Fiber Optic Smart Structures And Skins Conference II Fiber Optics Smart Structures Program At Utias
R. M. Measures · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 1990
Structurally integrated arrays of fiber optic sensors could serve as an effective nervous system for future Smart Structures. The structural integrity of such structures would be monitored throughout their life making obsolete the catastropic failures that sometimes plague aircraft, trains, cars......today. In addition the strain, deformation, vibration and temperature state of these structures could also be monitored. Our research program is directed at both the development and application of this new technology. We have built and carefully characterized a localized, all-fiber, dual wavelength polarimetric fiber optic sensor. We have also developed a localized, all-fiber, Michelson fiber optic sensor that has measured the strain within a thermoplastic and detected the acoustic emission associated with delamination within a composite. It has also been used as the basis of an optical strain rosette . We have demonstrated that embedded optical fibers do not reduce the strength or damage resistance of composites but can detect load-induced growth of damage. Within the past week we have completed the first fabrication of an aircraft composite leading edge with a built' in fiber optic damage detection system.