• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.9 no.3
• /
• pp.397-414
• /
• 2015

Three different applications for monitoring displacements in underground structures using a BOTDR-based distributed optical fiber strain sensing system are presented. These applications are related to the strain measurements of (1) instrumented PVC tube designed to be attached to tunnel side wall and ceiling as a sensor; (2) rock bolts for tunnels; and (3) shotcrete lining under loading. The effectiveness of using the proposed strain sensing system is evaluated by carrying out laboratory tests, in-situ measurements, and numerical simulations. The results obtained from this validation process provide confidence that the optical fiber is able to quantify strain fields under a variety of loading conditions and consequently use this information to estimate the behavior of rock mass during mining activity. As the measuring station can be located as far as 1 km of distance, these alternatives presented may increase the safety of the mine during mining process and for the personnel doing the measurements on the field.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
• /
• 2006.03a
• /
• pp.86-95
• /
• 2006

Brillouin backscatter is a type of reflection that occurs when light is shone into an optical fibre. Brillouin reflections are very sensitive to changes in the fibre arising from external effects, such as temperature, strain and pressure. We report here several case studies on the measurement of strain using Brillouin reflections. A mechanical bending test of an I beam, deployed with both fiber optic sensors and conventional strain gauge rosettes, was performed with the aim of evaluating: (1) the capability and technical limit of the DTSS technology for strain profile sensing; (2) the reliability of strain measurement using fiber optic sensor. The average values of strains obtained from both DTSS and strain gauges (corresponding to the deflection of I beam) showed a linear relationship and an excellent one-to-one match. A practical application of DTSS technology as an early warning system for land sliding or subsidence was examined through a field test at a hillside. Extremely strong, lightweight, rugged, survivable tight-buffered cables, designed for optimal strain transfer to the fibre, were used and clamped on the subsurface at a depth of about 50cm. It was proved that DTSS measurements could detect the exact position and the progress of strain changes induced by land sliding and subsidence. We also carried out the first ever distributed dynamic strain measurement (10Hz) on the Korean Train eXpress(KTX) railway track in Daejeon, Korea. The aim was to analyse the integrity of a section of track that had recently been repaired. The Sensornet DTSS was used to monitor this 85m section of track while a KTX train passed over. In the repaired section the strain increases to levels of 90 microstrain, whereas in the section of regular track the strain is in the region of 30-50 microstrain. The results were excellent since they demonstrate that the DTSS is able to measure small, dynamic changes in strain in rails during normal operating conditions. The current 10km range of the DTSS creates a potential to monitor the integrity of large lengths of track, and especially higher risk sections such as bridges, repaired track and areas at risk of subsidence.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
• /
• v.36 no.6
• /
• pp.443-450
• /
• 2016

In this study, we propose a novel fiber optic sensor to show the measurement feasibility of distributed temperature and strains in a single sensing fiber line. Distributed temperature can be measured using optical time domain reflectometry (OTDR) with a Raman anti-Stokes light in the sensing fiber line. Moreover, the strain can be measured by fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) in the same sensing fiber line. The anti-Stokes Raman back-scattering lights from both ends of the sensing fiber, which consists of a 4 km single mode optical fiber, are acquired and inserted into a newly formulated equation to calculate the temperature. Furthermore, the center wavelengths from the FBGs in the sensing fiber are detected by an optical spectrum analyzer; these are converted to strain values. The initial wavelengths of the FBGs are selected to avoid a cross-talk with the wavelength of the Raman pulsed pump light. Wavelength shifts from a tension test were found to be 0.1 nm, 0.17 nm, 0.29 nm, and 0.00 nm, with corresponding strain values of $85.76{\mu}{\epsilon}$, $145.55{\mu}{\epsilon}$, $247.86{\mu}{\epsilon}$, and $0.00{\mu}{\epsilon}$, respectively. In addition, a 50 m portion of the sensing fiber from $30^{\circ}C$ to $70^{\circ}C$ at $10^{\circ}C$ intervals was used to measure the distributed temperature. In all tests, the temperature measurement accuracy of the proposed sensor was less than $0.50^{\circ}C$.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.23 no.1
• /
• pp.61-69
• /
• 2019

Offshore structures are generally exposed to harsh environments such as strong tidal currents and wind loadings. Monitoring the structural soundness and integrity of offshore structures is crucial to prevent catastrophic collapses and to prolong their lifetime; however, it is intrinsically challenging because of the difficulties in accessing the critical structural members that are located under water for installing and repairing sensors and data acquisition systems. Virtual sensing technologies have the potential to alleviate such difficulties by estimating the unmeasured structural responses at the desired locations using other measured responses. Despite the usefulness of virtual sensing, its performance and applicability to the structural health monitoring of offshore structures have not been fully studied to date. This study investigates the use of virtual sensing of offshore structures. A Kalman filter based virtual sensing algorithm is developed to estimate responses at the location of interest. Further, this algorithm performs a multi-sensor data fusion to improve the estimation accuracy under non-stationary tidal loading. Numerical analysis and laboratory experiments are conducted to verify the performance of the virtual sensing strategy using a bottom-fixed offshore structural model. Numerical and experimental results show that the unmeasured responses can be reasonably recovered from the measured responses.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.13 no.5
• /
• pp.2059-2066
• /
• 2018

