Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Fiber optic instrumentation'

Doctor of Philosophy<br>Department of Physics<br>Kristan L. Corwin<br>Optical frequency references have been widely used in applications such as navigation, remote sensing, and telecommunication industry. For stable frequency references in the near-infrared (NIR), lasers can be locked to narrow absorption features in gases such as acetylene. Currently, most Near NIR references are realized in free space setups. In this thesis, a low-loss hollow-core optical fiber with a diameter of sub millimeters is integrated into the reference setup to provide long interaction lengths between the filling gas and the laser field, also facilitate the optical interaction with low power levels. To make portable NIR reference, gas can be sealed inside the hollow-core fiber, by creating a photonic microcell. This work has demonstrated all-fiber optical frequency references in the Near IR by fabricating and integrating gas sealed photonic microcells in the reference setup. Also, a thoughtful study regarding the lineshape of the fiber-based reference has been accomplished. According the proper modeling of a shift due to lineshape, a correction was applied to our previous absolute frequency measurement of an NIR optical frequency reference. Furthermore, effects of the hollow-core fibers, including mode-dependence frequency shift related to surface modes are explored. In addition, angle splicing techniques, which will improve the performance of the fiber-based frequency reference have been created. Low transmission and return loss angle splices of photonic bandgap fiber, single mode PCF, and large core kagome to SMF-28 are developed and those fibers are demonstrated to be promising for photonic microcell based optical frequency references. Finally, a potentially portable optical metrology system is demonstrated by stabilizing a fiber-laser based frequency comb to an acetylene-filled optical fiber frequency reference. Further work is necessary to fabricate an all-fiber portable optical metrology system with high optical transmission and low molecular contamination.

Significant technological advances of the last years have been possible by developments in Optofluidics, which is a field that deals with the integration of optics and microfluidics into single devices. The work described in this thesis is based on five scientific publications related to the use of fiber optic technology to build integrated optofluidic devices. The first three publications are within the field of life-science and point towards in-vivo and point-of-care applications, whereas the last two publications cover the study and the use of plasmonic nanoparticles for electrical modulation of light. Aiming at developing useful tools for in-vivo biological applications, the first publication consists of designing and testing a functional optical fiber for real-time monitoring and selective collection of fluorescent microparticles. This probe relies on a microstructured optical fiber with a hole along its cladding, which is used to selectively aspirate individual particles of interest once their fluorescence signal is detected. On the same line of research, the second publication contemplates the fabrication of a fiber probe that traps single microparticles and allows for remote detection of their optical properties. This probe is also based on a microstructured fiber that enables particle trapping by fluidic forces. The third publication addresses the development of an all-fiber miniaturized flow cytometer for point-of-care applications. This system can analyze, with excellent accuracy and sensitivity, up to 2500 cells per second by measuring their fluorescence and scattering signal. A novel microfluidic technique, called Elasto-inertial microfluidics, is employed for aligning the cells into a single-stream to optimize detection and throughput. The fourth publication involves the experimental and theoretical study of the electrical-induced alignment of plasmonic gold nanorods in suspension and its applicability to control light transmission. This study is done by using an all-fiber optofluidic device, based on a liquid-core fiber, which facilitates the interaction of light, electric fields, and liquid suspensions. Results show that nanorods can be aligned in microseconds, providing a much better performance than liquid-crystal devices. Finally, the fifth publication consists of an upgrade of the previous device by integrating four electrodes in the cladding of the liquid-core fiber. This improvement enables nanosecond response time and the possibility of digitally switching nanorods between two orthogonal aligned states, overcoming the limitation of slow thermal relaxation. The work presented here shows that optofluidics based on optical fibers is a robust and convenient platform, as well as a promising direction for the developing of novel instruments in fields such as life-science, non-linear optics, plasmonic, and sensing.<br><p>QC 20171018</p>

