Fiber Optic Sensors for Structural Health Monitoring of Air Platforms

Aircraft operators are faced with increasing requirements to extend the service life of air platforms beyond their designed life cycles, resulting in heavy maintenance and inspection burdens as well as economic pressure. Structural health monitoring (SHM) based on advanced sensor technology is potentially a cost-effective approach to meet operational requirements, and to reduce maintenance costs. Fiber optic sensor technology is being developed to provide existing and future aircrafts with SHM capability due to its unique superior characteristics. This review paper covers the aerospace SHM requirements and an overview of the fiber optic sensor technologies. In particular, fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor technology is evaluated as the most promising tool for load monitoring and damage detection, the two critical SHM aspects of air platforms. At last, recommendations on the implementation and integration of FBG sensors into an SHM system are provided

Impact detection techniques using fibre-optic sensors for aerospace & defence

Impact detection techniques are developed for application in the aerospace and defence industries. Optical fibre sensors hold great promise for structural health monitoring systems and methods of interrogating fibre Bragg gratings (FBG) are investigated given the need for dynamic strain capture and multiplexed sensors. An arrayed waveguide grating based interrogator is developed. The relationships between key performance indicators, such as strain range and linearity of response, and parameters such as the FBG length and spectral width are determined. It was found that the inclusion of a semiconductor optical amplifier could increase the signal-to-noise ratio by ~300% as the system moves to its least sensitive. An alternative interrogator is investigated utilising two wave mixing in erbium-doped fibre in order to create an adaptive system insensitive to quasistatic strain and temperature drifts. Dynamic strain sensing was demonstrated at 200 Hz which remained functional while undergoing a temperature shift of 8.5 °C. In addition, software techniques are investigated for locating impact events on a curved composite structure using both time-of-flight triangulation and neural networks. A feature characteristic of composite damage creation is identified in dynamic signals captured during impact. An algorithm is developed which successfully distinguishes between signals characteristic of a non-damaging impact with those from a damaging impact with a classification accuracy of 93 – 96%. Finally, a demonstrator system is produced to exhibit some of the techniques developed in this thesis

Arrayed Waveguide Grating-Based Interrogation System for Safety Applications and High-Speed Measurements

This thesis is focused on the design of two interrogation systems for Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors based on the Wavelength Domain Multiplexing (WDM) by means of the Arrayed Waveguide Grating (AWG) device. The FBG sensors have been employed in a large number of environments thanks to their intrinsic characteristics. To design a measurement system based on the Fiber Optic Sensor (FOS) technology, it is mandatory to make use of an optoelectronic system with the aim to "read" the wavelength shifting performed by the sensors. This latter is named interrogation system and, actually, sets a limit on the employability of the FBG sensors, due to its cost, design complexity and low reliability in some contests. For this reasons, the researchers are constantly looking on new technologies for the design of innovative interrogation systems. The AWG device seems to provide characteristics which cannot be reached with other devices and, due to its passivity, gives the possibility to increase the system speed to let the FBG sensors to be employed also for the detection of high-speed phenomena. Furthermore, thanks to the robustness and reliability of AWG device, is possible to turn an interrogation system into a full analog monitoring system employable in a safety scenario, such as industrial processes or other kind of environments, in which digital processing does not ensure enough reliability

Distributed photonic instrumentation for smart grids

Photonic sensor networks possess the unique potential to provide the instrumentation infrastructure required in future smart grids by simultaneously addressing the issues of metrology and communications. In contrast to established optical CT/VT technology, recent developments at the University of Strathclyde in distributed point sensors for electrical and mechanical parameters demonstrate an enormous potential for realizing novel and effective monitoring and protection strategies for intelligent electrical networks and systems. In this paper, we review this technology and its capabilities, and describe recent work in power system monitoring and protection using hybrid electro-optical sensors. We show that wide-area visibility of multiple electrical and mechanical parameters from a single central location may be achieved using this technology, and discuss the implications for smart grid instrumentation

Characteristic and sensing properties of near- and mid-Infrared optical fibres

The work within this thesis investigates the characteristics and sensing properties of novel near- and mid-infrared tellurite and germanate glass fibres and their potential as sensing elements. An asymmetric splicing method for fusion-splicing tellurite and germanate glass fibres to standard silica fibre is demonstrated. The thermal and strain sensing properties of these glass fibres have been studied by analysing the properties of optical fibre Fabry-Perot cavities, which were formed when these high refractive index fibres were spliced to silica fibre, and fibre Bragg gratings. Using fibre F-P interferometer, the normalized thermal sensitivity of tellurite and germanate fibre was measured to be 10.76×10-6/°C and 15.56×10-6/°C respectively, and the normalized strain sensitivity of tellurite and germanate fibre was also measured with values of 0.676×10-6 /με and 0.817×10-6 /με respectively. These results show good agreement with measurements using fibre Bragg gratings in these fibres and are reasonably consistent with the values predicted using available published data for glasses of similar compositions. Tellurite and germanate glass fibres show potential as thermal sensing and load sensing elements compared with silica fibre. The design of an evanescent field gas sensor using tapered germanate fibre for methane gas species detection was investigated and modelled. This model shows the maximum gas cell length (sensing fibre length), detectable gas concentration range, and required gas cell length range for the expected minimum detectable gas concentration of a fibre evanescent field sensor, which gives guidance for the effective gas cell length choosen according to different minimum detectable gas concentration requirement in practise. The investigation of tellurite and germanate glass fibre characteristics and sensing properties offer guidance for their applications in sensing areas.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC

