Sensitivity-Enhanced Extrinsic Fabry-Perot Interferometric Fiber-Optic Microcavity Strain Sensor.

In this paper we investigate the performance of a SCS-6/Ti-15-3 composite system, a carbon/SiC woven composite system, and an AS4/3501-6 composite system, subjected to long term mechanical fatigue, with an extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometric (EFPI) fiber optic strain sensor. Both stiffness reduction and the degradation of thermal expansion coefficient (TEC) are monitored. The obtained results show that the EFPI sensor provides reliable data during long term fatigue loading up to 1 million cycles. The results suggest that the EFPI sensor is a viable means to monitor current and proposed characteristic damage metrics for various composite systems. We also monitor the TEC degradation during the thermal fatigue of celion G30-500/PMR-15 woven cross-ply composite system, and present a simple micromechanical model, that employs a shear lag approach, utilized to predict the effect of matrix cracking on the TEC of the composite. Results show that good agreement between experimental data and theoretical results is obtained, and that this parameter changed by as much as 80% over the fatigue life of the composite.

In the present study, real-time measurement of internal and residual strains in GFRP laminates with an optical fiber strain sensor was performed in an autoclave molding. An Extrinsic Fabry-Perot Interferometric (EFPI) type optical fiber strain sensor was embedded into prepreg sheets before the molding. The ion viscosity and the temperature of the epoxy resin matrix were also measured simultaneously with the internal strain measurement. The results of the experiments showed that the internal and residual strain of GFRP laminates during the molding could be monitored by the optical fiber sensor embedded in the parallel direction to the reinforcing fibers. It was also found that the circumstances around the embedded optical fiber strain sensor should be taken into account for the interpretation of the measured internal and residual strain.

A single-mode fiber-optic Mach-Zehnder interferometric strain sensor has been developed which uses many turns of single-mode optical fibers in the sensing arm to amplify the effects of earth strain. Homodyne with dc-phase tracking (PTDC) has been used to detect the phase shift of less than 10-3 rad. Laboratory experiments show that the fiber-optic strain sensor can measure the strain on the order of 10-12.© (1991) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

Composite propellers are subject to stringent quality control, extensive developmental testing, and ongoing health assessment. The feasibility of embedded fiber-optic smart instrumentation was examined for use in the commercial manufacture and testing processes used by Hartzell Propeller. Embedded extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometric (EFPI) fiber-optic strain sensors were used for cure monitoring and material testing of a carbon-graphite plate. Strain was measured during the hot press cure of the four- ply 90/0/0/90 test article. Next, directional strain dependence on temperature and pressure was determined through controlled surveys. Finally, the fiber-optic strain readings were compared to surface resistive strain gage measurements during a tensile test. The cure strain data showed the effects of thermal mismatch between composite, resin, and the press platens. The temperature and pressure surveys validated the use of the sensors over a wide-range of environmental conditions, and the tensile test showed good correlation between embedded and surface strain measurements. Hence, the embedded sensors can provide information on internal strain that was extrapolated form external measurements previously. Experimental implementation of the sensors for cure monitoring and for developmental testing of propellers is ongoing.

Optical fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors have significant potential for use as embedded devices to monitor the structural integrity of engineering materials. The main drawback of the FBG strain sensor is its cross-sensitivity to temperature. This paper reports a simple scheme for multiplexing a FBG and an extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometric (EFPI) sensor to enable the decoupling of strain from temperature. The EFPI sensor was constructed using a precision bore quartz capillary tube which housed two cleaved optical fibers. The gap between the fiber end- faces served as the Fabry-Perot cavity. Since the coefficients of thermal expansion between the optical fiber and the capillary tube were similar, the EFPI sensor has a very low sensitivity towards temperature. Therefore, when both sensors are placed close together, the EFPI sensor can act as the strain sensor, and temperature can be determined from the FBG wavelength shift after taking out the strain effect. The signal processing for the EFPI sensor was based on a channelled spectrum method using a CCD spectrometer. The same CCD spectrometer was also used to determine the wavelength shift of the FBG. The cross-talk between the EFPI and FBG sensors was evaluated. The feasibility of conducting simultaneous strain and temperature measurements was demonstrated.

