Development of a fiber optic health monitoring system for aerospace applications

This paper describes our research activity involved in the identification, development and test of a prototype SHM system constituted by optical sensing nodes to measure both temperature and strain on ultra high temperature ceramics (UHTC) materials up to 1000 ℃. Commercially available optic devices can operate up to 550 ℃. To raise temperature limit up to 1000 ℃, custom devices, mainly under development for scientific applications, have been identified. A prototype SHM system has been developed adopting a FBG sensor for temperature measurement and an EFPI sensor in sapphire fiber for strain measurement. The preliminary findings from thermo-mechanical tests indicate that former SHM system is capable of accurately measuring strain at elevated temperatures on UHTC materials.