Since aggressive cancers are frequently hypermetabolic with angiogenic vessels, quantification of blood flow (BF) can be vital for cancer diagnosis. Our laboratory has developed a noncontact diffuse correlation tomography (ncDCT) system for 3-D imaging of BF distribution in deep tissues (up to centimeters). The ncDCT system employs two sets of optical lenses to project source and detector fibers respectively onto the tissue surface, and applies finite element framework to model light transportation in complex tissue geometries. This thesis reports our first step to adapt the ncDCT system for 3-D imaging of BF contrasts in human breast tumors. A commercial 3-D camera was used to obtain breast surface geometry which was then converted to a solid volume mesh. An ncDCT probe scanned over a region of interest on the breast mesh surface and the measured boundary data were used for 3-D image reconstruction of BF distribution. This technique was tested with computer simulations and in 28 patients with breast tumors. Results from computer simulations suggest that relatively high accuracy can be achieved when the entire tumor was within the sensitive region of diffuse light. Image reconstruction with a priori knowledge of the tumor volume and location can significantly improve the accuracy in recovery of tumor BF contrasts. In vivo ncDCT imaging results from the majority of breast tumors showed higher BF contrasts in the tumor regions compared to the surrounding tissues. Reconstructed tumor depths and dimensions matched ultrasound imaging results when the tumors were within the sensitive region of light propagation. The results demonstrate that ncDCT system has the potential to image BF distributions in soft and vulnerable tissues without distorting tissue hemodynamics. In addition to this primary study, detector fibers with different modes (i.e., single-mode, few-mode, multimode) for photon collection were experimentally explored to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of diffuse correlation spectroscopy flow-oximeter measurements.

Orientador: Jose Antonio Siqueira Dias<br>Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Eletrica e de Computação<br>Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-07T11:11:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Leite_RogerioLara_D.pdf: 18262113 bytes, checksum: 8c49a719bdf98e92810c4c7275e7da78 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006<br>Resumo: Os sensores a fibra óptica são especialmente indicados para operarem em ambientes eletricamente ruidosos, uma vez que são imunes aos efeitos da interferência eletromagnética (EMI) encontrados nestes ambientes. Tal característica faz com que os sensores ópticos sejam altamente vantajosos para as aplicações nos sistemas de sensoreamento utilizados pelas empresas de energia elétrica. Este trabalho apresenta o desenvolvimento de um protótipo de baixo custo de um sensor óptico de alta tensão com alta confiabilidade, que pode ser usado para monitorar o estado ou limiares de tensão em uma rede elétrica. Uma técnica de detecção do sinal através do sensoreamento com grades de Bragg é apresentada, fabricada e avaliada. Os resultados mostram que a técnica de detecção empregada, onde a amplitude ac do sinal da luz refletido é medida em um fotodiodo, mostra-se adequada para a aplicação em sensores de alta tensão. As medidas realizadas em um protótipo de sensor de alta tensão com fibra óptica com grade de Bragg indicam que o esquema de detecção desenvolvido é promissor, e pode ser usado para medir outros sinais dinâmicos que respondam a um esforço de pequena amplitude aplicado à fibra óptica. O protótipo desenvolvido permitiu a detecção de tensões variando na faixa de 143 V -60kY. É também apresentada uma nova técnica para estabilizar termicamente grades de Bragg com a temperatura, utilizando o sinal uma fibra extra, casada com a fibra do sensor, que através de um circuito de realimentação atua no elemento aquecedor/resfriador do laser semicondutor(thenno electrical cooler), para fazer com que o comprimento de onda do laser siga as variações da sintonia da grade de Bragg sensora, causadas por variações da temperatura. Esta técnica inovadora poderá ser utilizada para a compensação térmica de outros tipos de sensores com grade de Bragg, permitindo a fabricação de sensores de baixo custo e grande simplicidade de implementação<br>Abstract: Fiber optics sensors are specially indicated to operate in noisy electrical environments because they are immune to the effects of electromagnetic interference (EM!) found in these environrnents. Such characteristic makes these sensors highly advantageous to the applications in the measurement systems used by electrical energy companies. This work presents the development of a prototype of a high-voltage and a low cost optical sensor which is used to monitor the state or voltage threshold with a high reliability. A technique for the detection of fiber Bragg grating sensors signals was developed, presented and tested. The experimental results showed that the developed detection technique, where the ac amplitude of the signal result from the light reflection is measured with a photodiode is adequate for high voltage sensing applications. The prototype of the high voltage fiber Bragg sensor was tested and the measured results indicate that the technique can be used to detect any other dynarnic measurand which induces a small strain amplitude when applied to the fiber Bragg grating. The developed prototype detected voltages in the range from 143 V to 60 kV. It is also presented a new technique for obtaining temperature independent fiber Bragg gratings, using a feedback circuit which uses the signal detected from a matched fiber and generates a signal which actuates on the thermo electrical cooler of the semiconductor laser, modifying the laser' s output wavelength, in orer to accurate track the Bragg wavelength shifts caused by temperature variations. This novel technique can be used for the fabrication of simple and low-cost temperature compensated fiber Bragg grating sensors<br>Doutorado<br>Eletrônica, Microeletrônica e Optoeletrônica<br>Doutor em Engenharia Elétrica

