Fiber optic acoustic emission sensor and its applications in the structural health monitoring of CFRP materials

A fiber optic acoustic emission sensor based on fused-tapered coupler and its applications in structural health monitoring are proposed in this paper. The fiber optic acoustic emission sensor (FOAES) was tested using pencil lead break tests compared with the commercial acoustic emission sensor (R15 PZT). Besides, the sensor was embedded into the carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) materials and tested in the same way. It successfully detected the AE signals. FOAES was applied in the structural health monitoring (SHM) of CFRP materials. Damages of carbon fiber/epoxy composite laminates during three-point-bending test were monitored by surface-mounted and embedded FOAES, respectively. Results identified that the sensor embedded into composite structures could monitor damage of composite laminates on-line as the surface-mounted sensor did.