Improvement of spatial resolution for strain measurements by analyzing Brillouin gain spectrum

H. Murayama; K. Kageyama; A. Shimada; A. Nishiyama

doi:10.1117/12.624254

23 May 2005 Improvement of spatial resolution for strain measurements by analyzing Brillouin gain spectrum

H. Murayama, K. Kageyama, A. Shimada, A. Nishiyama

Proceedings Volume 5855, 17th International Conference on Optical Fibre Sensors; (2005) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.624254
Event: 17th International Conference on Optical Fibre Sensors, 2005, Bruges, Belgium

Abstract

A Brillouin optical time domain reflectometer (BOTDR) is a fiber optic strain distributed sensing system which can measure strain along arbitrary regions of an optical fiber. We have used this system for structural health monitoring of composite structures, such as racing yachts. Although the BOTDR is useful to measure strain distributions of a large area efficiently, it is difficult to accurately measure strain changing sharply within the length of the spatial resolution. The resolution depends on the width of the pulse light emitted from the BOTDR and it is 2 m for the pulse width of 20 ns. In this paper, we propose a new technique to improve the spatial resolution of a commercially available BOTDR in strain measurements. This technique is based on analysis of the Brillouin gain spectrum along a sensing fiber. We confirmed experimentally that the BOTDR using 20 ns pulse could measure strain which has a rectangular distribution of 0.3 m in the sensing fiber.

Citation Download Citation

H. Murayama, K. Kageyama, A. Shimada, and A. Nishiyama "Improvement of spatial resolution for strain measurements by analyzing Brillouin gain spectrum", Proc. SPIE 5855, 17th International Conference on Optical Fibre Sensors, (23 May 2005); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.624254

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available