Cette thèse montre l'intérêt de l'amplification optique et des lasers à fibres dopées par des ions de terres-rares pour l'instrumentation et les capteurs à fibres optiques. Nous détaillons les avantages et les inconvénients d'une telle technologie placée dans son contexte d'optique intégrée, ainsi que ses perspectives d'utilisation. Apres rappel de la théorie de la propagation guidée dans les fibres optiques, les technologies permettant de réaliser des fibres optiques dopées sont décrites. Une étude comparative des méthodes d'analyses de préformes et de fibres dopées permettant de déterminer leurs profils de guidage et de dopage est également présentée. Le comportement amplificateur des fibres optiques dopées est ensuite décrit théoriquement en insistant sur les limites fixées par l'élargissement inhomogène de la transition laser. L'évolution du gain intégré de la fibre est mise en évidence en fonction des paramètres influants (longueur, rayon de dopage. . . ) en soulignant l'intérêt d'un rayon de dopage optimisé. Le seuil d'accrochage du laser est modélisé par des équations et des abaques sans dimension déterminant la longueur de fibre optimale en fonction des pertes de la cavité laser. La conception générale du laser à fibre est ensuite synthétisée et les technologies des composants d'optique intégrée adaptés à la fibre amplificatrice le constituant sont comparées. Les techniques expérimentales concernent principalement l'étude de l'accordabilité par excitation sélective de sites et de la limitation du gain par émission stimulée sur la transition de pompage induisant une absorption résiduelle non saturable ; l'étude des effets de transferts dans les fibres dopées par luminescence coopérative : l'étude d'un procédé de changement de valence par irradiation y conduisant à une réduction des ions uranium placés en matrice verre fluoré (zblan) ; la démonstration d'un effet laser à trois niveaux, fonctionnant en régime continu et en contre-réaction externe par réseau

博士<br>國立臺灣大學<br>電機工程學研究所<br>87<br>A fiber-optic sensor is investigated for the noninvasive detection of physiological signals. Some valuable developments of biomedical preamplifiers, photodetectors with filters, and microbending fiber-optic sensor incorporated with adaptive signal processing are presented. The main innovation as well as contribution of this study including: 1. Propose a simple circuit of second-order differential highpass filter. 2. Propose a ultrahigh-CMRR preamplifier. 3. Propose a high-CMRR preamplifier with fourth-order differential highpass filter. 4. Develop a program of circuit synthesis. 5. Derive two optimum conditions for Chopper-Stabilized CMOS Amplifier. 6. Propose the simplest circuit of photodetector with highpass filter. 7. Propose photodetector with arbitrary filter. 8. Acquire the weak third heart sound by microbending fiber-optic sensor. 9. Propose referenced intensity-based fiber-optic sensor incorporated with adaptive sinal processing technique

