N. Lagakos et al., FIBER-EMBEDDED MANDREL-STIFFENED PLANAR ACOUSTIC SENSOR, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 98(3), 1995, pp. 1618-1622
A plastic mandrel-based, embedded planar fiber-optic acoustic sensor h
as been developed by wrapping a single mode fiber around solid plastic
mandrels which are embedded in an elastomeric encapsulant forming a p
lanar device. The acoustic sensitivity of the sensor was found to be h
igh and frequency independent. The high sensitivity is a result of the
effective utilization of the low bulk modulus encapsulant (elastomer)
, while the frequency-independent sensitivity is a result of the low a
cceleration sensitivity of the sensor due to the out-of-plane fiber co
il geometry and the presence of the mandrels. A comparison is made bet
ween this sensor and other large area fiber-optic sensor designs. (C)
1995 Acoustical Society of America.