Single Fiber Bragg Grating Sensor Research Articles

In-Bulk Temperature Profile Mapping Using Fiber Bragg Grating in Fluids.

The capabilities of Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors to measure temperature variations in the bulk of liquid flows were considered. In the first step of our research project, reported in this paper, we investigated to what extent the use of thin glass fibers without encapsulation, which only minimally disturb a flow, can fulfill the requirements for robustness and measurement accuracy. Experimental tests were performed in a benchmark setup containing 24 FBG measuring positions, which were instrumented in parallel with thermocouples for validation. We suggest a special assembly procedure in which the fiber is placed under a defined tension to improve its stiffness and immobility for certain flow conditions. This approach uses a single FBG sensor as a reference that measures the strain effect in real time, allowing accurate relative temperature measurements to be made at the other FBG sensor points, taking into account an appropriate correction term. Absolute temperature readings can be obtained by installing another well-calibrated, strain-independent thermometer on the reference FBG. We demonstrated this method in two test cases: (i) a temperature gradient with stable density stratification in the liquid metal GaInSn and (ii) the heating of a water column using a local heat source. In these measurements, we succeeded in recording both spatial and temporal changes in the linear temperature distribution along the fiber. We present the corresponding results from the tests and, against this background, we discuss the capabilities and limitations of this measurement technique with respect to the detection of temperature fields in liquid flows.

Monitoring Epoxy Coated Steel under Combined Mechanical Loads and Corrosion Using Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors.

Fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors have been applied to assess strains, stresses, loads, corrosion, and temperature for structural health monitoring (SHM) of steel infrastructure, such as buildings, bridges, and pipelines. Since a single FBG sensor measures a particular parameter at a local spot, it is challenging to detect different types of anomalies and interactions of anomalies. This paper presents an approach to assess interactive anomalies caused by mechanical loading and corrosion on epoxy coated steel substrates using FBG sensors in real time. Experiments were performed by comparing the monitored center wavelength changes in the conditions with loading only, corrosion only, and simultaneous loading and corrosion. The theoretical and experimental results indicated that there were significant interactive influences between loading and corrosion for steel substrates. Loading accelerated the progress of corrosion for the epoxy coated steel substrate, especially when delamination in the epoxy coating was noticed. Through the real-time monitoring from the FBG sensors, the interactions between the anomalies induced by the loading and corrosion can be quantitatively evaluated through the corrosion depth and the loading contact length. These fundamental understandings of the interactions of different anomalies on steel structures can provide valuable information to engineers for better management of steel structures.

Guided waves based damage localization using acoustically coupled optical fibers and a single fiber Bragg grating sensor

Fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors have long been thought of as the ideal sensors for structural health monitoring (SHM) due to their small size, light weight, ability to be embedded and ability to be multiplexed. So, FBG sensors have been commonly used for strain based SHM. In recent times, a renewed interest is seen in the use of FBG sensors for GW measurements using the edge filtering approach which increases the sensitivity several fold. The remote bonding configuration has also been proposed to enhance this sensitivity further. But in order to achieve damage localization, a multi-sensor network is needed. The FBG sensors and the equipment for employing them in the edge filtering configuration is expensive. As a result, their use for SHM in large structures is still limited. Recent studies have shown that the acoustic wave in an optical fiber may be transferred from one optical fiber to another through an adhesive based acoustic coupler. In this study, this phenomenon is used to develop an SHM system which is capable of damage localization using a single FBG sensor. The paper presents a proof-of-concept of the use of the acoustically coupled optical fibers and single FBG for damage localization. The paper also highlights the design considerations of an acoustic coupler and discusses them in detail. The proposed approach has a potential to radically reduce the equipment costs (factor of 3) which is one of the limiting factors in the widespread acceptance of SHM systems in structures.

Distributed strain sensing, employing apodized π-phase shifted FBG: Application in power transformer oil breakdown detection

Early detection of power transformer oil breakdown can save the transformer and power grid from any potential damages. In this article, a novel distributed strain sensing system based on apodized π-phase-shifted Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) is presented in order to detect power transformer oil breakdown. The main objective is to detect high-frequency acoustic waves and ultra-small strains resulting from partial discharge (PD) occurrence. To this end, optical fiber under various time and position dependent strain conditions is simulated by employing transfer matrix method. Strain is incorporated in the equations by employing photo-elastic constants. For a single FBG sensor case employing a laser at a fixed wavelength of 1550 nm, it is shown that incorporation of a π phase shift drastically increases the sensitivity, reaching values as high as 60 %/0.1μstrain in reflected light intensity. However, maximum measurable strain is limited to only 0.25 μstrain. Afterwards, a suitable Gaussian apodization function is applied to the FBG which drastically increased the strain measurement range to almost 0.45 μstrain by a complete suppression of sidelobes in the reflected light spectrum. It is shown that the proposed system is capable of detecting high-frequency PD-induced acoustic waves of up to 500 kHz.