Instrumentation is a tool to verify the stability, performance and functionality of natural and man-made structures in short, medium and long term. In this study, all efforts has been made to answer numerous questions which always arise in civil works in terms of instrumentation, such as why, where, and when do we use instruments; how can we benefit from instruments optimization in construction projects; what kind of problems may come out with selecting improper instruments; what type of instruments exist in the market and what sort of phenomena could be measured by instruments, etc. The emphasis is on a new generation of instruments called "Fiber Optic sensors" which is an appreciable revolution in geotechnical and structural instrumentation industry. The main objective of this study is to compare Fiber Optic sensors with conventional instruments and accordingly Tehran telecommunication/TV tower has been selected as a first existing instrumented tower by both: classical instruments and fiber optic sensors.

Steam reforming of methanol and hydrocarbon are currently the processes of choice to produce hydrogen. Due to the endothermic nature of these reactions, zones of low temperature are commonly found in reformers. These zones can potentially damage the reformer through thermal stresses. Moreover, the response time and size of a reformer are controlled by the heat available to the reaction. The objective of this thesis is to demonstrate the feasibility of using fiber Bragg gratings as an alternative solution for temperature monitoring in methanol and methane steam reformers. To meet this objective, a sensor array containing seven gratings is placed in a metal-plate test reformer. First, temperature monitoring during methanol steam reforming is conducted in 12 different sets of conditions. The resulting profile of the temperature change along the length of the catalyst captures the zones of low temperature caused by the endothermic nature of the reaction. Several small changes in the temperature profile caused by increasing temperature and/or flow rates were captured, demonstrating the ability to use these gratings in methanol steam reforming. Similar experimental work was conducted to validate the possibility of using fiber Bragg gratings as temperature sensors in methane reforming. Using a regenerated grating array, data was collected for 13 operating conditions. The conclusions arising from this work are similar to those drawn from the methanol steam reforming work. The regenerated FBGs exhibited a behaviour that has not been reported in the literature which is referred to in this thesis as secondary erasure. This behaviour caused some instability in the grating signal and erroneous readings for some operating conditions. Despite this, the grating measurements captured the zones of low temperatures in the reformer and the small changes brought about by increasing the reforming temperature and lowering the steam to carbon ratio.<br>Graduate

Sensors have become essential elements in human life for safe and comfortable existence in the ever demanding world. Various technologies over decades have contributed in their own way fulfilling innumerable sensing requirements. The discovery of optical sensor technologies has revolutionized the sensing field due to their inherent advantages. Among the large number of fiber optic sensor technologies, FBG based sensors have become widely known and popular within and outside the photonics community and has seen a prominent rise in their utilization. This thesis explores the use of FBG sensors for a wide range of applications scanning across a variety of engineering and medical applications, in the areas of civil engineering, biomechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, geoengineering, etc. It also deals with newer methods of packaging FBG sensors for the measurement of specific engineering parameters like strain, temperature, pressure, displacement and vibration. In the field of civil engineering, FBG sensors are employed for strain sensing on a prism and furthermore tested on a full size brick wallet. During this study, emphasis is made on substituting traditional sensors by specially packaged FBG sensors with the intent of either enhancing the sensing system’s performance or in merging/uniting the inherent advantages of FBG sensors. In the area of biomechanics, a novel sensor methodology using FBG sensors, for measuring surface strains generated on the skin of the calf muscle during various leg exercises is proposed. This methodology is used to address one of the most critical and life threatening issues in long distance air travel, namely the Deep Vein Thrombosis. Further, a FBG sensor based plantar sensing plate, is designed and developed, to measure plantar strain distribution in foot and also to analyze the postural stability. In the field of aerospace engineering, FBG sensors are used for addressing two of the most vital issues; Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) and direct measurement of pressure and temperature on the surface of an aircraft under hypersonic wind flow. Carbon Fiber Composite coupon level testing is carried out to obtain a generic strain calibration factor for the FBG sensor. Further, FBG sensors are exploited for the direct measurement of absolute temperature and pressure on the leeward surface of blunt cone at hypersonic wind speeds. In the domain of geoengineering, the feasibility studies have been undertaken to use a FBG as a seismic sensor and as a bore-well characterizing sensor. A novel FBG seismic sensor package is developed using a single FBG sensor to pick up the seismic waves propagating through the ground generated from earthquakes and ground tremors. Further, FBG sensors are used for measurement of temperature profiles in a bore-well to delineate and characterize the behavior of fractures during seasonal climatic changes. To summarize, the present thesis demonstrates a comprehensive experimental study which bring out the utility of FBG sensors in a variety of challenging applications.

