Optimization of coating diameter of fiber optic sensors embedded in composite structures under arbitrary loading conditions

摘要

Due to mismatches in size and material properties, optical fiber (OF) sensors act as inclusions when embedded in composite hosts. The resulting stress concentrations surrounding the OF sensor may lead to premature failure of the host structure. In this work, a novel technique is presented to determine optimal coating properties for OF sensors embedded in composite structures in order to minimize stress concentrations surrounding these sensors. The method is validated against methodologies available in literature and is shown to produce identical results under these specific circumstances. Compared to the methods in literature, the proposed method is significantly more flexible as it allows the optimization of the coating for any arbitrary load condition. The results of the computations can be reused for any load case in the given combination of host and coating material, reducing the computations to a one time effort for a specific combination of host and coating.