Distributed strain measurement in a rectangular plate using an array of optical fiber sensors

Single mode optical fiber waveguide has been used to determine the two-dimensional strain distribution on a simply supported rectangular plate. Each of the fifty individual fibers in the rectangular grid array attached to one surface of the plate yields a measurement of the strain integrated along the length of that fiber on the specimen. By using similar sensor information from all of the fibers, both the functional form and the amplitude of the distribution may be determined. Limits on the dynamic range and spatial resolution are indicated. Applications in the measurement of internal strain and the monitoring of physically small critical-structural components are suggested.     

膜片式光纤动态压力传感器的研制

为了更好地满足动态压力的测量需求,研究了一种基于法布里-珀罗（Fabry-Perot,F-P）干涉原理的膜片式光纤动态压力传感器。从理论上分析了多个反射面对F-P腔光谱的影响,提出了得到单一F-P腔的方法。进而采用机械研磨的方式对传感器膜片外表面进行粗化加工,有效解决了由多个反射面带来的光谱复杂问题。对传感器进行静态压力和动态压力标定试验,结果表明：传感器性能良好,在0~200 kPa（表压）范围内的静态压力测量误差小于等于0.5 %FS;在20~2500 Hz范围内,传感器的幅值灵敏度相对误差优于±10%。     

Simultaneous measurement of humidity and temperature by combining a reflective intensity-based optical fiber sensor and a fiber Bragg grating

A novel sensor capable of simultaneously measuring temperature and humidity has been fabricated and demonstrated using optical fiber waveguides. The sensor head is composed of a fiber Bragg grating and a low-finesse Fabry-Perot interferometric cavity. The Fabry-Perot cavity was fabricated using the electrostatic self-assembled monolayer process for the molecular-level deposition of materials of different thicknesses that form a humidity-sensitive coating on the end of the fiber, while the in-line Bragg grating fiber element is used to monitor temperature. Experimental results for a humidity range from 11% to 97% RH and for a temperature range from 10/spl deg/C to 85/spl deg/C are shown.     

光纤模斑谱在应变检测中的应用研究

在本文中介绍了一种以光纤模斑谱为基础的表面应变测量方法。首先分析了相关的理论基础并且介绍了这种检测方法的原理,然后给出了实验结果以及相关的曲线拟合算法,最后利用LabVIEW对实验数据进行了拟合运算,并给出得到的拟合曲线。结果表明采用这种方法能够实现对于表面应变的检测。     

Embedded optical fiber sensors for materials evaluation

Optical fiber waveguides embedded within materials have been applied to the measurement of chemical changes, strain, and temperature inside materials. This paper reviews some of the research that has been performed in this area over the past 10 years and cites the theoretical and demonstrated performance of such sensors for material evaluation during its manufacturing, in service lifetime and degradation periods.     

High-spatial-resolution distributed strain measurement in optical fiber with rayleigh scatter

A method of measuring strain over 30-cm intervals to an accuracy of10 microstrain in unaltered low-loss communications-grade single-modeoptical fiber is presented. The method uses a tunable external cavity diode laser to measure the reflected intensity of a reflector-fiber system as a function of wavelength. This measurement is performed with no strain applied to the fiber to produce a reference and then again after a strain has been induced. Cross correlation of the Rayleigh scatter spectra from a selected section of fiber in the strained and unstrained states determines the spectral shift resulting from the applied strain.     

Reflection intensity optical fiber sensors for the mid-infrared

Two kinds of reflection intensity sensor made of chalcogenide glass fiber for the mid-IR region are demonstrated. One is a double-fiber reflection sensor based on two tied fibers with a gold-coated hollow metal waveguide connected to the far end of the fibers. The other is a single-fiber reflection sensor based on contact couplers. These reflectance sensors were coupled to a Fourier-transform IR spectrometer by a unique accessory based on nonimaging concentrators. This setup was built to measure absorption spectra of a polymer coating of an aluminum can and a sheet of drafting paper. A theoretical model treating the ratio between the signal from the target and the background is introduced. This model was helpful in deriving the sensitivity characteristics of the sensors from experimental absorption peak heights. Hence, the absorption peaks heights that we obtained using a single-fiber reflection sensor with a symmetric coupler were nearly 50% relative to those obtained with a double-fiber reflection sensor.     

