A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
Temperature and Humidity Stability of Fibre Optic Sensor Cables for High Resolution Measurements
Fibre optic sensors offer a means for the real-time continuous measurement of temperature or strain in concrete structures. Backscattered light along a fibre optic sensing (FOS) cable is interrogated to record a frequency shift and this shift is typically translated into a physical parameter such as strain or temperature using a calibration factor. However, when the measured frequency shift is a response to a combination of mechanical, thermal or hygral (humidity) loadings it is difficult to decouple individual influences. This presents a challenge in complex materials such as concrete where the strain, temperature and moisture levels change concurrently during the fresh and hardened states. Furthermore, depending on the application, both short- and longer-term measurements are required. As such, not only is the influence of these physical factors of interest but also the time and spatial stability of the measured frequency, which is highly dependent on the FOS cable composition. To investigate this aspect, fibre optic cables commonly used for strain (three tight-buffered cables) or temperature (two loose-buffered cables) measurement were considered. The cables were subjected to mechanical or environmental exposure and interrogated using a high-resolution optical backscatter reflectometer. The exposure regimes included three temperature cycles with sustained steps from 10 °C to 60 °C and back to 10 °C and an increasing and decreasing humidity cycle with steps between 30 to 90% relH. These ranges were selected to be indicative of typical environments for concrete. The results showed that the calibration factors back-calculated from increasing and decreasing temperature or humidity cycles differed. The third temperature cycle results were found to exhibit the smallest differences between heating and cooling suggesting that temperature pre-conditioning prior to installation could be advantageous. For all the cables, a drift in the readings was observed over the duration (2.5 h for temperature and 30 h ...
Temperature and Humidity Stability of Fibre Optic Sensor Cables for High Resolution Measurements
Fibre optic sensors offer a means for the real-time continuous measurement of temperature or strain in concrete structures. Backscattered light along a fibre optic sensing (FOS) cable is interrogated to record a frequency shift and this shift is typically translated into a physical parameter such as strain or temperature using a calibration factor. However, when the measured frequency shift is a response to a combination of mechanical, thermal or hygral (humidity) loadings it is difficult to decouple individual influences. This presents a challenge in complex materials such as concrete where the strain, temperature and moisture levels change concurrently during the fresh and hardened states. Furthermore, depending on the application, both short- and longer-term measurements are required. As such, not only is the influence of these physical factors of interest but also the time and spatial stability of the measured frequency, which is highly dependent on the FOS cable composition. To investigate this aspect, fibre optic cables commonly used for strain (three tight-buffered cables) or temperature (two loose-buffered cables) measurement were considered. The cables were subjected to mechanical or environmental exposure and interrogated using a high-resolution optical backscatter reflectometer. The exposure regimes included three temperature cycles with sustained steps from 10 °C to 60 °C and back to 10 °C and an increasing and decreasing humidity cycle with steps between 30 to 90% relH. These ranges were selected to be indicative of typical environments for concrete. The results showed that the calibration factors back-calculated from increasing and decreasing temperature or humidity cycles differed. The third temperature cycle results were found to exhibit the smallest differences between heating and cooling suggesting that temperature pre-conditioning prior to installation could be advantageous. For all the cables, a drift in the readings was observed over the duration (2.5 h for temperature and 30 h ...
Temperature and Humidity Stability of Fibre Optic Sensor Cables for High Resolution Measurements
Maier, Marcus (author) / Kechavarzi, Cedric (author) / Xu, Xiaomin (author) / Lees, Janet M (author)
2023-03-15
doi:10.17863/CAM.94972
nlmid: 101204366 ; essn: 1424-8220
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
British Library Conference Proceedings | 1997
|Dark Fibre Optic Cables for Shallow Ground Charactrization alongside Railroads
TIBKAT | 2024
|Fibre optic temperature measurements in a concrete dam
British Library Online Contents | 1999
|British Library Online Contents | 2009
|Fibre Optic Inclinometer Sensor
British Library Conference Proceedings | 2000
|