Ultrasonic guided waves sensing using optical fiber sensor

Optical fiber sensors have been proven that they have potential as ultrasonic guided waves sensor for structural health monitoring and damage detection. They can be used to receive acoustic emission signals from dynamic structural damages or guided waves propagating in waveguide and excited by ultrasonic actuators. Optical fiber sensors based on Mach-Zehnder interferometer were investigated in this work. Their sensing properties were explored experimentally using Lamb waves excited by a piezoelectric wafer in an aluminum plate. Spiral shape with different size was selected to increase their sensitivity. Experiments were also conducted to examine the voltage responses received by this type of sensor, and investigate results of tuning frequency.