Synchronous phase detection for optical fiber interferometric sensors

A system has been developed to accurately detect phase signals produced in optical interferometric sensors. The system employs optical heterodyning and synchronously detects optical phase by feeding back an error signal to a phase modulator in the reference leg of the interferometer. This system is seen to have properties similar to a phase-locked loop. The system is mathematically analyzed and a simple second-order model developed which accurately predicts the system response.     

Thin-film strain gauge sensors for ion thrust measurement

In order to measure the thrust produced by a stationary plasma thruster, a measurement system has been developed using a thrust balance with thin-film strain gauge sensors. For this purpose, strain gauges were designed and deposited on the columns of the thrust balance fabricated and necessary signal conditioning circuits have been used. The performance of the system developed was studied, in a vacuum chamber under space simulated conditions, by activating the thruster. In situ calibration was done using Lami's principle. For discharge powers varying from 210-275 W, the measured values of thrust were found to be in the range of 11-16 mN with an accuracy of /spl plusmn/1 mN and resolution of 0.12 mN. Specific impulse and efficiency were also estimated.     

Vernier-effect optical interrogation technique for fiber Bragg grating sensors

This work demonstrates a new technique for real-time optical sensor interrogation by exploiting a novel Vernier effect between the multiple (comb) wavelength responses of a multiplexed fiber Bragg grating array and the fixed discrete wavelengths of an all-solid-state tunable laser. Sets of output photodetector voltages serve as high-resolution optical "signatures" to determine uniquely the strain in the single fiber section. The sensor demonstrated here is compact, lightweight, and is specifically intended for remote operability in harsh (vibrational) environments. In this proof of concept, strain values over a range of nearly 500 microepsilon can be easily resolved to better than 5.9 microepsilon, which is the incremental limit of the mechanical test fixture used to induce strain in the experiment.     

Dynamic thermal response of single-mode optical fiber for interferometric sensors

The dynamic temperature phase sensitivity of a three-layer optical fiber is calculated for unjacketed as well as Al- and Hytrel-coated fibers. The calculations include both the variation of the refractive index with temperature and the thermally induced axial and radial strains. The calculated phase sensitivity indicates that it is currently possible to measure a 1-microdegree C temperature change at frequencies exceeding 50 kHz with 1 cm of a metal coated optical fiber.     

有源光纤式流量传感器的研究进展

光纤式有源流量传感器是近年来发展起来的一种基于光纤传感技术、流量检测技术的新型流量传感器.目前,主要将金属薄膜的光热转换效应或电阻的热效应与光纤及光纤光栅的温度、应力特性(在流体环境下光的强度、频率、波长及相位等受温度、应力调制的特性)相结合并制得一类新型的光纤有源流量传感器,包括光纤光栅点式及光纤散射(布里渊、瑞利)分布式有源流量传感器.通过文献综述的方式来介绍有源光纤式流量传感器的工作原理、种类及其研究进展,旨在为今后研究提供方法.     

Design,fabrication, and testing of fiber Bragg grating sensors for cryogenic long-range displacement measurement

It is essential to measure the shrinkage/expansion and positioning/aligning of magnets and to control valve displacement which plays a vital role in experiments like the Karlsruhe tritium neutrino experiment beam tube and Cryo pumps. Hence, a displacement sensor which, over a long working range, can be operated under extreme environmental conditions needs to be developed. Fiber Bragg gratings (FBG) have been considered to be excellent sensor elements useful for a variety of applications. This paper will discuss a long range displacement sensors based on fiber Bragg gratings for cryogenic temperature applications. The cryo pump inlet valve control requirements have been taken as example specifications for sensor design. To achieve the development goal, a proper signal transducer and sensor package were designed. A study of the strain transmission of surface-bonded FBG was conducted. The influence of bonding thickness and bonding length was reported. The design, fabrication, and performance were tested at low temperature of around 77 K. The sensor performance was found to be satisfactory at both room temperature and 77 K and linearly for long-range displacement of 550 mm with 14 pm/mm sensitivity and 0.142 mm accuracy.     

