INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS PUBLISHING Meas. Sci. Technol.

13 (2002) 15231534

MEASUREMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY PII: S0957-0233(02)38661-2

An evaluation of a novel plastic optical bre sensor for axial strain and bend measurements
K S C Kuang1,3 , W J Cantwell1 and P J Scully2
1 2

Materials Science and Engineering, Department of Engineering, University of Liverpool, Brownlow Hill, Liverpool L69 3GH, UK Liverpool John Moores University, School of Engineering, James Parsons Building, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK E-mail: kuangk@liv.ac.uk

Received 25 June 2002, in nal form 24 July 2002, accepted for publication 1 August 2002 Published 4 September 2002 Online at stacks.iop.org/MST/13/1523 Abstract This paper reports the use of a low cost, intensity-based plastic optical bre sensor for curvature and strain measurements in samples subjected to exural and tensile loading conditions respectively. This simple and robust sensor exhibits a high signal-to-noise ratio and excellent repeatability, rendering the system cost effective for operation in harsh environments. In addition, this inexpensive system offers a signal linearity and signal stability comparable to that of an in-bre Bragg grating sensor and other more sophisticated optical bre sensor systems. Test results have shown that the sensor exhibits a highly linear response to axial strains of up to 1.2% and bending strains up to 0.7% offering a strain resolution of up to 20 microstrain. Findings from a series of cyclic tests have demonstrated that the sensor response is highly repeatable, exhibiting only a very small amount of hysteresis. The results also highlight the possibility of using the sensor for monitoring strain on either the tensile or compressive side/region of a beam subjected to exural loading.
Keywords: plastic optical bre (POF), segmented POF sensor, strain sensors, smart structures, intensity modulation

(Some gures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version)

1. Introduction
Engineering structures experience a variety of loading regimes during their lifetime of operational service. The structural integrity of surviving structures in the proximity of a demolished building has been a source of serious concern, particularly in the aftermath of an earthquake [1]. In recent years, engineers have been exploring various options for developing structures that have a health-monitoring capability. Such structures are capable of providing vital information concerning the integrity of load-bearing engineering structures through the use of embedded or surface-bonded sensors.
3

Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed.

Amongst the various methods available, optical bre sensing systems have attracted considerable attention and have been widely demonstrated to be a highly promising technology for structural health monitoring [24]. Fibre optic sensors offer many advantages over conventional strain sensorsthese include their insensitivity to electromagnetic elds, light weight and minimal intrusiveness. Optical bre sensing systems have been shown to be capable of measuring a variety of parameters including strain and deection. In highly loaded engineering structures such as highway bridges, pedestrian footbridges, skyscrapers, aircraft wings and helicopter rotor blades, transverse loading can result in large bending strains, which can lead to the initiation of 1523

0957-0233/02/101523+12$30.00 2002 IOP Publishing Ltd Printed in the UK

K S C Kuang et al

cracks and a reduction in fatigue life. In many applications, the maximum deection of the structure denes the safe operational limit, and it is therefore important to have a structurally integrated monitoring system capable of real-time strain and bend measurements. The incorporation of a bre optic sensing system (FOSS) capable of continuous acquisition of strain and bending information would allow preventive measures to be taken before the onset of catastrophic failure. Recent progress in the eld of optical bre sensors has demonstrated the ability of such systems to perform health-assessment monitoring in large civil structures such as bridges and yovers [57]. The use of bre Bragg grating (FBG) sensors for strain and bending measurements has been attracting signicant attention in recent years and these sensors have been shown to offer excellent potential for structural health monitoring in a range of structures [812]. However, the cost of implementing an FBG sensing system frequently limits its widespread use to only well funded and specialized projects. In FBG-based optical systems, signal recovery requires complicated demodulation techniques, frequently involving costly specialist hardware such as optical spectrum analysers. In contrast, inexpensive intensity-based optical bre systems for structural-health monitoring have been demonstrated and shown to be a viable option in the development of reliable and cost-effective sensing systems [1315]. Recently, intensitybased systems using tapered glass optical bre sensors have been considered for use in strain monitoring of load-bearing structures [16, 17]. For some time now, plastic optical bres (POFs) have attracted a considerable amount of focus for a number of reasonsamongst these being their low cost, ease of termination and coupling, and their relatively high resistance to fracture. The cost of POFs is low and their use as sensors requires no more than basic solid-state devices such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) and photodiodes. The inherent fracture toughness and exibility of POFs makes them much simpler to handle in eld applications than their glass-based counterparts. As the sensing principle relies on the modulation of light intensity, sophisticated signal interrogation techniques are not necessary. Presently, POFs are fast becoming a viable alternative to glass-based bres since advances in materials and manufacturing have dramatically reduced transmission losses, thereby increasing their suitability for use in local area networks (LANs) as well as communications and sensing applications [18]. The use of POFs for detecting transverse cracks in composites has recently been demonstrated for smart structural applications [19, 20]. Although the use of glass bre tapered sensors has been attracting some attention for use in strain monitoring of load-bearing structures, research into the use of POF as strain/bend sensors is still lacking. The present study reports for the rst time the use of an inexpensive intensity-based plastic optical bre sensing system for performing strain and bending measurements in loaded structures. The system relies on monitoring the modulation of light intensity as the sensor is subjected to exural and axial loading conditions. The ndings of this study highlight the potential offered by these sensors for monitoring bending and axial strains. 1524

