Stress optical fiber sensor using light coupling between two laterally fused multimode optical fibers

Area of Science:

• Photonics and Materials Science
• Optical Fiber Sensing Technology

Background:

• High-value stress measurement is critical for structural health monitoring.
• Existing sensors may have limitations in detecting extreme stress levels.
• Optical fiber sensors offer potential for robust and sensitive strain detection.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a new optical fiber sensor for high stress measurement.
• To investigate the light coupling mechanism in fused multimode optical fibers under stress.
• To demonstrate the feasibility of a sensor network for structural monitoring applications.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a stress optical fiber sensor using fused all-silica multimode optical fibers.
• Development of a theoretical model based on mode coupling and perturbation theory.
• Implementation and testing of a serial optical fiber sensor network using time-division multiplexing.

Main Results:

• The sensor effectively measures high stress values through light coupling.
• The theoretical model accurately predicts the global coupling coefficient.
• The sensor network demonstrated successful interrogation for monitoring.

Conclusions:

• The developed stress optical fiber sensor is suitable for high stress applications.
• The sensor network architecture is viable for real-time structural health monitoring.
• This technology offers a promising solution for civil engineering and concrete monitoring.