ABSTRACT
This chapter presents provides an overview of the Optical Fiber Sensors (OFSs) used for sensing of composite materials. It provides essential information regarding many aspects, including different types of composite materials, properties, and their performance, the relevance of OFS for composite material sensing applications, future challenges of embedded OFSs, and trends. The chapter describes an overview of advances in the area of OFS technology for condition monitoring applications in composite materials. It also describes an overview of different types of most commonly used composite materials and their properties. The chapter discusses the demand for the structural health monitoring (SHM) in composite material structures. It also discusses the common fabrication methods of composite materials with embedded fiber sensors. The chapter presents the trends, issues, and challenges of the OFS technology. It provides a state of the art in the area of composite materials embedded with OFSs and its potential application in SHM.