A modified design of the extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometric (EFPI) optical fiber sensor to allow complete characterization of multicomponent strain fields is proposed. The novel EFPI includes a sensor head with two input fibers such that the respective interference pattern from the end face of the output multimode fiber are in quadrature. Any strain field possessing a component along the line joining the axes of the two fibers causes the initial phase difference to be modulated. The measured change in phase difference is employed to determine this transverse component of the strain field. Absolute, rather than differential measurements of strain are possible using the absolute EFPI sensing system. Applications of the modified sensor-head to smart materials and structures are discussed.

An extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometric (EFPI) fiber optic sensor is presented for measurement of strain at high ambient temperatures. The sensor is fabricated using a femto-second (fs) laser. The EFPI sensor is fabricated by micromachining a cavity on the tip of a standard single-mode fiber and is then self-enclosed by fusion splicing another piece of singlemode fiber. The fs-laser based fabrication makes the sensor thermally stable to sustain temperatures as high as 800 °C. The sensor is relatively insensitive towards the temperature as compared to its response towards the applied strain. The sensor can be embedded in Carbon fiber/Bismaleimide (BMI) composite laminates for strain monitoring at high ambient temperatures.

Abstract. With micro-strain resolution and the capability to sample at rates of 100 Hz and higher, fiber optic (FO) strain sensors offer exciting new possibilities for in-situ landslide monitoring. Here we describe a new FO monitoring system based on long-gauge fiber Bragg grating sensors installed at the Randa Rockslide Laboratory in southern Switzerland. The new FO monitoring system can detect sub-micrometer scale deformations in both triggered-dynamic and continuous measurements. Two types of sensors have been installed: (1) fully embedded borehole sensors and (2) surface extensometers. Dynamic measurements are triggered by sensor deformation and recorded at 100 Hz, while continuous data are logged every 5 min. Deformation time series for all sensors show displacements consistent with previous monitoring. Accelerated shortening following installation of the borehole sensors is likely related to long-term shrinkage of the grout. A number of transient signals have been observed, which in some cases were large enough to trigger rapid sampling. The combination of short- and long-term observation offers new insight into the deformation process. Accelerated surface crack opening in spring is shown to have a diurnal trend, which we attribute to the effect of snowmelt seeping into the crack void space and freezing at night to generate pressure on the crack walls. Controlled-source tests investigated the sensor response to dynamic inputs, which compared an independent measure of ground motion against the strain measured across a surface crack. Low frequency signals were comparable but the FO record suffered from aliasing, where undersampling of higher frequency signals generated spectral peaks not related to ground motion.

To perform a high temperature strain measurements, the sapphire extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometer (EFPI) sensor head was attached to a silicon carbide rod and placed in a RF induction heater mounted on an MTS load frame. The high-temperature ceramic adhesive is designed to withstand temperatures up to 4000° F. As a basis for comparison, a gold-coated silica EFPI sensor was attached along side the sapphire EFPI. Initially, strain data was recorded at room temperature as the silicon carbide rod was slowly loaded to 4500 lbs. When the temperature was stabilized at a maximum of 2000° F, the SiC rod was again loaded to determine the effects of temperature on strain. Although the sapphire sensor was capable of measuring strain at higher temperatures, die induction heater, being poorly insulated, was not able to further heat the test material. The purpose of the second experiment was to determine the survivability and repeatability of tiie sapphire EFPI due to high-cycle fatigue loading. The long-term survivability of the sensor, in both static and fatigue loading, has been demonstrated. Although the load frame was shutoff after 200,000 cycles, one would expect to be able to fatigue load tiie sensor for millions of cycles since the components of the EFPI sensing head are free to move inside the alignment tube. This is consistent widi data obtained for similar silica opdcal EFPI sensors diat were fadgue loaded to over 10 million cycles as compared to resistive strain gages that typically can be cycled only to 60,000 at 2000°F.

The bolted or riveted lap joint is the principle method of joining the aluminum sheets which comprise aircraft fuselages and wing assemblies. Crevice corrosion within the lap associated with normal environmental exposure and operational fatigue results in the deterioration of the joint's strength and possible catastrophic failures. The inspection of lap joints for fastener degradation and internal crevice corrosion, however, is difficult, tedious and expensive. This paper discusses the use of an interferometric fiber optic strain sensor for the detection of degradation in the structural integrity of aircraft lap joints via an acoustic vibration signature technique.

