Eli Voet

Simultaneous Interrogation of Multiple Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors Using an Arrayed Waveguide Grating Filter Fabricated in SOI Platform

A novel fiber Bragg grating (FBG) interrogator is demonstrated based on an optimized arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) filter. The AWG response is optimized to achieve large crosstalk between the output channels, which allows simultaneous detection of multiple FBG peaks, using centroid signal processing techniques, without constraints on the minimum FBG peak spectral width. The measured interrogator resolution is 2.5 pm, and the total measurement range is 50 nm. The device is fabricated in a silicon-on-insulator platform and has a footprint of only 2.2 × 1.5 mm. A novel approach to minimize the polarization dependence of the device is proposed and experimentally demonstrated.

A micro-computed tomography technique to study the quality of fibre optics embedded in composite materials.

Quality of embedment of optical fibre sensors in carbon fibre-reinforced polymers plays an important role in the resultant properties of the composite, as well as for the correct monitoring of the structure. Therefore, availability of a tool able to check the optical fibre sensor-composite interaction becomes essential. High-resolution 3D X-ray Micro-Computed Tomography, or Micro-CT, is a relatively new non-destructive inspection technique which enables investigations of the internal structure of a sample without actually compromising its integrity. In this work the feasibility of inspecting the position, the orientation and, more generally, the quality of the embedment of an optical fibre sensor in a carbon fibre reinforced laminate at unit cell level have been proven.

FE Tool for Drape Modelling and Resin Pocket Prediction of Fully Embedded Optical Fiber Sensor system

This work highlights some of the achievements obtained within the EU FP7 SmartFiber project, aiming to develop a fully embeddable optical fiber sensor system including the interrogator chip. The focus is on resolving issues holding back the industrial uptake of optical sensing technology. In a first section, the development of a placement head for automated lay-down of an optical sensor line (including the SmartFiber interrogator system) during composite manufacturing is discussed. In a second section, the attention is shifted to the occurrence of resin pockets surrounding inclusions such as the SmartFiber interrogator. A computationally efficient F.E. approach is presented capable of accurately predicting resin pocket geometries. Both small (i.e. optical fiber sensors) and large (i.e. the SmartFiber interrogator) inclusions are considered, and the F.E. predictions are validated with experimental observations.

Optimization of coating diameter of fiber optic sensors embedded in composite structures under arbitrary loading conditions

Due to mismatches in size and material properties, optical fiber (OF) sensors act as inclusions when embedded in composite hosts. The resulting stress concentrations surrounding the OF sensor may lead to premature failure of the host structure. In this work, a novel technique is presented to determine optimal coating properties for OF sensors embedded in composite structures in order to minimize stress concentrations surrounding these sensors. The method is validated against methodologies available in literature and is shown to produce identical results under these specific circumstances. Compared to the methods in literature, the proposed method is significantly more flexible as it allows the optimization of the coating for any arbitrary load condition. The results of the computations can be reused for any load case in the given combination of host and coating material, reducing the computations to a one time effort for a specific combination of host and coating.