Investigation of the strain transfer for surface-attached optical fiber strain sensors

The relation between the component strain and the strain on a surface-attached optical fiber is governed by the effectiveness of shear transfer through the adhesive and the polymeric coating(s) on the optical fiber. A classical shear lag model can predict the strain transfer through a soft layer well. However, experiments showed that the results are unsatisfactory for bare fiber with stiff adhesive case. A 3D-FEM is established to model the strain transfer of a surface-mounted strain sensor and it is verified by experiments. Then, it is used to investigate the influence of four geometric parameters of the adhesive: ( 1) side width, ( 2) top thickness, ( 3) bond length, ( 4) bottom thickness, on the strain transfer. By sensitivity analysis, it is revealed that the bond length and the bottom thickness are dominant factors. Based on finite element results, the parameter of the analytical model is modified to suit stiff layer cases. Important considerations for practical installation of surface-attached optical interferometric and FBG strain sensors will be discussed