Strain Sensitivity in Fiber Optic

Sensors

PHANEENDRA MEDIDA
Briefly…

 Optical Fiber Sensor

 Strain Concepts
 Interferometers
 Fabry-Perot interferometer
 Bragg grating fiber optic sensor
 Strain Sensitivity Calculations
Optical Fiber Sensor

 Definition of Optical Fiber Sensor

Block Diagram of Optical Fiber Sensor System

Optical fibers Optical Rx

Optical Tx &
Actuators

Data Acquisition
Control system And health
Assessment
Optical Fiber Sensor (contd)

 Large bandwidth and fast response.

 Immunity to, and no emission of EMI.

 Chemical and environmental ruggedness.

 Small size and weight.

 Cost effective.
Strain Concepts

 Strain is the relative change in shape or size of the body due to

applied force or pressure.

Hookes’s law

 i  Qij (e j   j T )

Qij = the stiffness matrix

j = the thermal expansion coefficient

 = the stress = F/A

T = the temperature change
 Strain Concepts (contd)

 Far-field strains

du 2 du 3
du
e1  e11  1 e4   23   u = displacement
dx1 dx3 dx2

du 2 du1 du 3 l
e2  e22  e5   13   e = strain=
dx2 dx3 dx1 l

du3 du1 du 2
e3  e33  e6   12    =shear strain
dx3 dx 2 dx1

Total strain inside the sensor is, ei  ei  ei

t r s

eir is the residual strain and eis is the applied strain

Far field strain are those strains which are present in the absence of sensor.
Strain Concepts (contd)

Optical fiber sensor, representing strain directions

X2

X1

X3

The far field strain components are given by

 e11   e1 
e   e 
 22   2 
 e   e 
e   33    3 
 23   4 
 13   5 
   
 12   6 
Interferometers

 A fiber optic, interferometric strain gauge is based on the change in

the optical path length caused by straining the fiber.
 These strains cause a phase delay.

  L  L  k (nL  Ln)  knL(L / L  n / n)  kL (n  n)

 Strain optic effect – modulation of fiber refractive index.

 Mode dispersion effect-due to change in the diameter of the fiber.

n2 6
  kLn ( 
1
f

2


P   )
1
f
TiO 2

FABRY-PEROT INTERFEROMETER

 Semi-reflective fiber splices.

 TiO films are sputtered on the fiber end faces
2

Semi reflective
Fusion splice Mirrored End

Gauge Length (L)

Semi reflective
Fusion splice
He-Ne Laser

3dB Coupler

Detector Mirrored End

 R1 R2

Pi
Pt

Pr
L

2
Pr R1  R2 (1  A1)  2 RZ1R2 (1  A1 ) cos

Pi 1  R1R2  2 R1R2 cos

4nL
Pt T1T2 
 
Pi 1  R1R2  2 R1R2 cos
FABRY-PEROT INTERFEROMETER (contd)

 Interference occurs at the half silvered separating the sensing

portion of the fiber.

Phase (Degrees)

Strain

Sensing Mechanism

 A light radiation gets reflected from the semi-reflective splice.

 Second radiation gets reflected from the mirror and then travels
back to the fiber.
 Two radiations overlap to give interference pattern.
FABRY-PEROT INTERFEROMETER (contd)

 Due to applied pressure, the phase changes with respect to the

intensity, due to the change in the length of the gauge length.
 FABRY-PEROT INTERFEROMETER (contd)

Relation between optical, geometrical properties and output

n eff
p  n qeff
n eff
avg 
2
n eff
p  n qeff
n eff
diff 
2
change in length due to applied strain Ld  L  L

when light reflects back there will be two phase shifts, fast and slow varying terms

4 4L0 t 4 4L0 t
h  n0 L0   navg  n0 t L s   ndiff
0 0 0
0
FABRY-PEROT INTERFEROMETER (contd)

Butter and Hocker Model

  SL z S is the phase strain sensitivity

 n 2 Pe 
S  kn1 
I
 Pe is the effective strain-optic coefficient,
 2 

Pe   P12  v P11  P12  

For pure silica core and boron doped cladding the values of strain optic coefficient are

P11 =0.113 and

P12 =0.252 with n=1.458 and v=0.17

BRAGG GRATING FIBER OPTIC SENSOR
 periodic modulation of the core index
B
 There is a strong back reflection at the Bragg wavelength,

B  2n

 Monitoring the wavelength of narrowband spectrum will help

in determining the strain.