W x Neutral Axis

ctr L

Figure 1. A simply supported beam with a central concentrated load.

2. Beam theory background

The theoretical analysis of the deection of an isotropic beam subjected to out-of-plane loading is well documented in standard mechanics texts [21] and it will be summarized briey here. Consider a simply supported beam subjected to a central concentrated load as shown in gure 1. The engineers theory of bending gives E M = = (1) y R I where is the in-plane longitudinal stress, y is the distance of the plane from the neutral axis, E is the Youngs modulus of the beam material, R is the radius of curvature of the plane, M is the bending moment and I is the second moment of area of the cross-section of the beam. The second derivative of the deection (), w.r.t. the longitudinal distance from the applied load (x), is related to the bending moment (M) as follows: M = EI 1 d2 = EI dx 2 R (2)

which for a centrally loaded beam gives d2 = dx 2 where the load W = WL Wx 4 2 1 EI (3)

48 E I ctr L3

L is the distance between the supports and ctr is the beam deection at the mid-span. Substituting (2) and (3) into (1) and expressing the inplane strain () on the lower surface of the beam as a function of ctr , 12y (4) = 2 ctr . L Since the values of y and L are not varied in this study, the longitudinal in-plane strain, , can be directly related to the beam deection at mid-span ctr . Alternatively, can be expressed as 1 y. (5) = R The above analysis shows that the in-plane strain (), the curvature (1/R) and the central deection (ctr ) of the beam are proportionally related to each other. Therefore, if the response of the POF sensor varies linearly with the central deection (direct measurement obtained from experiment), the sensor, in principle, can be used to provide a direct measure of the strain and the beam curvature.

An evaluation of a novel plastic optical bre sensor for axial strain and bend measurements

Table 1. Specication of the ESKA CK40 POF. Core Material Diameter (typical) Youngs modulus Poissons ratio Refractive index Yield strength Transmission loss (@ 650 nm) Maximum operating temperature Approximate weight PMMA resin 980 m 3.09 GPa 0.3 1.492 82 MPa 200 dB km1 70 C 1 g m1 Cladding Fluorinated polymer 1000 m 0.68 GPa 0.3 1.405

Plastic optical fibre Segmented region of POF Fibre holder 0.5 mm 0.25 mm

Figure 2. Photograph showing the cross-section view of the segmented POF.

3. Experimental methods
3.1. Details of the optical bres and preparation of the sensor The POF used in this research was a 1 mm diameter multimode step-index bre (ESKA CK40) supplied by Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd. Details of the POF used are shown in table 1. In order to improve the bend sensitivity of the POF, a segment of the POF cross-sectional prole was removed over a predetermined length by abrading the POF surface with a razor blade. Care was taken to prevent the blade from cutting into the bre by positioning the blade vertically or tilting it towards the direction of abrasion. This simple procedure was found to offer reasonable repeatability although a jig is being designed to improve the efciency and effectiveness of the process. This technique for sensitizing the optical bre to bending differs from other methods such as chemical tapering [22], intermittent etching [23] and radial grooving [24] in that the sensitized region of the sensor is limited to a segment of the POF, rather than the entire cross-section of the bre. Figure 2 shows a micrograph of the cross-section of a typical segmented POF sensor, clearly highlighting the region that has been removed. The sensor is designed to be sensitive to the direction of bend/curvature, making it possible to determine the extent and direction of bend with respect to the initial position by examining the shift in signal intensity. 3.2. Specimen preparation Two types of three-point bend sample were investigated in this study. In the rst, a sensor was surface bonded to a plain rectangular specimen. In the second, the sensor was surface bonded to a plastic specimen based on an H-section prole. The H-section was selected to prevent the crosshead from crushing the top surface of the sensor during the exural test. The sensor was therefore protected as the crosshead rests on the upper surface of the prole. In the plane rectangular

