• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.373-379
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• 2006

Vibration-based structural health monitoring is one of non-destructive evaluation (NDE) techniques for civil infrastructures. This paper presents a novel fiber optic accelerometer system to monitor civil engineering structures and a successful application of the novel sensor system for measuring ambient vibration of a real building structure. This sensor system integrates the Moire fringe phenomenon with fiber optics to achieve accurate and reliable measurements. The sensor system is immune to electromagnetic (EM) interference making it suitable for difficult applications in such environments involving strong EM fields, electrical spark-induced explosion risks, and cabling problems, prohibiting the use of conventional electromagnetic accelerometers. A prototype sensor system has been developed, together with a signal processing software. The experimental studies demonstrated the high-performance of the fiber optic sensor system. Especially, the sensor was successfully used for monitoring a real building on UCI (University of California Irvine, USA).

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.355-368
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• 2005

Large and complex structures are being built now-a-days and, they are required to be functional even under extreme loading and environmental conditions. In order to meet the safety and maintenance demands, there is a need to build sensors integrated structural system, which can sense and provide necessary information about the structural response to complex loading and environment. Sophisticated tools have been developed for the design and construction of civil engineering structures. However, very little has been accomplished in the area of monitoring and rehabilitation. The employment of appropriate sensor is therefore crucial, and efforts must be directed towards non-destructive testing techniques that remain functional throughout the life of the structure. Fiber optic sensors are emerging as a superior non-destructive tool for evaluating the health of civil engineering structures. Flexibility, small in size and corrosion resistance of optical fibers allow them to be directly embedded in concrete structures. The inherent advantages of fiber optic sensors over conventional sensors include high resolution, ability to work in difficult environment, immunity from electromagnetic interference, large band width of signal, low noise and high sensitivity. This paper brings out the potential and current status of technology of fiber optic sensors for civil engineering applications. The importance of employing fiber optic sensors for health monitoring of civil engineering structures has been highlighted. Details of laboratory studies carried out on fiber optic strain sensors to assess their suitability for civil engineering applications are also covered.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.37-41
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• 2005

The curing of thermoset resin is accompanied with the changes in chemical and physical properties. The cure monitoring techniques can be designed by tracing these property changes. This paper presents the cure monitoring technique with fiber optic sensors to detect the change of refractive index during the polymerization process of engineering epoxy resin. The fiber optic sensor system was developed to measure the reflection coefficient at the interface between the fiber optic and the resin. The correlation between the sensor output and the degree of cure was performed following Lorentz-Lorenz law. The isothermal data from the sensors are compared with the data from differential scanning calorimeter.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.499-507
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• 2004

We have studied tile detection techniques, which can determine the location and the weight of an intruder into infrastructure, by using fiber-optic ROTDR (Rayleigh optical time domain reflectometry) sensor and fiber-optic BOTDA (Brillouin Optical time domain analysis) sensor, which can use an optical fiber longer than that of ROTDR sensor Fiber-optic sensing plates of ROTDR sensor, which arc buried in sand, were prepared to respond the intruder effects. The signal of ROTDR was analyzed to confirm the detection performance. The constructed ROTDR could be used up to 10km at the pulse width of 30ns. The location error was less than 2 m and the weight could be detected as 4 grades, such as 20kgf, 40kgf, 60kgf and 80kgf. Also, fiber optic BOTDA sensor was developed to be able to detect intrusion effect through an optical fiber of tells of kilometers longer than ROTDR sensor. fiber-optic BOTDA sensor was constructed with 1 laser diode and 2 electro-optic modulators. The intrusion detection experiment was peformed by the strain inducing set-up installed on an optical table to simulate all intrusion effect. In the result of this experiment, the intrusion effort was well detected as the distance resolution of 3m through the fiber length of about 4.81km during 1.5 seconds.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.40-46
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• 2006

