[6p-A414-1~21] 3.8 Optical measurement, instrumentation, and sensor

[6p-A414-18] Infrared-thermometer-based break-point detection of optical fibers embedded in structures

〇Sonoko Hagiwara¹, Heeyoung Lee¹, Yutaka Ochi², Takahiro Matsui², Yukihiro Matsumoto³, Yosuke Tanaka⁴, Hitoshi Nakamura⁵, Yosuke Mizuno¹, Kentaro Nakamura¹ (1.Tokyo Tech, 2.Toray Industries, 3.Toyohashi Univ., 4.Tokyo Univ. Agr., 5.Tokyo Metr. Univ.)

Keywords:optical fiber sensing, infrared thermometer, breakage detection

Structural health monitoring has recently become extremely important, and so-called fiber-optic nerve systems have attracted considerable attention. Here, we develop a new method for detecting the breakage point of an optical fiber embedded in a civil structure using an infrared thermometer (IRT). This technique operates based on the conversion of the optical energy into thermal energy at the breakage point. In the experiment, the breakage point of a silica fiber embedded in a steel structure is detected on a real-time basis with high spatial resolution and cost efficiency. We anticipate that this IRT-based technique will be of great use for practical structural health monitoring in the future.