The concept of measuring deflection curvature of structures under bending loading with a device called a ‘curvature gauge’ is described. The application domain is specified in which this concept offers advantages over the alternative of measuring strain in terms of the measurement sensitivity, flexibility to choose the location for the sensor placement and immunity to the effects of microstructural interfacing between dissimilar materials that the sensor presence introduces. Details of the curvature gauge sensor are also given.
MeasuresM. R.Structural Monitoring with Fiber Optic Technology, 2001 (Academic Press, San Diego, California).
3.
SteenkisteR. J.V.SpringerG. S.Strain and Temperature Measurement with Fiber Optic Sensors, 1997 (Technomic Publishing, Lancaster).
4.
BerholdJ. W.Sensors in industrial systems In Optical Fiber Sensors (Eds DakinJ.CushawB.), Vol. 4, 1997, pp. 261–308 (Artech House, Boston, Massachusetts).
5.
ClausR. O.GuntherM. F.WangA. B.MurphyK. A.SunD.Extrinsic Fabry—Perot sensor for structural evaluation In Applications of Fibre Optic Sensors in Engineering Mechanics (Ed. AnsariF.), 1993, pp. 60–70 (American Society of Civil Engineers, New York).
AraujoF. M.FerreiraL. A.SantosJ. L.FarahiF.Temperature and strain insensitive bending measurements with D-type fibre Bragg gratingsMeasmt Sci. Technol., 12, 2001, 829–835.
8.
SirkisJ. S.DasguptaA.What do embedded optical fibers really measure? In Proceedings of the First European Conference onSmart Structures and Materials, Session 3, Glasgow, 1992, pp. 69–72.
9.
SirkisJ. S.Interpretation of embedded optical fiber sensor signals In Applications of Fibre Optic Sensors in Engineering Mechanics (Ed. AnsariF.), 1993, pp. 85–99 (American Society of Civil Engineers, New York).
10.
SinghH.Micromechanics of laminated composites with embedded optical fibers. Thesis, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, 1989.
11.
SirkisJ. S.DasguptaA.Optimal coatings for intelligent structure fibre optical sensorsFibre Optic Smart Structures and Skins III, SPIE Vol. 1370, 1990, pp. 129–140 (Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers, Bellingham, Washington).
12.
HaslachH. W.WhippleK. G.Mechanical design of embedded optical fiber interferometric sensors for monitoring simple combined loadsOp. Engng, 1993, 32, 494–503.
