Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Applied Sciences: Research Areas

Abstract:
In-service structural health monitoring of engineering structures has assumed a significant role in assessing their safety and integrity. Fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors have emerged as a reliable, in-situ, non-destructive tool for monitoring, diagnostics and control in civil and aerospace structures. They can be used to measure a multitude of parameters like strain, temperature, pressure and chemical and biological effects of the environment. The versatility of Fiber Bragg grating sensors represents a key advantage over other technologies in the structural sensing field. In this study, Bragg gratings written into a Germanium doped optical fiber are embedded in carbon-epoxy laminates to measure the tensile strain in the composite material. Strain measurements from a more conventional electro-mechanical instrumentation are compared to those from the Bragg sensors and an excellent agreement between the two measurements has been verified. The experimental results of this study indicate that fiber optic Bragg grating sensors, integrated with composites, have potential applications for monitoring the structural integrity of composite structures. .

Keywords: composite, Bragg sensors, embedded FBG, carbon-epoxy, tensile strain

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