Optimization of the Geometries of Biconical Tapered Fiber Sensors for Monitoring the Early-Age Curing Temperatures of Concrete Specimens

摘要

In this article, a geometrical optimization procedure using biconical tapered fiber sensors is proposed for monitoring the early-age curing temperatures of concrete specimens. The geometries of the sensors are theoretically optimized by the ray-tracing theory. The results of the theoretical analysis show that the performance of the sensors is heavily influenced by Evanescent Waves, which are due to the tunneling rays and are fully escaped by tapering the fiber. The effects of the geometrical parameters, including the taper ratios, taper lengths, and ray launch angles, as well as the surrounding temperatures, on the behavior of the sensors are studied numerically. The numerical results demonstrate that higher performance of the proposed optimized sensors can be achieved by a longer taper length and smaller taper ratio combined with an initial ray launching angle of 0.01 rad. An experimental study on early-age curing temperature monitoring of concrete specimens with the biconical tapered fiber sensors was carried out. The experimental measurements agree well with the theoretical results.