Design of copper/carbon-coated fiber Bragg grating acoustic sensor net for integrated health monitoring of nuclear power plant

A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a harsh environment that gives rise to age-related degradation of the plant structures, and eventually leads to radiation leakage that threatens humans. Integrated structural health monitoring (ISHM) technology is a strong candidate for the prevention of the NPP accidents during operation. Prior studies have shown that fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) and metal-coated fibers have good radiation and high temperature resistance. In this study, a FBG acoustic sensor using a metallic adhesive for installation and a relatively economical copper/carbon (Cu/C)-coated fiber is developed for ISHM of high temperature NPP structures. A chemical method is proposed to remove the Cu/C coating. A 5 mm FBG was successfully inscribed in a Ge-doped silica core through a 7 mm-long silica section with the coating removed. The Cu/C-coated fiber with the same core/clad structure as the standard SMF allowed no-loss fusion splicing, and showed good adaptability to the economical standard fiber, adaptor, connector, and instruments. It showed also good thermal resistance (<345 °C) with no degradation in optical power during the optical transmission. The metallic adhesive used to install the FBG in a one-end-free configuration showed superior bonding reliability during temperature cycles ranging from 25 °C to 345 °C. The FBG reflectivity was stabilized at a 58% drop from the initial reflectivity, and the Cu/C-coated FBG sensor using the metallic adhesive could successfully detect the acousto-ultrasonic waves generated by pencil lead breaking and laser beam excitation.

Research highlights
► We develop a cost-effective fiber Bragg grating (FBG) acoustic sensor net for nuclear power plants using copper/carbon (Cu/C)-coated fiber.
► A chemical method is proposed to remove the Cu/C coating. A 5 mm FBG is successfully inscribed in a Ge-doped silica core through a 7 mm-long silica section with the coating removed.
► The Cu/C-coated fiber net shows good thermal resistance (<345 °C).
► The Cu/C-coated FBG sensor using the metallic adhesive successfully detects the acousto-ultrasonic waves generated by pencil lead breaking and laser beam excitation.