Local and Global Approaches for Damage Detection in Composite Structures by Fiber Optic Sensor

Abstract

Fiber optic sensors cannot measure damage directly; for getting information about damage from strain measurements, additional strategies are needed, and several alternatives have been proposed. This paper discuss two different concepts: the first one is based on detecting the new strains appearing around a damage spot; the structure does not need to be under loads; the technique is very robust, damage detectability is high, but it requires sensors to be located very close to the damage, so it is a local technique. The second approach offers a wider coverage of the structure; it is based on identifying the changes caused by the damage on the global strains field in the whole structure for similar external loads. Damage may happen anywhere in the structure, detectability is dependent upon the sensors network density, damage size and the external loads. Examples of application to real structures are given