specimens, however, the segmented POF was only bonded to the lower surface of the specimen and therefore no such protection was necessary. When bonding the sensor to the specimen, the adhesive was applied in between the POF and the host specimen. Since the procedure to remove the segment was carried out after the curing of the adhesive, the segmented surface was clear of any adhesive residue. No mechanical degradation of the POF surface was observed with the application of the adhesive and the optical transmission property was not noted to be affected after the bonding process. Care was taken when preparing the specimen to ensure that the segmented surface of the POF was oriented such that it faced away from the host specimen. This was done in order to maximize the bend sensitivity of the POF. Figures 3(a) and (b) show the specimen conguration employed during tests on the three-point bend test specimens. Tests were also undertaken to evaluate the ability of the POFs to monitor in-plane strains. In these specimens, the sensor was bonded to an aluminium alloy (Al-2024-T3) dogbone specimen. Since it is likely that the sensor will be less sensitive to in-plane loads than pure bending, the sensing section of the POF was curved slightly when bonding it to the aluminium alloy. The segmented surface of the POF was positioned such that it faced out of the curve (i.e. on the concave surface). It is clear that in the highly curved bre light will tend to escape in the bend region. The application of an axial strain will decrease the bre curvature, effectively reducing the light loss due to bre bend which in turn should result in an increase in light transmission through the bre. During preparation of the tensile specimens, masking tape was used to secure the position and shape of the sensor. The sensor was then bonded to the aluminium alloy using a cyano-acrylate-based adhesive. Figure 3(c) shows a schematic of the specimen used for the tensile tests. 3.3. Experimental set-up The experimental arrangements for both the three-point bend and tensile tests are shown in gure 4. A standard voltage supply was used to power the ultra-high luminescent LED (centred at 612 nm). The detector and data acquisition system consisted of a light-dependent resistor (LDR) and a low cost commercial data acquisition system from Pico Technology which automatically records voltage changes across the LDR as the light intensity varies. The data acquisition system offers up to a 16-bit resolution analogue to digital conversion (ADC) and offers up to eight input channels. The resolution of the 1525

K S C Kuang et al

220 mm

x
Segmented region of POF 40 mm

x-x

Adhesive (a) Specimen A 220 mm

x
3 mm

20 mm

Adhesive

x
(b) Specimen B 4 mm

Adhesive

Segmented region of POF

2 mm

Segmented region of POF

x-x

16 mm 60 mm

(c) Specimen C

Figure 3. Schematic drawings of three three-point bend (A and B) and tensile test (C) specimens showing the location and conguration of the POF sensors.
Instron Machine Acquisition system
Instron Machine Acquisition system LDR Basic circuitry

LED and optical fibre adapter Standard power supply

Plastic optical fibre sensor

LDR Basic circuitry

LED and optical fibre adapter

Plastic optical fibre sensor bonded to aluminium specimen

Signal Amplifier

Signal Amplifier Picotech ADC-16 486-based Personal computer

Standard power supply 486-based Personal computer Picotech ADC-16

(a)

(b)

Figure 4. Experimental set-up for (a) the three-point bend test, (b) the in-plane tensile test.

ADC system allows for the detection of voltage changes as small as 40 V in electrical signal. To increase the ADC data acquisition rate, the PicoLogTM acquisition software has been set to a 13-bit resolution conversion. The software was also congured to a sampling rate of 10 Hz during all quasi-static tests. The data from the optical bre were 1526

automatically collected by the computer at this sampling rate and displayed graphically in real time. Both the exural and tensile tests were conducted using a servo-hydraulic Instron (model 4505) universal testing machine. Crosshead displacement rates between 1 and 40 mm min1 were used during these experiments.