This paper presents a novel fiber optic accelerometer system for monitoring vibration of large-size structures. The system is composed of one (or multiple) sensor head, a light control unit and a signal processing unit. The sensing mechanism of the sensor head is based on a novel integration of the moire fringe phenomenon with fiber optics to achieve a robust performance in addition to its immunity to EM interference, easy cabling, and low cost. In this paper, a prototype of the fiber optic accelerometer system has been developed successfully. A low-cost light control unit has been developed to drive the system's optic and electronic components. A unique algorithm has also been developed to derive the sensor's acceleration from the raw signals of the light control unit; it is implemented via a separate signal processing unit. Finally, the shaking table tests successfully demonstrate the performance and the potential of the moire fringe fiber optic sensor system to monitor the health of civil infrastructures.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.180-185
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• 2005

In this study, a plastic fiber-optic temperature sensor is fabricated using TSCM(thermo sensitive clouding material) which changes its light transmittance with temperature and the characteristics of this sensor are evaluated. The fabricated fiber optic temperature sensor is the reflector type using a Y-coupler. The optimum light source and reflector are decided by measuring the amount of reflected light through TSCM. Also, the optimum distance from the end of sensor to the surface of reflector is determined. Then the relationship between the amount of measured reflected light and the temperature of TSCM is found.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.142-148
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• 2004

In this paper, to detect exciting frequency on the latticed fence structure, fiber optic sensor using Sagnac interferometer was fabricated and tested. The latticed structure fabricated with dimension of 180 cm wide and 180 cm high, the optical fiber, 50 m in length, distributed and fixed on the latticed structure. Single mode fiber, a laser with 1,550 m wavelength, and $3{\times}3$ coupler were used. Excited vibration signal applied to the latticed structure from 200 Hz to 1 KHz. The detected optical signals were compared to the detected acceleration signals and analyzed on the time and frequency domain. Based on the experimental results, fiber optic sensor using Sagnac interferometer detected exciting frequency, effectively. This system can be applied to the structural health monitoring system.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.96-105
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• 2000

Fiber optic TR-EFPI(total reflected extrtinsic Fabry-Perot interferometric) sensor was developed to measure the strain of structures, such as building, bridge, aircraft, etc. It has been difficult to distinguish the increase and decrease of the strain from the conventional fiber optic EFPI sensor because their signals only have a sinusoidal wave pattern related to the change of strain. Also, the absolute strain could not be measured by the simple fiber optic EFPI sensor. In this study, in order to measure the magnitude of strain with the direction of strain, the fiber optic sensor was simply constructed with the total reflected EFPI sensor probe. This probe was manufactured with a single mode fiber and a mirror coated fiber in a silica glass capillary tube. The output signal of this fiber optic TR-EFPT sensor can give the information about the magnitude and the direction of strain. The loading-unloading test was performed by the universal testing machine with alluminum beam specimen to compare the strain from fiber optic TR-EFPI sensor with the value from electrical strain gauge. In the result of this experiment. the strain from fiber optic TR-EFPI sensor had a good agreement with the values from the electrical strain gauge.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Navigation
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.171-178
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• 1994

Fiber optic gyroscopes must be a promising technology that can replace conventional mechanical ones based on the principle of inertia of spinning masses. The advantages of fiber optic gyroscopes over mechanical ones include low cost, light weight, compact size and fast turn-on time. We will apply them to fiber optic gyrocompass for ships. Fiber optic gyrocompass for ships requires the north-seeking accuracy of $15^{\circ}$/hr, earth rotation rate, or better. This article introduces the fiber optic gyroscope as rotation sensor in the fiber optic gyrocompass system for ships that is planed to develop in our laboratory.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.772-777
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• 2008

Recent development of fiber optic sensors and wireless sensor technology, made structural health monitoring of railway structures cost effective. In this paper, a micro bending fiber optic rail pad sensors are evaluated for train axle force measurement. In order to assess the usability of FBG fiber optic sensors for short-term bridge measurement, the FBG sensors and conventional strain gauges are installed at the same points and the strain results are compared. Also the impact factors are calculated using the FBG strain responses and the results are compared with the conventional sensor responses. A running KTX train was instrumented with wireless sensor system to measure the vibration characteristics and the results are compared with conventional wire sensor system.