Structural health monitoring based on strain distributions measured by fiber-optic distributed sensors

Highly-dense information in a structure can be useful to identify deformation, applied loads, or some kind of existing damages in implementation of structural health monitoring (SHM). Fiber-optic distributed strain sensors return a value of strain as a function of the linear position along an optical fiber, as they are having useful characteristics of optical fiber sensors for SHM, such as immunity of electromagnetic interference, durability and capability to be embedded into composite materials. It has been confirmed that the applicability of the distributed sensor to SHM could be improved as making the spatial resolution higher. In this paper, the principle of the developed fiber-optic distributed sensor is shown. The simulation technique considering both structural and optical effects seamlessly in strain measurements and the measurement technique enabling simultaneous distributed strain and temperature measurements will be shown in the conference.