ABSTRACT
In order to truly understand the failure mechanisms of structures, it will be essential to have reliable sensors that can measure large strains at high strain rates. Such a sensor would have significant immediate implications for structural testing and monitoring as researchers would gain previously unavailable insight into the localized failure mechanisms due to inelastic deformation and damage accumulation. Recent advances in the fabrication of singlemode polymer optical fibers (POF) have made it possible to extend POFs to interferometric sensing, however several challenges make the application of the interferometric sensor in the POF more difficult than its counterpart in a silica optical fiber due to the large strain values to be measured. These include the: (1) finite deformation of the POF cross-section at high strain values; (2) nonlinear strain optic effects in the polymer; and (3) attenuation with strain of the POF.
