高温灵敏系数标定影响因素分析

高温应变计是高温结构强度测试、疲劳测试和寿命评估的主要测量传感器,其灵敏系数测试的准确性影响高温应变测试中应变修正数据的真实性。对应变计灵敏系数原理进行分析,明确灵敏系数是应变计输出与应变之间的关系,对砝码加载四点式简支梁结构和纯弯矩钢架梁结构灵敏系数测量模型进行分析,确定产生标准应变的影响因素。常温灵敏系数标定的影响因素有试验梁尺寸、试验梁轴向力,实际灵敏系数测试结果表明简支梁灵敏系数略大,分散明显较大。高温下应变计的输出与载荷应变、应变计热输出、试验梁尺寸变化、弹性模量变化和摩擦力变化有关,对热输出消除方法进行探讨,理论上明确温度下简支梁尺寸变化、弹性模量变化误差高达22%,钢架梁的刚性封闭静态力学平衡系统的温度影响误差较小。利用自研框架式高温裸栅应变计、高温陶瓷胶,进一步用简支梁、钢架梁实际测试灵敏系数随温度变化验证了理论分析的正确性。     

Brillouin Sensing Cable: Design and Experimental Validation

We report on the design and experimental validation of a distributed Brillouin-based optical fiber sensor embedded into concrete structures for temperature and strain measurement. A composite-made wave-like coating designed by finite-element analysis ensures the sensor is transferring optimally temperature and strain fields from the concrete to the optical fiber, where Brillouin scattering takes place. During all experiments, sensors have been interrogated with a commercially available Brillouin optical time-domain reflectometer unit. First, temperature sensitivity of the Brillouin frequency shift were evaluated in PANDA and SMF28 optical fibers, before wrapping them into the specific sheath for embedment into a 3 m-long reinforced concrete beam. Temperature measurements during concrete beam casting agreed with reference measurements, and showed the significant sensor coating influence. A month later, strain measurements performed during a four-point bending experiment showed promising results: linearity and reliability of measurements were demonstrated, under tensile as well as compressive loadings.     

光纤耦合效率与接收光强计算研究

由于用近似方法计算出的光纤耦合效率和接收光功率与实验测量之间存在差异,有必要探讨更准确的计算方法以满足应用的需要。通过对径向变量的积分,导出了在高斯光强分布下对接收光纤端面进行面积分计算的一元积分式,从而可以快速准确地对光纤的耦合效率和接收光功率进行数值计算。对62.5/125多模光纤的耦合效率和接收光功率进行的数值计算和实验测量说明,光纤的耦合效率只有用准确的数值计算才能给出与实际相符合的计算结果。使用芯径较大的接收光纤测量出射光束的近场光强分布时,光纤接收光强分布较光束的光强分布有较大的展宽,其相对误差甚至可达60%。     

A calorimeter for μW level optical power transfer standard

A calorimeter which can measure microwatt-level optical power has been developed for an optical power transfer standard. It can measure the optical power of a light beam and can be used with optical fiber simply by attaching an adapter. This calorimeter sensor uses a compensative absorber to reduce the influence of pressure fluctuation and temperature variation in the measurement room and an ultra-low-noise preamplifier. With this calorimeter, the standard deviation of the measured value is in the range of 0.02-0.4% in 20-mW to 10-μW optical power measurements. An error evaluation for an optical power level of 10 μW yielded a two-sigma (two standard deviation) total uncertainty of 0.9%     

Interfacial changes of optical fibers in the cementitious environment

Embedded optical fiber sensors have recently been employed for strain and crack monitoring in concrete structures. The performance of the sensor is strongly affected by the fiber/matrix interface. For strain monitoring, effective stress transfer between fiber and matrix is required. A high interfacial bond is therefore desirable. On the other hand, crack sensing may rely on fiber debonding and bending, which is only possible with a weak interfacial bond. In the cementitious environment, the interfacial properties are known to vary with time, and this may affect the long-term performance of embedded optical sensors. The objective of the present investigation is to study the interfacial changes when specimens containing embedded optical fibers (with different coatings) are subject to different environmental conditions including wet curing, wetting/drying and freezing/thawing. Fibers removed from the matrix are examined under the SEM. Also, fiber pull-out specimens are prepared and tested. The results show that the fiber pull-out test can reveal significant changes in interfacial behaviour that cannot be detected from SEM examination. The pull-out test is therefore demonstrated to be a useful technique for the characterization of time dependent interfacial behavior for embedded optical fiber sensors.     

Fluoro reactants and dual luminophore referencing: a technique to optically measure amines

An optical sensor for aqueous 1-butylamine is presented which combines two novel techniques: A fluorescent indicator dye (fluoro reactand) embedded in a thin polymer layer performs a reversible chemical reaction with the analyte, causing changes in luminescence intensity. At the same time, inert phosphorescent beads dispersed within the polymer layer provide luminescence signals that act as an internal reference for the indicator dye. As a consequence, the optical sensor is independent of light source fluctuations, ambient light, drifts in optoelectronic setup, or optical fiber bending.     