Optical Fiber Interferometric Sensors

The contributions presented in this book series portray the advances of the research in the field of interferometric photonic technology and its novel applications. The wide scope explored by the range of different contributions intends to provide a synopsis of the current research trends and the state of the art in this field, covering recent technological improvements, new production methodologies and emerging applications, for researchers coming from different fields of science and industry. The manuscripts published in the Special issue, and re-printed in this book series, report on topics that range from interferometric sensors for thickness and dynamic displacement measurement, up to pulse wave and spirometry applications

INVESTIGATION OF THERMO-OPTIC EFFECTS IN SILICON MICRORING RESONATORS FOR SENSING AND INTERROGATION

Integrated photonics technology has great potential for enhancing the performance and reducing the volume and cost of optical sensing systems. Among many integrated photonic structures, silicon microring resonators have received much attention for both sensing and interrogation. Particularly, the high quality-factor of the microring resonators and the large thermo-optic coefficient and high thermal conductivity of silicon make them attractive for temperature sensing and thermally-tunable-filter-based interrogation. In this dissertation work, the thermo-optic effects in silicon microring resonators is studied and used in the silicon-ring-resonator-based temperature sensing and interrogation. The first objective of this dissertation work is to develop a highly sensitive photonic temperature sensor, which can be potentially used for achieving portable, compact temperature sensing systems employing a low-resolution on-chip spectrometer. However, the sensitivity of conventional silicon-ring-resonator-based temperature sensors is relatively low (less than ~80 pm/°C). These sensors often require the use of a bulky and expensive fine-resolution interrogator for high resolution temperature monitoring, since the sensor resolution is determined by the sensitivity. In this work, a novel photonic temperature sensor based on cascaded-ring-resonators with the Vernier effect is developed to simultaneously enhance the sensitivity and sensing range. With a proof-of-concept device, sensitivity enhancement of 6.3 times and sensing range enhancement of 5.3 times are demonstrated. On-chip optical interrogators employing a silicon-ring-resonator-based thermally tunable filter (SRRTF) offer a promising solution for realizing portable, compact optical sensing systems. However, the slow interrogation speed of conventional SRRTF-based interrogators (less than a few Hz) has hindered their application for dynamic sensing. The second objective of this dissertation work is to develop a high-speed SRRTF-based interrogator, which can be used to interrogate optical sensors monitoring dynamic parameters. In this work, an SRRTF-based system utilizing the nonlinear transient thermal response of the SRRTF is developed for the speed enhancement. High speed interrogation (100 kHz of interrogation speed) of a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor is successfully demonstrated with this system. The third objective of the dissertation work is to further enhance the tuning speed and range of the previously developed SRRTF and to use it for simultaneous interrogation of multiplexed FBG sensors. Performance of SRRTF-based interrogators is primarily determined by thermal and optical characteristics of the SRRTF. However, conventional SRRTF structures with a metallic heater on the top oxide cladding have limitations on interrogation speed and range. In this dissertation work, a novel SRRTF employing an interior-ridge-ring resonator and thermal through-cladding-vias is developed, which can realize enhanced tuning speed and range. With this SRRTF, interrogation of multiplexed FBG sensors at 125 kHz speed is demonstrated

Strain monitoring.

This chapter provides an overview of the use of strain sensors for structural health monitoring. Compared to acceleration-based sensors, strain sensors can measure the deformation of a structure at very low frequencies (up to DC) and enable the measurement of ultrasonic responses. Many existing SHM methods make use of strain measurement data. Furthermore, strain sensors can be easily integrated in (aircraft) structures. This chapter discusses the working principle of traditional strain gauges (Sect. 8.1) and different types of optical fiber sensors (Sect. 8.2). The installation requirements of strain sensors and the required hardware for reading out sensors are provided. We will also give an overview of the advantages and the limitations of commonly used strain sensors. Finally, we will present an overview of the applications of strain sensors for structural health monitoring in the aeronautics field

