Performance of a fiber optic polarimetric sensor in health monitoring of different smart structures

Fiber reinforced structures and machines are becoming increasingly popular in recent years, as they facilitate nondestructive damage detection in these systems. Fiber Optic Polarimetric Sensor (FOPS) is an interesting device in real time structural health monitoring. In this paper the authors present their experimental results on the health monitoring of aluminum, concrete and composite structures using FOPS. The sensor monitors the change in state of polarization of the light beam traversing in the fiber under dynamic loading. The dynamic response of high-birefringence fiber has been evaluated for the three types of structures by embedding the fiber into the specimen. The performances of FOPS is damage detection of the three smart structures under impact loading condition are compared.