Damage detection in a radome sandwich material with embedded fiber optic sensors

Embedded distributed micro/macro-bending multimode optical fiber transducers multiplexed in the time domain (photon counting, optical time domain reflectometry) and quasi-distributed embedded in-fiber Bragg grating (FBG) filters based on wavelength measurement and demultiplexing encoding have been used for damage detection assessment in a radome sandwich structure. Both methods are well suited for detection and localization of permanent damage induced by impacts of energy ranging from 8-20 J. Optical fiber sensor measurements have been compared to those given by classical health monitoring methods using ultrasonics and shearography, as well as infrared thermography.