Hybrid Optical Fiber Sensors for Smart Materials and Structures

There has been a rapid growth in the use of advanced composite materials in a variety of load-bearing structures, for example in aviation for structures such as rotor blades, aircraft fuselage and wing structures. Composite materials embedded with fiber-optic sensors (FOS) have been recognized as one of the prominent enabling technologies for smart materials and structures. The rapid increase in the interest in composite materials embedded with FOS has been driven by numerous applications, such as intelligent composite manufacturing/processing, and safety-related areas in aircrafts. Research has been focused recently on using several optical sensor types working together to form so called “hybrid optical fiber sensors” in order to overcome the limitations of the individual sensor technologies. The main aim of the research described in this thesis is to investigate a hybrid sensing scheme that utilizes polarimetric sensors and FBG sensors working in a complimentary fashion to measure multiple physical parameters in a composite material, with a particular focus on measuring the complex indirect parameters thermal expansion and vibration. The research described in this thesis investigates the performance of a hybrid sensing scheme based on polarimetric sensors and FBG sensors after embedding in a composite material. It is shown that the influence of thermal expansion within a composite material on embedded polarimetric sensors is the main source of errors for embedded fiber sensor strain measurements and that for practical strain sensing applications buffer coated PM-PCF are more suitable for embedding in composite. Further, using a buffer stripped PM-PCF polarimetric sensor, a measurement scheme to measure a composite material\u27s thermal elongation induced strain is proposed. A novel hybrid sensor for simultaneous measurement of strain, temperature and thermal strain is demonstrated by integrating polarimetric sensors based on acrylate coated high bi-refringent polarization maintaining photonic crystal fiber (HB-PM-PCF), and a coating stripped HB-PM-PCF sensor together with an FBG sensor. Flexible demodulation modules that can be embedded or surface attached is a challenge for composite materials containing fiber-optic sensors. In this thesis an interrogation method that allows intensity domain operation of hybrid sensor is demonstrated. Further focusing towards the miniaturization of the hybrid sensor interrogator, a miniaturized flexible interrogator for the demonstrated hybrid sensing scheme embedded in a composite material is also designed. Low frequency vibration measurements are performed for glass fibre-reinforced composite material samples with two different strain-sensitive polarimetric sensor types embedded. It is shown that the strain sensitivity of polarimetric sensors limits the vibration measurements to a certain range of vibration amplitudes. A polarimetric sensor based buffer stripped HB-PM-PCF is demonstrated for monitoring the different stages of the curing process for a Mageneto-Rheological composite material. By providing information about multiple parameters such as strain, temperature, thermal strain, vibration amplitude and vibration frequency the proposed and demonstrated hybrid sensing approach has a high potential to change the paradigm for smart material design in the future

Investigation into Smart Multifunctional Optical System-On-A-Chip Sensor Platform and Its Applications in Optical Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have been widely used in various applications to acquire distributed information through cooperative efforts of sensor nodes. Most of the sensor nodes used in WSNs are based on mechanical or electrical sensing mechanisms, which are susceptible to electromagnetic interference (EMI) and can hardly be used in harsh environments. Although these disadvantages of conventional sensor nodes can be overcome by employing optical sensing methods, traditional optical systems are usually bulky and expensive, which can hardly be implemented in WSNs. Recently, the emerging technologies of silicon photonics and photonic crystal promise a solution of integrating a complete optical system through a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) process. However, such an integration still remains a challenge. The overall objective of this dissertation work is to develop a smart multifunctional optical system-on-a-chip (SOC) sensor platform capable of both phase modulation and wavelength tuningfor heterogeneous sensing, and implement this platform in a sensor node to achieve an optical WSN for various applications, including those in harsh environments. The contributions of this dissertation work are summarized as follows. i)A smart multifunctional optical SOC sensor platform for heterogeneous sensing has beendeveloped for the first time. This platform can be used to perform phase modulation and demodulation in a low coherence interferometric configuration or wavelength tuning in a spectrum sensing configuration.The multifunctional optical sensor platform is developed through hybrid integration of a light source, an optical modulator, and multiple photodetectors. As the key component of the SOC platform, two types of modulators, namely, the opto-mechanical and electro-optical modulators, are investigated. For the first time, interrogating different types of heterogeneous sensors, including various Fabry-Perot (FP) sensors and fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors, with a single SOC sensor platform, is demonstrated. ii)Enhanced understanding of the principles of the multifunctional optical platform withanopto-mechanical modulator has been achieved.As a representative of opto-mechanical modulators, a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) based FP tunable filter is thoroughly investigated through mechanical and optical modeling. The FP tunable filter is studied for both phase modulation and wavelength tuning, and design guidelines are developed based on the modeling and parametric studies. It is found that the MEMS tunable filter can achieve a large modulation depth, but it suffers from a trade-off between modulation depth and speed. iii) A novel silicon electro-optical modulator based on microring structures for optical phase modulation and wavelength tuning has been designed. To overcome the limitations of the opto-mechanical modulators including low modulation speed and mechanical instability, a CMOS compatible high speed electro-optical silicon modulator is designed, which combines microring and photonic crystal structures for phase modulation in interferometric sensors and makes use of two cascaded microrings for wavelength tuning in sensors that require spectrum domain signal processing. iv)A novel optical SOC WSN node has been developed. The optical SOC sensor platform and the associated electric circuit are integrated with a conventional WSN module to achieve an optical WSN node, enabling optical WSNs for various applications. v) A novel cross-axial dual-cavity FP sensor has been developed for simultaneous pressure and temperature sensing.Across-axial sensor is useful in measuring static pressures without picking up dynamic pressures in the presence of surface flows. The dual-cavity sensing structure is used for both temperature and pressure measurements without the need for another temperature sensor for temperature drift compensation. This sensor can be used in moderate to high temperature environments, which demonstrates the potential of using the optical WSN sensor node in a harsh environment