Interferometric optical time-domain reflectometry for distributed optical-fiber sensing

The technique of optical time-domain reflectometry is analyzed to determine the effect of an optical phase modulation on light backscattered in an optical fiber. It is shown that the spatial distribution along the fiber of an external phase modulation can be measured with a spatial resolution close to that of optical time-domain reflectometry. A distributed interferometric sensor arrangement that employs this technique is investigated experimentally, and a satisfactory interrogation of more than 1000 resolution intervals is demonstrated.     

Characterization of microscopic damage in composite laminates and real-time monitoring by embedded optical fiber sensors

First, a methodology for observation and modeling of microscopic damage evolution in quasi-isotropic composite laminates is presented. Based on the damage observation using both an optical microscope and a soft X-ray radiography, a damage mechanics analysis is conducted to formulate the stiffness change due to transverse cracking. Then, both energy and stress criteria are combined to provide a valid procedure to predict the transverse crack evolution. The theoretical prediction is found to agree well with the experimental results for the transverse crack density as a function of strain as well as stress–strain curves. Then, another methodology is introduced using two kinds of embedded optical fiber sensors to detect and monitor the transverse crack evolution in composite laminates. One is plastic optical fibers (POF), where the loss in optical power is generated by local deformation of POF due to transverse cracking. The other is fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors, where the local strain distribution within the FBG gage length due to transverse cracking alters the power spectrum of the light reflected from the FBG sensors. Embedded optical fiber sensors are found to be a powerful method to detect and monitor the transverse crack evolution in composite laminates.     

Microelectromechanical system pressure sensor integrated onto optical fiber by anodic bonding

Optical microelectromechanical system pressure sensors based on the principle of Fabry-Perot interferometry have been developed and fabricated using the technique of silicon-to-silicon anodic bonding. The pressure sensor is then integrated onto an optical fiber by a novel technique of anodic bonding without use of any adhesives. In this anodic bonding technique we use ultrathin silicon of thickness 10 microm to bond the optical fiber to the sensor head. The ultrathin silicon plays the role of a stress-reducing layer, which helps the bonding of an optical fiber to silicon having conventional wafer thickness. The pressure-sensing membrane is formed by 8 microm thick ultrathin silicon acting as a membrane, thus eliminating the need for bulk silicon etching. The pressure sensor integrated onto an optical fiber is tested for static response, and experimental results indicate degradation in the fringe visibility of the Fabry-Perot interferometer. This effect was mainly due to divergent light rays from the fiber degrading the fringe visibility. This effect is demonstrated in brief by an analytical model.     

Stress optical fiber sensor using light coupling between two laterally fused multimode optical fibers

A stress optical fiber sensor was manufactured and tested. It uses light coupling between two parallel and laterally fused, all-silica multimode optical fibers along a cladding length of a few centimeters. This sensor is dedicated to the measurement of high values of stress. A theoretical model was developed using the mode coupling and the perturbation theory to calculate the global coupling coefficient of light. A serial optical fiber sensor network interrogated by the time-division multiplexing method was realized and tested. The major applications of this sensor are control and monitoring of civil engineering structures and concretes.     

光纤出射光强分布研究

对多模光纤出射光束的光强分布用横向位移法进行了理论分析和实验研究,并用数值计算的方法分析实验测量数据.结果表明,高斯光束可以很好地描述光纤出射光强的分布,光纤出射光束光强分布参数主要与光纤芯径和出纤光功率等有关,为强度调制型光纤传感器的优化研制提供了必要的实验依据.     

Dependence of the Brillouin gain spectrum on linear strain distribution for optical time-domain reflectometer-type strain sensors

We theoretically derive the shape of the Brillouin gain spectrum, that is, the Briilouin backscattered-light power spectrum produced in an optical fiber under conditions of a strain distribution that changes linearly with a constant slope. The modeled measurement system is an optical time-domain reflectometer-type strain sensor system. The linear strain distribution is one of the fundamental distributions and is produced in, for example, a beam to which a concentrated load is applied. By analyzing a function that expresses the shape of the derived Brillouin gain spectrum, we show that the strain calculated from the frequency at which the spectrum has a peek value coincide. with that at the center of the effective pulsed light. In addition, the peak value and the full width at half maximum of the Brillouin gain spectrum are both influenced by the strain difference between the two ends of the effective pulse. We investigate this influence in detail and obtain the relationship between strain difference and strain measurement error.     

Analytical Optimization of Optical Fiber Curvature Gauges

`The ldquocurvature gaugerdquo sensor monitors deflection of structures under mechanical loading in applications in which strain gauges have traditionally been used. Structural deflection-curvature is measured rather than material strain. The sensitive zone of the curvature gage is precision machined into the plastic optical fiber on grinding or milling machines. The cutout produced removes a part of the fiber core and introduces light loss that is related to the bend-radius of the fiber. This modulation mechanism is described analytically in this paper. Results relate the relative light loss to the fiber curvature for different parameters of the sensitive zone (depth, length, number of cuts, bend radius, and pitch of cuts). This allows a quantitative optimization of the gauge without having to produce thousands of sensors with slightly different combination of parameters in order to accomplish a similar objective experimentally.     

