Measurement of the thermal expansion of space structures using fiber Bragg grating sensors and displacement measuring interferometers

Abstract

A thermal deformation measurement system, composed of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors for strain measurement and a displacement measuring interferometer (DMI) system for accurate specimen expansion data acquisition, was prepared and installed in a vacuum chamber where the temperature of the test specimen can be controlled to simulate space environments. The DMI system, which consists of two heterodyne interferometers, a laser head, electronics and a thermally stable specimen base made of fused silica, was used to validate the thermal expansions of the specimens measured by the FBG sensors. We measured the average coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of an Invar specimen, known as a thermally stable material, using both the FBG sensors and the DMI system in vacuum conditions from 20 °C to 40 °C. The CTE results of the Invar specimen were found to be 1.226 × 10−6 K−1 and 1.298 × 10−6 K−1 based on the FBG and DMI measurements, respectively. The present results show that it is possible to precisely measure the thermal deformation of a specimen or structure in space environments using FBG sensors.