An FBG-Based 3-DOF Force Sensor With Simplified Structure for Retinal Microsurgery

Retinal microsurgery, which requires surgeons to perform precise operations on delicate tissue in a tiny eye, is considered one of the most technically demanding operations. Lack of force perception is one of the major problems faced during retinal microsurgery. In order to solve the problem of lack of force sensing, many 3 degree of freedom (DOF) force sensing instruments have been developed. However, they all adopt complex structures, and the accuracy of axial force still has room for improvement. In this paper, we presented a 3-DOF force sensor based on fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors for retinal microsurgery. An improved FBG configuration which simplifies the structure of the force sensor and the corresponding temperature compensation method was designed. Two optical fibers with single FBG sensor and an optical fiber with dual FBG sensors are longitudinally attached along the grooves of a stainless steel tube. The calibration method used in the force sensor is a combination of linear calibration method and the least squares support vector regression (LSSVR), which can effectively reduce the influence of linear and nonlinear errors. The results of calibration experiment demonstrate that the hybrid calibration method has better accuracy than using linear or nonlinear method alone. Verification experiment and temperature compensation experiment show that the 3-DOF force sensor proposed has the ability to provide accurate and stable estimation of 3 dimensional forces in a temperature changing environment.

Performance Optimization of Apodized FBG Biomedical Sensor for Variation in Temperature and Presence of Noise

In this work, comprehensive analysis on single and dual mode, uniform and apodized Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) based gas concentration measurement sensor performance in the presence of noise and temperature variations is presented. Different scenarios are formulated. Firstly, the indirect sensing method for gas concentration measurement is presented, followed by the discussion on single and dual mode uniform FBG sensor design. Thereafter single and dual mode Gaussian apodized FBG sensor design and its pros and cons are discussed. The effect of temperature variations and noise on FBG sensor is also discussed. Afterwards as per referred literature the simulation results for uniform and apodized FBG in the presence or absence of noise, temperature variations and strain applications are validated. The quantitative analysis shows that the single mode apodized FBG has highest side lobes suppression ratio which is 88.21%. In terms of FWHM single mode apodized FBG has narrowest bandwidth of amplitude 0.18. While dual mode apodized FBG has highest reflectivity, that is, −0.20571. It is observed that reflection spectrum of uniform FBG sensor contains large strength of side lobes at adjacent wavelength. Moreover, the dual mode FBG sensor performance is more affected by variation in temperature and noise but dual mode FBG sensor works better as compared to single mode FBG sensor in context of minimum side lobes, high absorption depth and enhanced reflectivity. The presented investigation will be helpful to prescribe the correct amount of dosage for biomedical application. © 2022 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.

Method of damage location determination based on a neural network using a single fiber Bragg grating sensor.

In this paper, a structural damage identification algorithm based on a single fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor isproposed. The signal detected by the FBG can be analyzed by the wavelet packet decomposition and back propagation neural network to obtain the damage location information. A high-speed FBG demodulation system based on a tunable Fabry-Perot filter and unbalanced Mach-Zehnder (M-Z) interferometer is designed to respond to a signal with a frequency range from 0 to 4kHz, which will increase the sensing accuracy. This algorithm is verified by the aluminum plate model, which can simulate the generation of damage in reality. The experimental results show that a single FBG sensor is enough to realize accurate damage location identification according to this algorithm, and identification accuracy can reach 90.0%.

A FBG based displacement transducer for small soil deformation measurement

A small soil deformation measurement system based on fiber Bragg grating (FBG) has been developed for underground displacement monitoring. This new displacement transducer consists of two anchorage plates for the fixation of displacement sensor in soil, a single FBG sensor for sensing the occurred deformation, and a PolyVinyl Chloride (PVC) tube for the protection of inner FBG sensor. The two anchorage plates were fabricated and fixed on the PVC tube surface by FDM process. Gauge length, maximum measurement displacement, and displacement resolution of the proposed FBG displacement transducer were 90 mm, 0.9 mm, and 0.0747 mm, respectively. Raw material of the anchorage plates was Polylactic Acid (PLA) material. An embankment model was established and installed with multiplexed four FBG displacement transducers for the measurement of internal horizontal displacement in laboratory. Both static load and movable load were applied on the top surface of the embankment model. It is found that maximum error of the four sensors under different static load was less than 6%. The monitored strains of four different FBG displacement transducers under movable load were highly consistent, indicating that the smart FBG based small deformation monitoring system can be used to monitor vehicle flow in future. All monitored displacement values were less than 0.03 mm. Therefore the FBG displacement transducer characterized by high resolution can be used to monitor small displacement occurred underground.

