Characterization of Engineering-Suitable Optical Fiber Sensors Packaged with Glass Fiber-Reinforced Polymers

Glass fiber-reinforced polymer- (GFRP-) packaged optical fiber (OF) sensors are considered a promising engineering-suitable sensor for structural health monitoring. To date, some critical characteristics of the GFRP-packaged OF (GFRP-OF) have not yet been thoroughly studied. This study aimed to systematically characterize properties GFRP-OF sensors. Firstly, we proposed dimension optimization method by strain transfer theory, which is based on symmetrical three-layered cylindrical model. Then, experimentally investigated Bragg grating and distributed sensor, including their mechanical properties, strain/temperature sensing performance, fatigue resistance, corrosion resistance. The experimental results showed that shear bearing capacity was more than 120 times larger other three coated sensors, indicating GFRP dramatically enhanced robustness sensor. GFRP–OF also feature excellent temperature performance with high linearity repeatability. demonstrated good absolute fluctuations sensitivity coefficients throughout cycles within 0.02 pm/με; repeatability error did exceed 0.5%, nonlinear errors were less 2%. A case presented in last section illustrates effectiveness field application.