A study on the fatigue behavior of optical fiber sensors embedded in smart composite structures

지능형 복합재 구조물에 삽입된 광섬유센서의 피로거동에 관한 연구

In this study, fatigue behavior of the optical fiber sensor embedded in composite laminate was investigated. Static tensile and fatigue tests were performed for three types of laminated composite specimens with embedded optical fiber sensor in the neutral plane ; [0/sub 6//OF/0/sub 6/]/sub T/, [0/sub 2//90/sub 4//OF/90/sub 4//0/sub 2/]/sub T/ and [0/sub 3//90/sub 3//OF/90/sub 3//0/sub 3/]/sub T/. The fracture of the embedded optical fiber sensor was detected by the intensity drop off of laser signal transmitted through the optical fiber sensors embedded within laminated composite specimen. The maximum fatigue stress applied to laminated specimen was compared with the average tensile stress at which the fracture of the embedded optical fiber within the laminate occurred under static tensile loading. From the experiments, firstly it is observed that the decrease in the life of optical fiber sensors embedded within unidirectional-ply laminate by the fatigue loading is relatively small compared to that of cross-ply laminate. Secondly, the optical fiber embedded in unidirectional-ply laminate is fractured by the fatigue damage due to the growth of internal defects of optical fiber, however the optical fiber embedded in cross-ply laminate is fractured by the growth of transverse matrix crack.