Characteristics of strain transfer and the reflected spectrum of a metal-coated fiber Bragg grating sensor

Previous researchers have simulated strain transfer and spectrum of normal fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors with a polymer coating bonded on the structure. They only considered the shear stress in a polymer coating for the simulation. However, for metal-coated FBG sensors, not only shear stress but also axial stress in the metal coating should be reflected into the calculation because its axial stiffness is no longer negligible. Thus, the author investigated the strain transfer and reflected spectra of metal-coated FBG sensors by considering both shear stress and axial stress. The strain transfer analysis involved evaluating the strain profiles along the sensor by plotting an analytical solution, and validating the evaluated profiles with the results obtained by a finite element analysis (FEA). The solution was also verified by the experiments that used aluminum-coated FBG sensors bonded on a carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite specimen. A transfer-matrix (T-matrix) formulation and coupled mode theory were used to simulate the reflected spectra of metal-coated FBG sensors for the evaluated strain profile. In addition, the effect of mechanical and geometric parameters of the sensor was examined. The findings revealed that the strain transfer characteristics and reflected spectra deteriorated with increases in the thickness and Young's modulus of the metal coating due to the consideration of axial stress. It is the opposite results for the normal FBG sensor with a polymer coating. Furthermore, the results also indicated that the decrease in bonding thickness resulted in improved strain transfer and signal characteristics. Moreover, a bonding length of 14 mm was suitable in suppressing an asymmetric shape of the reflected spectrum and in achieving an accurate measurement. The results of the parametric study are expected to contribute to improve the measurement accuracy of metal-coated FBG sensors in actual applications. The analytical methodology can be usefully employed in the design of a metal-coated FBG sensor system.