Experimental study on an optical fiber acoustic emission sensor array

Acoustic emission source location has an important application in acoustic emission detection technology. The ring of Sagnac interferometer as the point sensor has achieved to detect acoustic emission source in this paper. And a slate is used as transmission medium. The mathematical algorithm of location is independent of the medium material. So it didn´t need to measure the speed of sound transmitting in slate. In the case, some unnecessary errors induced by measuring the speed of sound are avoided. The design simulates an experimental structure which can locate a similar embedded fiber-optic acoustic emission source, and the experiment shows that it´s feasible. The sensor array of fiber acoustic emission source location system provides a new approach on health assessment and monitoring for the material structure.