An evaluation of a novel plastic optical bre sensor for axial strain and bend measurements
4200 4100 4000 POF Light Intensity (mV) 3900 3800 3700 3600 3500 3400 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 Crosshead Displacement (mm) 14 16 18 16 14 12 Flexural Load (N) 10 8 6 4 2 0

POF Sensor Data Instron Machine Data

Figure 5. Typical POF sensor signal response under exural loading where the sensor was bonded to the bottom (tensile) surface of the beam. Table 2. Estimation of errors in the bending strain measurement. Strain-gauge coefcient 1.803 105 1.802 105 1.796 105 1.808 105 1.801 105 1.795 105 Standard deviation, SD at low I /I , (e.g. I /I = 0.02) () 1109 1110 1114 1106 1110 1114 3 SD as % error 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 at high I /I , (e.g. I /I = 0.16) () 8874 8879 8909 8850 8884 8914 24 SD as % error 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3

The strain-optic coefcients of each sensor determined under the three-point bend and unidirectional tensile loading conditions were compared to highlight any drift in the sensitivity of the sensor. In order to evaluate the reproducibility of the sensor signal, both the exure and tensile tests specimens were loaded, unloaded and reloaded repeatedly for a number of cycles.

4. Results and discussion

4.1. Three-point bend experiments In order to evaluate the functionality of the POF sensor for bend/displacement measurements, the modulation of the POF light intensity was systematically compared to the Instron loaddisplacement data. Figure 5 shows the variation of the POF signal during a exural test for the plain rectangular specimen (i.e. specimen A), highlighting the linear decrease in light intensity with linearly increasing load and central displacement. Since the central displacement of the beam can be directly related to the beam curvature and exural strain, it is possible to use the sensor to directly monitor these parameters as shown in gure 6. It is clear from the plot

that the POF sensor exhibits a linear response with increasing specimen curvature and, by inference, bending strain. The sensor also exhibits a highly stable response showing no signs of any spurious data commonly encountered in intensity-based systems. Although a sampling frequency of 10 Hz was used in gure 6, an acquisition rate of 1000 Hz can be achieved using the low cost ADC system employed in this study. The high rate of data acquisition offers the potential for monitoring dynamic events. The absence of any requirements for complex signal demodulation procedures makes it possible to achieve these high data sampling rates. The repeatability of the POF signal under exural loading was found to be very encouraging and the results of six tests are summarized in gure 7. Here, the sensor signal is plotted against exural strain to determine the sensor straingauge coefcient. The computed values of this coefcient are included in the gure. The repeatability of the sensor signal can be clearly seen from the graph with all six traces collapsing on the one curve although slight variations in the strain-gauge coefcient are apparent. However, the variations in the coefcients result in a maximum error of approximately 0.3% in the strain values, as shown in table 2. The inset in gure 7 shows a magnied plot of the rst test cyclea 1527

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0.14

9000 8000 7000 6000 Flexural Strain (microstrain)

Flexural Load (N)

Normalised Loss in Light Intensity, I/I

0.12

0.1

0.08

5000 4000 3000

0.06

0.04 2000 0.02

POF Signal Instron Data

1000 0

0 Curvature, I/R (m )
-1

Figure 6. Plot showing the proportional change in POF sensor signal with changes in beam curvature and strain under exural loading. The sensor was bonded to the bottom (tensile) surface of the beam.
0.08

20

0.12 Normalised Loss in Light Intensity, I/I

Normalised Loss in Light Intensity, I/I

0.079 0.078 0.077 0.076 0.075 4200 4340.28 4320.98

0.10

15

0.08

Test Cycle 1
4250 4300 4350 4400 4450 Flexural Strain (microstrain) 4500

0.06 I/I1=1.803x10-5 0.04 I/I2=1.802x10-5 I/I3=1.796x10-5 0.02 I/I4=1.808x10-5 I/I5=1.801x10 I/I6=1.795x10-5 0.00 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
-5

10 Test Cycle 1 Test Cycle 2 Test Cycle 3 Test Cycle 4 Test Cycle 5 Test Cycle 6 Instron Machine Data 6000 7000 0 8000 5

Flexural Strain (microstrain)

