Polymer Optical Fiber Sensors for Distributed Strain Measurement and Application in Structural Health Monitoring

Author

Liehr, Sascha ; Lenke, Philipp ; Wendt, Mario ; Krebber, Katerina ; Seeger, Monika ; Thiele, Elke ; Metschies, Heike ; Gebreselassie, Berhane ; Münich, Johannes Christian

Author_Institution

BAM Fed. Inst. for Mater. Res. & Testing, Berlin, Germany

Volume

9

Issue

11

fYear

2009

Firstpage

1330

Lastpage

1338

Abstract

Polymer optical fiber (POF) sensors have the unique ability to measure high strain distributed along the fiber up to 40% using the optical time-domain reflectometry (OTDR) technique. Both, standard PMMA fibers and perfluorinated (PF) graded-index (GI) POF are introduced and evaluated in potential use and applicability. Further, distributed length change measurement based on cross-correlation analysis of the characteristic fiber signature of PF POF is introduced. We conclude the advances in distributed POF strain sensors technology with respect to application in structural health monitoring. Special focus is on the sensor integration into technical textiles for health monitoring of geotechnical structures and masonry structures. Measurement results of sensor-equipped textiles in different model tests are presented, displacement of soil and cracks in retrofitted masonry structures are detected and evaluated.

Keywords

condition monitoring; correlation methods; fibre optic sensors; optical polymers; reflectometry; strain measurement; cross-correlation analysis; distributed strain measurement; high strain measurement; optical time-domain reflectometry; perfluorinated graded-index; polymer optical fiber sensors; structural health monitoring; Distributed strain sensor; optical fiber sensor; polymer optical fiber (POF) sensors; structural health monitoring;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Sensors Journal, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1530-437X

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JSEN.2009.2018352

Filename

5204285