Strain Sensing in Thin Composite Laminates with Embedded Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors

Abstract

Ultra-thin fiber Bragg grating sensors were used to measure strain changes in thin composite laminates. The first part of the paper presents tension tests on thin composite laminates with embedded ultra-thin fiber Bragg grating sensors to measure the gage factor relating shifts in the fiber Bragg grating reflected wavelength to the laminate strains. The second part of the paper then investigates the ability of these embedded fiber Bragg grating sensors to accurately measure the internal strains of thin laminates in bending.