In this thesis work, a systematic quantitative study has been undertaken, on the performance of etched fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors in the investigation of surface molecular adsorption in real-time; it is shown that the limit of detection (LOD) of FBGs etched below 2 microns diameter, is better compared to prominent optical label-free molecular sensing techniques such as Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR). Novel fiber optic sensors based on FBG and etched FBG with various nano materials (polyelectrolytes, carbon nanotubes, hydrogel, metals and chalcogenides) coated on the surface of the core or cladding, have been proposed for sensing multi parameters such as pH, protein, humidity, gas, strain, temperature, and light etc. Besides being reproducible and repeatable, the proposed methods are fast, compact, and highly sensitive. A novel optical instrument has also been developed to measure angular deviation, binocular deviation and refractive index of glass slabs, and liquids, based on a shadow casting technique. This method uses the deviation in the geometrical shadow cast by a periodic dot pattern trans-illuminated by a distorted light beam from the transparent test specimen relative to a reference pattern.

A novel detection technique to estimate the amount of chirp in fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) is proposed. This method is based on the fact that reflectivity at central wavelength of FBG reflection changes with strain/temperature gradient (linear chirp) applied to the same. Transfer matrix approach was used to vary different grating parameters (length, strength and apodization) to optimize variation of reflectivity with linear chirp. Analysis is done for different sets of ‘FBG length-refractive index strength’ combinations for which reflectivity vary linearly with linear chirp over a decent measurement range. This work acts as a guideline to choose appropriate grating parameters in designing sensing apparatus based on change in reflectivity at central wavelength of FBG reflection. A novel high sensitive FBG strain sensing technique using lasers locked to relative frequency reference is proposed and analyzed theoretically. Static strain on FBG independent of temperature can be measured by locking frequency of diode laser to the mid reflection frequency of matched reference FBG, which responds to temperature similar to that of the sensor FBG, but is immune to strain applied to the same. Difference between light intensities reflected from the sensor and reference FBGs (proportional to the difference between respective pass band gains at the diode laser frequency) is not only proportional to the relative strain between the sensor and reference FBGs but also independent of servo residual frequency errors. Usage of relative frequency reference avoids all complexities involved in the usage of absolute frequency reference, hence, making the system simple and economical. Theoretical limit for dynamic and static strain sensitivities considering all major noise contributions are respectively of the order of 25 pε/ Hz and 1.2nε /

