Fiber-optic strain gauge

Abstract

Prototype fiber-optic strain gauges consisting of plastic fibers containing permanent microbends were fabricated and various properties were measured. Their strain sensitivity as a function of microbend amplitude is shown, and their transduction mechanism, which is primarily the drop in microbend amplitude under tension and the corresponding increase in the fibers' optical transmission, is discussed.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>