Figure 7. Plot of six POF signals against strain to assess signal repeatability and to determine the strain-gauge factor.

strain resolution of approximately 20 microstrain is evident (based on a 13-bit ADC conversion and a strain-gauge factor of 1.803 105 1 ). Although the strain resolution can be improved (i.e. setting the ADC to 16-bit conversion), this is often unnecessary in structural monitoring applications. Figure 8(a) shows the POF signal response when a crosshead displacement rate of 10 mm min1 was applied during the loading and unloading phases of the beam. In gure 8(b), the test machine was congured to allow the crosshead to return to zero load after each cycle using the machines fast auto-return setting. It is clear that in both cases the POF sensor successfully monitored the loading and unloading of the beam, exhibiting excellent repeatability with no obvious sign of hysteresis at the end of the test. The stability 1528

of the optical signal is evident throughout the test and this does not exhibit any signicant noise. The exural tests were extended to investigate the effect of increasing the crosshead displacement rate on the ability of the sensor to monitor the response of the beam and to evaluate the stability of the signal. In this part of the study, crosshead displacement rates between 10 and 40 mm min1 were used. Figure 9 (crosshead displacement rate = 40 mm min1 ) shows a typical set of results from this series of tests. At the end of each cycle, the beam was unloaded for several seconds in order to observe possible signal drift resulting from any POF stress/strain relaxation or material fatigue. It is clear from the plots that the POF did not suffer from any observable shortterm relaxation or fatigue effects. A plateau in the optical

An evaluation of a novel plastic optical bre sensor for axial strain and bend measurements

Figure 8. Plot of a typical POF signal during cyclic exural loading. (a) Crosshead displacement rate of 10 mm min1 applied during the loading and unloading phases. (b) Crosshead displacement rates of 10 mm min1 during loading and automatic fast return during unloading. The sensor was bonded to the bottom (tensile) surface of the beam.

signal is clearly evident at the end of each cycle, highlighting the systems overall stability and excellent signal-to-noise ratio. Figure 10 shows the results of tests on the H-section beam in which the POF sensor was attached to the compressive region of the centrally loaded beam. The ability of the sensor to monitor compressive strains is clearly demonstrated in this plot. It is clear that the optical signal increases with increasing load and crosshead displacement instead of decreasing as previously observed in the case where the sensor was on the lower (tensile surface) of the beam. It is apparent from gure 10 that the POF signal was equally well behaved, exhibiting a repeatable response under compressive loading. The ability of POFs to monitor both tensile and compressive strain in a centrally loaded beam is illustrated

in gure 11. Here, the sensor was initially tested in the tensile conguration by placing the sensor on the lower surface of the beam. A crosshead speed of 10 mm min1 and a maximum central deection of 10 mm was applied and the machine was set to return automatically to zero during the unloading phase of the test. Following this, the beam was inverted in order that the sensor would experience a compressive loading regime (i.e. the sensor was now on the top surface of the beam). The same crosshead displacement rates and central deection were applied in order to permit comparisons to be made between the two loading conditions (the two plots were intentionally separated to prevent any crossing over of the data points and to improve clarity of presentation). Figure 11 shows a superimposed plot of the sensor response under both conditions, from which it can be observed that the sensor 1529

K S C Kuang et al
4100 4050 4000 3950 POF Intensity (mV) 3900 3850 3800 3750 3700 3650 3600 3550 0 50000 100000 150000 Acquisition Time (ms) 200000 250000 300000 Crosshead Displacement Rate : 40 mm/min

Figure 9. Typical plot of POF signal under cyclic exural loading showing stability and responsiveness of POF sensor.
4200

4150

Unloading

POF Intensity (mV)

4100

4050

4000
Loading

3950

3900 0 100000 200000 300000 400000 500000 600000 700000 Acquisition Time (ms)

Figure 10. Plot of POF signal under cyclic exural loading with the sensor bonded to the upper surface (compression region) of the beam. Table 3. Estimation of errors in the axial strain measurement. Strain-gauge coefcient 0.382 105 0.362 105 0.379 105 0.361 105 0.376 105 Standard deviation, SD at low I /I , (e.g. I /I = 0.01) () 2618 2762 2639 2770 2660 71 SD as % error 2.7 2.6 2.7 2.6 2.7 at high I /I , (e.g. I /I = 0.05) () 13 089 13 812 13 193 13 850 13 298 357 SD as % error 2.7 2.6 2.7 2.6 2.7

is more sensitive to bending when located on the tensile surface of the beam. The schematic drawing in gure 12 1530

illustrates a possible reason for this effect. It is likely that the POF loses light to the environment through evanescent