Multiplex in-cylinder pressure measurement utilizing an optical fiber with specific refractive-index composition

An approach to multiplex in-cylinder pressure measurement that utilizes a single-mode optical fiber with specific refractive-index composition has been proposed. The sensing fiber has been designed to show a certain amount of optical power loss with a small change in the fiber-local-bend radius. Along with pressure-transferring diaphragms the sensing fiber was embedded into the head gasket of a four-cylinder gasoline engine. The internal-pressure change in each combustion chamber was detected on the basis of bending power loss in the fiber. Combustion pressure peaks for each cylinder were clearly observed.     

An optical strain measurement system for asphalt mixtures

Knowledge of the conditions governing the initiation and propagation of cracks in hot mix asphalt (HMA) mixtures is a prerequisite for a comprehensive understanding of HMA cracking mechanisms. Traditional strain measurement sensors have proved to be not completely adequate in the sense that they do not provide pointwise measurements, thus not pinpointing the location of crack initiation, and not accounting for non-uniform strain distributions. This paper presents a digital image correlation (DIC) system for non-contact and full strain field measurements, conceived for the purpose of investigating the cracking behavior of HMA mixtures. The whole system was developed so as to account for the special nature of typical HMA testing configurations. An image matching technique (least squares matching) was employed for providing matches with sub-pixel accuracy. The performance of the method was investigated by several tests. The DIC system was shown to overcome the shortcomings of traditional on-specimen strain measurement devices achieving satisfactory accuracy compared to strain gauges.     

Optical scanning extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometer for absolute microdisplacement measurement

We report an optical-scanning, dual-fiber, extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometer system for absolute measurement of microdisplacement. The system involves two air-gapped Fabry-Perot cavities, formed by fiber end faces, functioning as sensing and reference elements. Taking the scanning wavelength as an interconverter to compare the gap length of the sensing head with the reference-cavity length yields the absolute measurement of the sensing-cavity length. The measurement is independent of the wavelength-scanning accuracy, and the reference-cavity length can be self-calibrated simply by one's changing the sensing-head length by an accurate value.     

Fabrication and modeling of uniform-waist single-mode tapered optical fiber sensors

We report the fabrication and modeling of single-mode tapered optical fiber sensors. The fabrication technique consist of stretching a section of fiber with an oscillating flame torch. Such a process allows controllable fabrication of lossless tapered fibers with a uniform waist. The sensor transmittance is modeled with a simple ray optics approach. In the model, all the taper parameters are taken into account. Our results indicate that sensor sensitivity can be adjusted with the taper waist diameter. As an example a gold-coated tapered fiber is theoretically and experimentally analyzed.     

纤维复合材料层合板内埋光纤光栅传感器的保护技术

内埋的光纤Bragg光栅（FBG）传感器的存活率及测试精度是其在线监测纤维增强树脂基复合材料制备和服役状态的重要前提。采用[90₁₁/0₁₁]的碳纤维预浸料铺层方式,在层合板0°和45°方向的典型位置埋入FBG温度和应变传感器,采用模压成型工艺制备复合材料层合板。在异向铺排（光纤光栅方向与碳纤维方向不同）的45°方向光纤光栅传感器内埋于碳纤维预浸料层间的过程中,对其采用4种不同的保护方式。通过对比实验结果发现:当对异向铺排的FBG传感器不采取保护措施时,在加热加压复合材料时光纤光栅容易失活;整层铺设同向预浸料以保护异向铺排的FBG传感器的方式改变了具有特定铺层参数复合材料的力学性能;采用窄长条同向预浸料上下包埋保护FBG传感器的方式增大了应变光栅测量结果的系统误差;采用窄长条同向预浸料上下包埋并在邻近铺层开凹槽的保护方式能明显提高内埋光纤光栅的存活率及测试精度。