiber bragg
grating array is accurately inscribed in the flat-ribbon optical cable. Deformation is synchronously transmitted to the bandlet optical cable and causes the
wavelength change of the reflection center of each
fiber bragg grating, a
wavelength change
signal is transmitted to the demodulator through the conduction
optical fiber to be demodulated in real time and output to the computer, and the computer is based on a
wavelength-strain-curvature mapping relation and combines a Freen-Serret
shape reconstruction and vertex error
correction algorithm. The spatial
shape reconstruction of the rail is realized, and the settlement height change is output, so that the real-time, continuous and
visual monitoring of the settlement process of the rail is realized. The method is suitable for the technical field of rail deformation and settlement monitoring.