An evaluation of a novel plastic optical bre sensor for axial strain and bend measurements

4300

POF on compression region of beam

POF on tensile region of beam

4200

POF Intensity (mV)

4100

4000

3900

3800

3700 0 50000 100000 150000 200000 250000 300000 350000 400000 Acquisition Time (ms)

Figure 11. Superimposed plot of POF signal showing the difference in signal sensitivity when the sensor was attached to the either the compressive or tensile region of the beam under cyclic exural loading.
Segmented region of PO F Segmented region of POF

(a)

(c)

Light ray (b)

Figure 12. Schematic drawing of POF sensor shape during bending.

Load Load

POF sensor
Load Load

POF sensor

Load

Load

Segment orientation sensitive to compression loading

Segment orientation sensitive to

tensile loading

Figure 13. Schematic drawing of POF sensor showing the inuence of POF segment orientation on bending direction sensitivity.

penetration and as a result of a signicant reduction in the number of propagation modes that experience total internal reection. When deformed as shown in gure 12(b), the

sensor readily loses light since its out-of-plane movement effectively enlarges the sensitized (de-cladded) region. When the sensor is deformed in the opposite direction as shown 1531

K S C Kuang et al

0.05 0.045 Normalised Change in Light Intensity, I/I 0.04 0.035 0.03 0.025 0.02 0.015 0.01 0.005 0 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 Strain (microstrain) POF Data Instron Machine Data

6000

5000

4000 Load (N)

3000

2000

1000

0 14000

Figure 14. Typical POF sensor signal response under an axial load.
0.05 I1/I = 0.382x10-5 Normalised Change in Light Intensity, I/I 0.04 I2/I = 0.363x10
-5

I3/I = 0.379x10-5 I4/I = 0.361x10-5 I5/I = 0.376x10-5

0.03

0.02 Test Cycle 1 0.01 Test Cycle 3 Test Cycle 5 0 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 Strain (microstrain) Test Cycle 2 Test Cycle 4

Figure 15. Plot showing the POF signal response during six tensile loading cycles.

in gure 12(c), the effective area of the sensitized region is reduced, increasing the number of propagation modes that undergo total internal reection, resulting in increasing light intensity, as was observed in gure 11. The difference in the sensor response (i.e. decreasing and increasing light intensity in sensor congurations (b) and (c) in gure 12 respectively) implies that the response/sensitivity of the sensor to bending is inuenced by the circumferential position of the segment. It may be expected that when the segmented region is located at an angle between the two maximum positions, the bend sensitivity will be less with respect to each sensor conguration (gures 12(b) and (c)). This result clearly demonstrates the importance of the rotational alignment of the sensitized 1532

region with respect to the loading direction. Figure 13 illustrates the optimum position of the sensitized region for bend measurements. 4.2. Tensile experiments The possibility of using POF sensors to monitor axial strain was studied using the specimen geometry outlined in gure 3(c). The concept of curving the sensor in the orthogonal direction to the direction of loading appears to offer potential for monitoring axial strain. Figure 14 illustrates the excellent linearity of the POF response which is well behaved throughout the loading regime, highlighting also the stability of the POF signal under these conditions. As the specimen was loaded, the

An evaluation of a novel plastic optical bre sensor for axial strain and bend measurements

1 Normalised Loss in Light Intensity, I/I

0.98

0.96

0.94

0.92 0 20000 40000 60000 Acquisition Time (ms) 80000 10000 20000

Figure 16. Typical POF sensor signal response under tensile loading (5 mm min1 crosshead displacement rates).