Os sensores em fibra óptica têm vindo a ganhar uma importância crescente na área dos sensores, devido à sua imunidade a interferências electromagnéticas, elevada sensibilidade, peso reduzido, baixas perdas e grande largura de banda. Estes sensores tornam-se importantes porque permitem a medição de um grande número de mensurandos, como por exemplo: estiramento, temperatura, índice de refracção externo e torção. Neste trabalho implementaram-se dois sensores intermodais em fibra óptica e efectuouse a sua caracterização em termos de resposta à temperatura e a variações de índice de refracção, utilizando um analisador de espectros ópticos (OSA). Desenvolveu-se também um programa de simulação, em LabVIEW, que permite analisar diferentes tipos de interferómetros com cavidades ressonantes simples ou múltiplas. Foram avaliadas três configurações distintas: a primeira utilizando uma rede de Bragg (FBG) e a reflexão de Fresnel na extremidade da fibra; a segunda utilizando duas FBGs com características espectrais idênticas, e a terceira utilizando as duas FBGs idênticas combinadas com a reflexão de Fresnel na extremidade da fibra. O programa permite observar o espectro resultante dos interferómetros com cavidades de diferentes comprimentos e aplicar as técnicas de detecção de sinal pseudo-heteródina e três técnicas heteródinas. Simulando incrementos de estiramento, de temperatura ou de alteração do índice de refracção externo aplicados aos interferómetros é ainda possível observar e prever o comportamento do espectro dos sensores e efectuar uma análise da fase e da amplitude dos diversos harmónicos. Implementou-se um sistema que emprega um laser DFB (Distributed FeedBack) e que recorre à instrumentação virtual, em LabVIEW, para registar a resposta dos sensores interferométricos, empregando as técnicas de detecção de sinal utilizadas na simulação. Por último, estudou-se interferómetros com cavidades formadas por CFBGs (Chirped Fiber Bragg Gratings) com intuito de explorar a sua sensibilidade em termos de temperatura e estiramento, e efectuar uma comparação com as cavidades formadas por FBGs normais.<br>Optical fiber sensors have been gaining a growing importance in the area of sensors, due to their immunity to electromagnetic interference, high sensitivity, low weight, low loss and high bandwidth. These sensors have become important because they allow the measurement of a large number of measurands, such as strain, temperature and external refractive index. In this work two optical fiber intermodal interferometers were implemented to be used as sensors and their characterization was performed by changing temperature and refractive index and registering their spectral response with an optical spectrum analyzer (OSA). We have developed a simulation program that allows LabVIEW to analyze different types of interferometers with simple or multiple resonant cavities. Three different fiber optic interferometric configurations were tested: the first, using a single fiber Bragg grating (FBG) and the Fresnel reflection at the end of the fiber; the second using two consecutive spectrally identical FBGs; and the third combining the two identical FBGs with the Fresnel reflection at the end of the fiber. The simulation program enables the visualization of the resulting spectrum of each interferometer considering different cavity lengths and simulating the acquisition performed with a laser, using the pseudo-heterodyne and heterodyne signal detection techniques. Simulating increments of strain, temperature and changes in external refractive index it is possible to observe and predict the behavior of the sensor spectral response and perform an analysis of the phase and amplitude of the different harmonics. We have implemented a system that employs a DFB (Distributed FeedBack) laser and uses LabVIEW virtual instrumentation to record the interferometric sensors response, employing the techniques of signal detection used in the simulation. Finally, we have studied interferometers with cavities formed by CFBGs (Chirped Fiber Bragg Grating) in order to explore its sensitivity in terms of temperature and strain, and do a comparison with cavities formed by normal FBGs.<br>CITMA

