FATIGUE CRACK GROWTH MONITORING OF CRACKED ALUMINUM PLATE REPAIRED WITH COMPOSITE PATCH USING EMBEDDED OPTICAL FIBER SENSORS

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Recently, based on the smart structure concept, optical fiber sensors have been increasingly applied to monitor the various engineering and civil structural components. Repairs based on adhesively bonded fiber reinforce composite patches are more structurally efficient and much less damaging to the parent structure than standard repairs based on mechanically fastened metallic patches. As a result of the high reinforcing efficiency of bonded patches fatigue cracks can be successfully repaired. However, when such repairs are applied to primary structures, it is needed to demonstrate that its loss can be immediately detected. This approach is based on the "smart patch" concept in which the patch system monitors its own health. The objective of this study is to evaluate the potentiality of application of transmission-type extrinsic Fabry-Perot optical fiber sensor (TEFPI) to the monitoring of crack growth behavior of composite patch repaired structures. The sensing system of TEFPI and the data reduction principle for the detection of crack detection are presented. Finally, experimental results from the tests of center-cracked-tension aluminum specimens repaired with bonded composite patch is presented and discussed.