curvature of the sensing region decreases, improving the light transmission efciency in the bre. Comparing these results with the response obtained during the three-point bend tests, there appears to be a marginally higher degree of data scatter in the POFs response to axial strain. This is not surprising since bending the POF, as in the three-point bend tests, would lead to a greater degree of bre deformation than in a tensile conguration, leading to greater loss of light in the former conguration, for a given crosshead displacement. Clearly, for the tensile specimen to lose the same amount of light as the exural specimen, the extent of straightening of the curved POF (i.e. the horizontal displacement of the sensitized region) has to be of the same magnitude as the vertical displacement experienced in the three-point bend conguration. The lower strain sensitivity of the sensor in the tensile specimen results in a lower signal-to-noise ratio, leading to greater scatter in the data. Nevertheless, the excellent strain response of the POF sensor is clearly evident. To assess the repeatability of the POF response, a tensile specimen was unloaded after each test and subsequently reloaded. The results following six such tests are summarized in gure 15. It is evident from the plot that the POF sensors response to strain is highly reproducible, resulting in only small variations in the strain-gauge coefcient (see inset in gure 15). Table 3 presents estimations of the errors in the axial strain measurements in order to assess the signicance of the previously reported variations in the strain-gauge coefcients. From the table, it is clear that the variation in the strain-gauge coefcient is insignicant, with strain readings being within an error of 3%. This clearly highlights the excellent repeatability of the POF sensors used in this study. The ability of the sensor to monitor repeated loading and unloading of the tensile specimen was also assessed. Here crosshead speeds of 1 and 5 mm min1 were used. Figure 16 shows a typical sensor response during a cyclic tensile loading/unloading test (at 5 mm min1 ). The graph clearly indicates that the POF sensor was well behaved and shows no

observable deviation in the response of the sensor. The excellent linearity, repeatability and stability of the system clearly demonstrate the potential of this simple inexpensive sensing scheme. To enhance the sensitivity of the sensor to strain, more than one segmented curved region may be introduced into the POFsince it is likely that the magnitude of change in the light intensity (and therefore strain sensitivity) will increase with the number of active sensing regions employed. Work is currently being planned to evaluate this concept.

5. Conclusions
This research has investigated the use of a novel POF sensor for monitoring the mechanical response of structures when loaded in tension and exure. The sensor offers a number of advantages including ease of fabrication, high strain and bend sensitivity, strain linearity and a high signal-to-noise ratio. This investigation has demonstrated the potential of this inexpensive segmented optical bre system for measuring axial strain and monitoring exural parameters such as curvature and bending strain. It has been shown that the sensor exhibits a high signal sensitivity to bending loads and that it can be congured in such a way as to render it sensitive to in-plane axial loads. This can be achieved by simply curving the sensing region of the POF in the appropriate orientation with respect to the direction in which the strain is to be measured. A further step in this research would be to study multiplexing possibilities (i.e. having the bend sensing and the axial-strain elements in a single POF), although some difculties may be encountered in discriminating the two types of physical perturbation due to cross sensitivity of the POF sensor. Following both exural and tensile tests, the sensor was found to offer excellent signal linearity without suffering any reduction in strain sensitivity under the loading regimes considered (up to 0.7% strain in the pure bending specimen and 1.2% strain in tension). Repeatability tests have conrmed that the signal was well behaved and highly reproducible in both test 1533

K S C Kuang et al

congurations. The ndings of an analysis performed to evaluate the accuracy of the sensor measurement has shown that POFs are capable of strain measurements to within a standard deviation of 0.3% for exural loading and 3% for axial loading. The results of a series of repeated loading and unloading exural tests are also encouraging. Here no signicant hysteresis was observed and the response of the sensor was well behaved. The results also showed that the sensor linearity was maintained throughout the tests. No attempt has been made to characterize the effects of varying the various optical bre sensor design parameters (e.g. segment length, depth effects) on sensor sensitivity. It can be expected that with a longer segmented region, the sensitivity of the sensor will increase as a result of a higher tendency for light to escape when the sensor is bent. Increasing the depth of the segment would expose the POF core further, resulting in a greater loss of light at the segmented surface; however, the signicance of an increase in the segment depth on the sensor sensitivity is unclear at this stage. It is important to note that with an increase in the depth and length of the segment, the transmitted light intensity would decrease accordingly as a result of a greater loss of light over the segmented region. Clearly, this has to be taken into consideration when fabricating the sensor. A study is currently being carried out to examine this area of sensor development. Further investigations to characterize the axial strain sensitivity of the sensor as a function of initial bre curvature and length of curved segment would also be needed.

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