Simultaneous sensing of the strain and points of failure in composite beams with an embedded fiber optic Michelson sensor

A fiber optic Michelson sensor was embedded in composite beams to sense the internal strain and points of failure of the composite structures. The bending deformation and matrix cracking were investigated by four-point bending tests of cross-ply composite beams with the embedded fiber optic sensor. The failure points of composite beams were detected by using both a PZT sensor and a fiber optic sensor in order to investigate the fiber optic failure signals. The failure due to matrix cracks in a composite beam was confirmed by the edge replica method. The digital processing of the fiber optic signal was carried out to determine the strains and failure points of composite beams. The failure points were observed from the processed failure signal by high-pass filtering. The initial failure strain of the composite beam was measured and processed from the fiber optic strain signal after low-pass filtering.     

Self-compensating fiber optic flow sensor system and its field applications

A self-compensating fiber optic flow sensor system based on the principle of broadband white-light interferometers and cantilever beam bending is described. The fiber optic sensor system uses two fiber ferrule sensors that are bonded on either side of a cantilever beam to measure the flow rate by monitoring the air-gap changes caused by the bending of the cantilever beam. Cross sensitivity of the temperature and pressure dependence of the sensor can be compensated for automatically. The prototype sensor system was constructed, laboratory characterized, and field tested. The results from the field testing have demonstrated high resolution, repeatability, and stability for on-line detection of the flow rates of fluids.     

Analysis of a plastic optical fiber-based displacement sensor

An easy-to-manufacture setup for a displacement sensor based on plastic optical fiber (POF) is analyzed, showing computational and experimental results. If the displacement is the consequence of force or pressure applied to the device, this can be used as a force or pressure transducer. Its principle of operation consists of bending a POF section around a flexible cylinder and measuring light attenuation when the whole set is subjected to side pressure. Attenuations are obtained computationally as a function of side deformation for different design parameters. Experimental results with an actually built prototype are also provided.     

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.     

Surface plasmon resonance-based highly sensitive optical touch sensor with a hybrid noise rejection scheme

A surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-based optical touch sensor structure is proposed that provides high switch sensitivity and requires a weak activating force. Our proposed SPR-based optical touch sensor is arranged in a compact Kretschmann-Raether configuration in which the prism acting as our sensor head is coated with a metal nanofilm. Our optical-based noise rejection scheme relies on wavelength filtering, spatial filtering, and high reflectivity of the metal nanofilm, whereas our electrical-based noise reduction is obtained by means of an electrical signal filtering process. In our experimental proof of concept, a visible laser diode at a 655 nm centered wavelength and a prism made from BK7 with a 50 nm thick gold layer on the touching surface are used, showing a 7.85 dB optical contrast ratio for the first touch. An estimated weak mechanical force of <0.1 N is also observed that sufficiently activates the desired electrical load. It is tested for 51 operations without sensor malfunction under typical and very high illumination of 342 and 3000 lx, respectively. In this case, a measured average optical contrast of 0.80 dB is obtained with a +/-0.47 dB fluctuation, implying that the refractive index change in a small 3.2% of the overall active area is enough for our SPR-based optical touch sensor to function properly. Increasing optical contrast in our SPR-based optical touch sensor can be accomplished by using a higher polarization-extinction ratio and a narrower-bandwidth optical beam. A controlled environment and gold-coated surface using the thin-film sputtering technique can help improve the reliability and the durability of our SPR-based optical touch sensor. Other key features include ease of implementation, prevention of a light beam becoming incident on the user, and the ability to accept both strong and weak activating forces.     

用光纤干涉仪检测I形复合材料梁腹板/翼缘连接处的分层

介绍了一种在超声回弹波频谱分析基础上用光纤干涉仪来检测I形复合材料梁腹板/翼缘连接处分层的方法, 利用超声发射器在I形梁中产生应力波, 用表面粘贴的光纤干涉仪来接收应力波产生的输出信号, 对此信号进行频谱分析可找到I形梁的分层位置。理论分析和实验都表明了此方法探测复合材料梁腹板/翼缘连接处分层的可行性。      

用光纤干涉仪检测I形复合材料梁腹板/翼缘连接处的分层

介绍了一种在超声回弹波频谱分析基础上用光纤干涉仪来检测I形复合材料梁腹板/翼缘连接处分层的方法,利用超声发射器在I形梁中产生应力波,用表面粘贴的光纤干涉仪来接收应力波产生的输出信号,对此信号进行频谱分析可找到I形梁的分层位置。理论分析和实验都表明了此方法探测复合材料梁腹板/翼缘连接处分层的可行性。