As an important member of optical fiber sensor, fiber optic Extrinsic Fabry-Perot Interferometric (EFPI) sensor has prospects for a wide range of industrial applications due to its small size, compact configuration, good reliability and flexibility. In a white light based fiber optic EFPI sensor system, which has the advantages of large dynamic range and high resolution, spectral analysis equipment is the most important part which takes the major cost of the system. Therefore, multiplexing spectral analysis equipment to measure multiple sensors simultaneously is an effective and necessary way that can save the cost of the whole sensor system. In this paper, a scheme based on the frequency division multiplexing of EFPI optical fiber sensors is proposed. Two EFPI sensors with different gap lengths are parallely connected through the optical fiber coupler. The overlapped interference spectrum of the two EFPI sensors is measured by using an optical spectrum analyzer, which is separated into two individual interference spectrums with a Finite Impuse Response (FIR) band-pass filter. Their envelope components are extracted with Hilbert transform, and then the interference spectrums are normalized by the envelope components. The respective gap lengths of the two EFPI sensors are achieved with the cross correlation calculation. Using this frequency division spectral analysis method, a two-channel multiplexing EFPI sensor system is implemented in the laboratory. The deployment of this frequency division multiplexing technology can greatly reduce the cost of the whole system which has extensive potential applications for distributed fiber optic EFPI sensor system.

A novel noise suppression method is proposed for the pressure surveillance of heavy oil thermal recovery well using white light extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometric (EFPI) fiber-optic sensor. The moving grey model GM(1, 1) algorithm is applied to suppress the non-stationary noise and disturbance in downhole environment. Both theoretical analysis and field test results show that there exists a threshold effect for the moving window length selection, the optimized value of window length occurs at the threshold point which best removes the high frequency disturbance as well as retaining the fast change of actual pressure signal. Field test results show that the proposed method can increase the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of pressure profile with 10.4dB, and then can effectively suppress the large deviation in the forecasting result of daily oil production by combining temperature information.

An experimental study is conducted to evaluate the performance of surface-mounted fiber optic strain sensors for delamination damage detection in eight-layer symmetric cross-ply Graphite/Epoxy composite plates. Teflon film and waxed paper inserts were embedded to model delamination experimentally. Extrinsic Fabry-Perot fiber optic sensors were used to detect such pre-existing delaminations. A fringe-order identification computer program for interferometric optical fiber strain sensors is used for automated strain detection. The responses of surface mounted Fabry-Perot optical fiber sensors due to real-time low velocity impact of rigid spheres with the delaminated and healthy composites were analyzed with respect to the first impact strain peak. The data was validated by measurements of out-of-plane acceleration using conventional piezo accelerometers.

In this article, we have proposed and experimentally demonstrated an optical fiber refractive index (RI) sensing interrogation system realized by extrinsic Fabry–Perot interferometer (EFPI) structure-based microwave photonic filter (MPF) technology. EFPI is considered as a sensing element, as well as a spectrum slicer of the MPF. The shift of the central frequency of the MPF’s passband caused by the change of the RI in the Fabry–Perot (FP) cavity can be monitored to demodulate the RI variation. In our experiment, four EFPI sensors with different FP cavity lengths have been applied for the RI sensing test. The experimental results show that the sensitivity can be tailored by adjusting the length of the FP cavity, and the longer the length of the FP cavity, the higher the sensitivity can be achieved. When the length of the FP cavity is <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$960 ~\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> , a high sensitivity of 1.2 GHz/RIU has been obtained. The proposed sensing system can transfer the changes of the interference pattern in the optical domain to the central frequency shift of the MPF’s passband in the electronic domain and thus avoid the limitation of measurement range induced by the periodic characteristics of the FP interference spectrum. The proposed sensing system also has the advantages of high sensitivity, the feasibility of multiplexing, temperature insensitivity, good repeatability and stability, simple fabrication, low cost, and so on.

An optical fiber Mach–Zehnder interferometer based on double S-tapers is proposed for strain sensing. The double S-taper strain sensor is formed by two steps. The fiber is pulled during arc discharging, and a second arc discharge is performed while the fixtures are misaligned to form a S-taper. The transmission spectra were collected with different structural parameters, including the axial offset, taper region diameter, and transition region length. The transmission spectra of each group of parameters are compared and analyzed. This work is meaningful for further research on double S-taper strain sensors. When the axial offset is 60 μm, the S2-taper region diameter is 54 μm, the transition region length is 0.7 cm, the strain experiment is tested from 0 με to 800 με, and the strain sensitivity is 6.63 pm/με. In addition, the stability, reversibility, and temperature sensitivity were experimentally characterized.