Vibration monitoring for aircraft wing model using fiber Bragg grating array packaged by vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding

For the improvement of monitoring accuracy, a vibration monitoring for aircraft wing model using a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) array packaged by vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) is proposed. The working principle of the vibration monitoring using FBG array has been explained, which can theoretically support the idea of this paper. VARTM has been explained in detail, which is suitable for not only the single FBG sensor but also the FBG array within a relatively large area. The calibration experiment has been performed using the FBG sensor packaged by VARTM. The strain sensitivity of the VARTM package is 1.35 pm/μϵ and the linearity is 0.9999. The vibration monitoring experiment has been carried out using FBG array packaged by VARTM. The measured rate of strain changes across the aluminum test board used to simulate the aircraft wing is 0.69 μϵ/mm and the linearity is 0.9931. The damping ratio is 0.16, which could be further used for system performance evaluation. Experimental results demonstrate that the vibration monitoring using FBG sensors packaged by VARTM can be efficiently used for the structural health monitoring. Given the validation and great performance, this method is quite promising for in-flight monitoring and holds great reference value in other similar engineering structures.

Simultaneous load and temperature measurement using Lophine-coated fiber Bragg gratings

This paper presents a single fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor that is capable of measuring the axial load and temperature simultaneously. The FBG sensor is coated with a block of recrystallized Lophine, which introduces the bandwidth modulation of the FBG reflectance spectrum. Thermal-mechanical testing of the Lophine-coated FBG sensor under different load and temperature combinations was carried out. It was discovered that the FBG bandwidth is linearly proportional to the applied load and temperature. By fitting the measured FBG bandwidths and central Bragg wavelengths as linear functions of the axial load and temperature, we demonstrated that the axial load and temperature can be inversely determined from the measured reflectance spectrum of a single Lophine-coated FBG sensor. The measurement errors for the axial load and the temperature were found to be ±4 gm and ±4 °C, respectively.

Low-velocity impact localization in a stiffened composite panel using a normalized cross-correlation method

This paper presents an experimental study on the low-velocity impact localization of complex composite structures. An impact localization algorithm, which localizes an impact source by comparing the normalized cross-correlation between the reference database and the obtained impact signals, was proposed. The proposed method was applied to a stiffened composite panel that consists of a main spar and stringers. Impact tests were conducted on the composite panel in which four multiplexed fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors were attached on the bottom surface. The verification results indicated that 20 verification points were successfully localized with the maximum error of 43.98 mm and average error of 14.23 mm using four FBG sensors. The effect of the number of sensors on the localization performance was also investigated. The comparison results revealed that the proposed method could localize an impact source using a reduced number of sensors. A single FBG sensor covered an area of 600 × 900 mm2 of the stiffened composite panel with a maximum error of 64.76 mm and an average error of 17.86 mm using the proposed method.

Dynamic strain measurement using two wavelength-matched fiber Bragg grating sensors interrogated by a cascaded long-period fiber grating

In this work, we describe a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensing system using two wavelength-matched FBG sensors for static and dynamic strain measurement. A cascaded long-period fiber grating (CLPG)-based demodulation technique has been used to interrogate the two wavelength-matched FBG sensors. Experimental results of static strain measurement show that the proposed system has a strain resolution of 1 με. This system has also been used for dynamic strain measurement. An eddy current displacement meter-based system has been used as a comparison measurement. Experimental results of dynamic strain measurement have proved that the FBG sensing system has a good performance in the measurement of dynamic strain. The results of static and dynamic strain measurement indicate that the sensing system using two wavelength-matched FBG sensors is superior to the single FBG sensor system.

Simultaneous cardiac and respiratory frequency measurement based on a single fiber Bragg grating sensor

A respiratory and cardiac-frequency sensor has been designed and manufactured to monitor both components with a single fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor. The main innovation of the explored system is the structure in which the FBG sensor is embedded. A specially developed polymeric foil allowed the simultaneous detection of heart rate and respiration cycles. The PVC has been designed to enhance the sensor sensitivity. In order to retrieve both components individually, a signal processing system was implemented for filtering out the respiratory and cardiac frequencies. The developed solution was tested along with a commercial device for referencing, from which the proposed system reliability is concluded. This optical-fiber system type has found an application niche in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) exam rooms, where no other types of sensors than optical ones are advised to enter due to the electromagnetic interference.

Single fiber Bragg grating sensor with two sections of different diameters for longitudinal strain and temperature discrimination with enhanced strain sensitivity

A single fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor with two sections of different diameters is proposed and experimentally demonstrated for discrimination and measurement of strain and temperature. A section of single FBG is etched in hydrofluoric acid solution to reduce diameter of the fiber by factor of <1/2 to increase its strain sensitivity. Different shifts of the Bragg wavelengths of chemically etched and nonetched gratings caused by different strain sensitivities are used to discriminate and measure strain and temperature. Maximum errors of +/-13 microepsilon (microstrain) and +/-1 degrees C are reported over 1700 microepsilon and 60 degrees C measurement ranges, respectively. Depending upon the diameter of the etched fiber grating, the design can also discriminate nanostrain from temperature.