Intracore Bragg
Grating

Optical Fiber

Induced Grating

Laser Beams
 Fiber Core Index Grating
B
Reflected signal Signal OUT

L
ne L n  105 to103

1.46

Z
Z1 I2

Back reflected Reflected Signals Bragg signal

Bragg signal for 3 values of transmitted,
strain missing signal
 BRAGG GRATING FIBER OPTIC SENSOR (contd)

Sensing principle
 When a strain is applied the reflected wavelength shifts and the shift is
proportional to the amount of strain applied.
BRAGG GRATING FIBER OPTIC SENSOR (contd)

When stress is applied to the sensors,

d  d 0  t d
p  n0   n p
n eff t eff

nqeff  n0  t nqeff
   0  t 

Taylor expansion of the Bragg’s relation

 1   1 n

0,  0,
     n    
 0 , 

Butter-Hocker model


 1  Peff  1
0,
BRAGG GRATING FIBER OPTIC SENSOR (contd)

Wavelength-strain sensitivity of the Bragg grating sensor,

S B  1  Peff

eff n02,
P =
  P12  v P11  P12   is the index-weighted strain-optic coefficient
2
 Calculations

Relation between Phase-strain sensitivity and refractive index

for FP interferometer Strain Sensor

 6
k, is the free-space propagation constant k  6.871  10 /m

n, is the refractive index

P is the effective strain-optic coefficient,

P  0.113 P  0.252
11 12

P  P
12  
 0.17 P
11 12 
P
 P  0.19
 0 0
n  20 i  0  n
0 6.459·10 -6 0 1.05
n_var  1  ( i  1)  .05 1 6.69·10 -6 1 1.1
i
2 6.909·10 -6 2 1.15

( Phase  strain )sensitivity 3 7.118·10 -6 3 1.2

4 7.314·10 -6 4 1.25
S_I  k n_var   1   n_var   
 
2 P
5 7.499·10 -6 5 1.3
i i  i 2 
6 7.67·10 -6 6 1.35
S_I  7 7.829·10 -6 n_var  7 1.4
6 8 1.45
9 10 8 7.973·10 -6
9 8.104·10 -6 9 1.5
6 10 8.22·10 -6 10 1.55
8 10
11 8.321·10 -6 11 1.6
S_I
6 12 8.406·10 -6 12 1.65
7 10
13 8.475·10 -6 13 1.7

6 14 8.527·10 -6 14 1.75
6 10
1 1.5 2 2.5 15 8.562·10 -6 15 1.8
n_var

S_I is given in Degrees strain 1cm 1

Relation between wavelength-strain sensitivity and refractive index of Bragg sensor
S_B  P_eff 
i i

P_eff 
 n_var 
i
2

0.19
0.895 0.105
i 0.885 0.115
2
0.874 0.126
0.863 0.137
S_B  1  P_eff
i i 0.852 0.148
0.839 0.161
0.827 0.173
0.895
0.814 0.186
0.8 0.2
0.786 0.214
S_B 0.8
0.772 0.228
0.757 0.243
0.741 0.259
0.601 0.6
1 1.5 2 2.5 0.725 0.275
0.709 0.291
1.05 n_var 2.05
0.692 0.308

S_B is given in pm  strain 1

Conclusion

 Sensing mechanisms show that the strain is directly related to the

phase change for the interferometric type.
 Advantage of Bragg sensor is the Bragg’s wavelength is a linear
function of the measurand.
 Increasing change in the refractive index, the sensitivity increases for
a Fabry-Perot sensor.
 Decreases for a Bragg grating sensor
 Selecting a strain sensor for particular range of sensitivity.
 References:
1.“Fiber Optic Sensors”, Eric Udd, John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

2.“An Introduction to Fiber Optic Systems”, john P. Powers, Aksen

Associates Incorporation Publishers.

3.Single-Mode Optical Fiber Measurement: Characterization and Sensing”,

Giovanni Cancellieri, Artech House, Inc.

4.“Selected Papers on Fiber Optic Sensors”, Reinhardt Willsch, Ralf Th.

Kersten, SPIE Milestone Series.

5.“Strain and Temperature Measurement with Fiber Optic Sensor”, Regis

J.Van Steenkiste, George S.Springer.

6.“Fiber Optic Fabry-Perot strain Gauge”, Tomas Valis, Dayle Hogg, and
Raymond M.Measures, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, Vol. 2, No. 3,
227-228, March 1990.
7.“Fiber Bragg grating temperature sensor with controllable sensitivity”,
Jaehoon Jung, Hui Nam, Byoungho Lee, Jae Oh Byun, and Nam Seong
Kim, APPLIED OPTICS , Vol. 38, No. 13 ,1 May 1999.

8.“Fiber Grating Sensors”, Alan D. Kersey, Michael A. Davis, Heather J.

Patrick, Michel LeBlanc, K. P. Koo, C. G. Askins, M. A. Putnam, and E.
Joseph Friebele, JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 15,
NO. 8, AUGUST 1997.

9.“Fiber optic sensors in concrete structures: a review”, C I Merzbacher, A D

Kersey and E J Friebele, Smart Mater. Struct. 5 (1996) 196–208.

10.“Optical fiber Fabry-Perot sensors for smart structures”, C E Lee, J J Alcoz,

Y Yeh, W N Gibler, R A Atkins and H F Taylor, Smart Mater. Struct. 1
(1992) 123-127.
Questions
 What is Far field Strain?
 State Hookes’s Law.
 What are smart structures?
 What is the principle of interferometry?
 What is Bragg relation?
THANK YOU

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