This study explored the feasibility of utilizing an SWCNT-coated fabric sensor for the development of a wearable motion sensing device. The extent of variation in electric resistance of the sensor material was evaluated by varying the fiber composition of the SWCNT-coated base fabrics, attachment methods, number of layers, and sensor width and length. 32 sensors were fabricated by employing different combinations of these variables. Using a custom-built experimental jig, the amount of voltage change in a fabric sensor as a function of the length was measured as the fabric sensors underwent loading-unloading test with induced strains of 30 %, 40 %, and 50 % at a frequency of 0.5 Hz. First-step analysis revealed the following: characteristics of the strain-voltage curves of the fabric sensors confirmed that 14 out of 32 sensors were evaluated as more suitable for measuring human joint movement, as they yield stable resistance values under tension-release conditions; furthermore, significantly stable resistance values were observed at each level of strain. Secondly, we analyzed the averaged maximum, minimum, and standard deviations at various strain levels. From this analysis, it was determined that the two-layer sensor structure and welding attachment method contributed to the improvement of sensing accuracy.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
• /
• v.1 no.4
• /
• pp.260-267
• /
• 2006

The Liquid Culture Assay using a recombinant Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain has been developed as a means for quorum sensing autoinducer screening. However, the low aqueous solubility of marine natural product extracts used as potential autoinducers has been a hindrance in the screening process. Although the addition of organic solvents and/or surfactants could increase aqueous solubility, errors in data interpretation including false positive results could be a serious problem. Therefore, determining the best possible solvent and surfactant at the optimum concentration is crucial. Evaluating methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol, DMSO and DMF at concentration ranges of 0~10% revealed < 2% methanol to be most favorable when tested for ${\beta}$-gal activity and growth inhibition of the recombinant A. tumefaciens strain. On the other hand, among surfactants tested, Triton X-100 was similarly effective in increasing the delivery of autoinducers for activity at less than 0.05% concentration.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.5 no.2
• /
• pp.87-97
• /
• 2013

In this paper, a novel fibrous material known as axially reinforced braided composite rods (BCRs) have been developed for reinforcement of soils. These innovative materials consist of an axial reinforcement system, comprised of longitudinally oriented core fibres, which is responsible for mechanical performance and, a braided cover, which gives a ribbed surface texture for better interfacial interactions with soils. BCRs were produced using both thermosetting (unsaturated polyester) and thermoplastic (polypropylene) matrices and synthetic (carbon, glass, HT polyethylene), as well as natural (sisal) core fibres. BCRs were characterized for tensile properties and the influence of core fibres was studied. Moreover, BCRs containing carbon fibre in the core composition were characterized for piezoresistivity and strain sensing properties under flexural deformation. According to the experimental results, the developed braided composites showed tailorable and wide range of mechanical properties, depending on the core fibres and exhibited very good strain sensing behavior.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.77-83
• /
• 2021

Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) operates at high temperatures in range of 600-800℃. Since layers of SOFC are composed of different substances, different thermal expansion in SOFC can result in defects under high temperature conditions. For understanding relation between temperature field and the thermal deformation in SOFC, temperature and strain field were simultaneously estimated using thermographic phosphors by optical measurement. Temperature fields were obtained by the life-time method, and the temperature differences of one specimen was checked with thermocouple. The thermal deformation was estimated by digital image correlation (DIC) method with extracted phosphorescence images. To investigate the deformation accuracy of DIC measurement, thermographic phosphors were coated with and without grid pattern on aluminum surface. Simultaneous measurement of temperature fields and thermal deformation were carried out for YSZ. This study will be helpful to multi-sensing of temperature field and thermal deformation on SOFC cells.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
• /
• 2004.05a
• /
• pp.568-574
• /
• 2004

On-line phase tracking of an extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometer (EFPI) and experimental vibration control of a composite beam with a sensing-patch are investigated. We propose a sensing-patch for the compensation of the interferometric non-linearity. In this paper, a sensing-patch that comprises an EFPI and a piezo ceramic(PZT) is fabricated and the characteristics of the sensing-patch are experimentally investigated. A simple and practical logic is applied for the real-time tracking of optical phase of an interferometer. Experimental results show that the proposed sensing-patch does not have the non-linear behavior of conventional EFPI and hysteresis of piezoelectric material. Moreover, it has good strain resolution and wide dynamic sensing range. Finally, the vibration control with the developed sensing-patch has been performed using Fuzzy logic controller, and the possibility of sensing-patch as a sensoriactuator is considered.

• Transactions on Control, Automation and Systems Engineering
• /
• v.3 no.1
• /
• pp.66-70
• /
• 2001

This paper describes the design of a two-axis force sensor for robots finger. In detects the x-direction force Fx and y-direction force Fy simultaneously. In order to safely grasp an unknown object using the robots fingers, they should detect the force or gripping direction and the force of gravity direction, and perform the force control using the forces detected. Therefore, the robots hand should be made by the robots finger with tow-axis force sensor that can detect the x-direction force and y-direction force si-multaneously. Thus, in this paper, the two-axis force sensor for robots finger is designed using several parallel-plate beams. The equations to calculate the strain of the beams according to the force in order to design the sensing element of the force sensor are derived and these equations are used to design the aize of two-axis force sensor sensing element. The reliability of the derive equa-tions is verified buy performing a finite element analysis of the sensing element. The strain obtained through this process is compared to that obtained through the theory analysis and a characteristics test of the fabricated sensor. It reveals that the rated strains calculated from the derive equations make a good agreement with the results from the Finite Element Method analysis and from the character-istic test.