In this thesis, we explore the four aspects of fiber Bragg grating sensors: mathematical modeling of Fiber Bragg Grating response/spectral characteristics, fabrication using phase mask, application and interrogation. Applications of fiber Bragg gratings, also known as in-fiber gratings, with emphasis on their sensing capabilities, interrogation of an array of sensors and their performance in structural health monitoring scenario are documented. First, we study the process of photosensitivity phenomenon in glasses, in particular GeO2:SiO2 glasses. For mathematical modeling we consider the 1-D refractive index profile along the propagation axis of an optical fiber drawn from the preform of such glasses. These 1-D index structures exhibit a bandgap for propagation along the fiber axis. We show how the bandgap is dependent on the two structural parameters: index periodicity and effective refractive index. The mathematical model provides the characteristics of three sensor parameters -resonance wavelength also known as the Bragg wavelength (λB ), filter bandwidth (ΔλB ), and reflectivity (R). We show that the evolution of the index structure in germanosilicate glasses is dependent on the inscription parameters such as exposure time, intensity of the laser used for inscribing, the interference pattern, and coherence of the laser system. In particular, a phase mask is used as the diffffacting element to generate the required interference pattern, that is exposed on the photosensitive fiber. We present a mathematical model of the electromagnetic diffraction pattern behind the phase mask and study the effect of the limited coherence of the writing laser on the interference pattern produced by the diffracting beams from the mask. Next, we demostrate the sensing capabilities of the fiber Bragg gratings for measuring strain, temperature and magnetic fields. We report linearity of 99.7% and sensitivity of 10.35pm/◦C for the grating temperature sensor. An array of gratings assigned with non-overlapping spectral windows is inscribed in a single fiber and applied for distributed sensing of structural health monitoring of an aircraft’s composite air-brake panel. The performance of these sensors is compared with the industry standard resistance foil gauges. We report good agreement between the two gauges (FBG and RSG). In some applications it is more desirable to know the spectral content, rather than the magnitude of perturbation. Fiber Bragg gratings sensors can be used to track events that occur in a very small span of time and contain high frequencies. Such applications demand very high speed wavelength demodulation methods. We present two interrogation techniques: wavelength-shift time-stamping (WSTS) and reflectivity division multiplexing (RDM). WSTS interrogation method employs the multiple threshold-crossing technique to quantize the sensor grating fluctuations and in the process produces the time stamps at every level-cross. The time-stamps are assembled and with the a priori knowledge of the threshold levels, the strain signal is reconstructed. The RDM methodology is an extension of the WSTS model to address multiple sensors. We show that by assigning unique reflectivities to each of the sensors in an array, the time-stamps from each of the sensors can be tagged. The time-stamps are collected by virtue of their corresponding pulse heights, and assembled to reconstruct the strain signal of each of the array sensor. We demonstrate that the two interrogation techniques are self-referencing systems, i.e., the speed at which the signals are reconstructed is instantaneous or as fast as the signal itself.

To better manage deteriorating infrastructure, quantitative data about the performance of infrastructure assets is required. Rayleigh based distributed fibre optic strain sensing (FOS) is a technology that has the potential to offer this type of data and unlike traditional strain sensors it can measure the strain along the full length of the structure. A series of experiments were undertaken to develop installation techniques and evaluate sensor accuracy for typical civil engineering materials: steel, concrete and reinforced concrete. The results of these experiments showed that the choice of sensing fibre and adhesive was dependent on the material being monitored. When the sensing fibre and adhesive are chosen correctly, the Rayleigh system can provide the same accuracy as a strain gauge for steel and concrete, and useful measurements can be obtained even in areas of concrete cracking. The FOS technique was utilized to determine whether distributed strain measurements could be used to detect and quantify localized deterioration of the steel reinforcement (localized area reductions of 0-30%) at service loads. A series of specimens was tested, the sensing system was able to detect the presence of localized deterioration with embedded nylon and polyimide fibres, but the nylon fibre cannot quantify large strain gradients due to slip within the sensing fibre. The strain profiles gave insights to the failure mechanism occurring in the reinforced concrete specimens. The strain profiles for both test series indicated that the tension reinforcement was acting as a tension tie and the strain profiles suggested the presence of compressive struts indicative of an arching mechanism in the specimens. The Black River bridge in Madoc, Ontario was instrumented with fibre optics sensors to determine whether the use of FOS is both practical and beneficial for reinforced concrete bridge assessment when compared to conventional instrumentation. The FOS showed reasonably good agreement with conventional sensors. The fibre optic strain results are used to calculate curvature, slope and displacement but careful consideration of the boundary conditions is required. The results from the fibre optic sensors can be used to show the bridge load distribution and give insights into the support conditions of the beams.<br>Thesis (Master, Civil Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2013-08-21 11:56:53.276