Curvature Sensor Based on FBGs Embedded in 3D Printed Patches
Pasquale Di Palma, Agostino Iadicicco, Stefania Campopiano
Abstract
In this paper, a novel curvature sensor, is showed. The proposed sensor is based on two FBGs, properly embedded in a 3D printed patch: the FBGs measure the strain in two point at a different distance from the monitored structure and the curvature of the structure under test is estimated from the difference in their strain. The simple and compact sensor exhibits a curvature sensitivity of 1.39 nm/m <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">−1</sup> with a resolution equal to <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$7.2\cdot 10^{-4}\,\,\text{m}^{-1}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> . The curvature test shows a very excellent agreement between the curvature recorded with the new sensing device and that of the reference sensor. Neutral axis position of the monitored structure can be also estimated with this sensor.