J. Calero et al., THEORY AND EXPERIMENTS ON BIREFRINGENT OPTICAL FIBERS EMBEDDED IN CONCRETE STRUCTURES, Journal of lightwave technology, 12(6), 1994, pp. 1081-1091
Theoretical and experimental results on birefringent optical fibers em
bedded in concrete are presented and discussed. We study the effect of
strain on the propagation of light in birefringent fibers embedded in
a host material loaded under uniform compression. Both longitudinal a
nd transverse deformations are considered in the analysis since the fi
ber is embedded along a direction perpendicular to the strain load. Th
e effects of the strain on the birefringence of the fiber and the rota
tion of the optical axes are studied. The theoretical model is used to
determine the best polarimetric system configuration to detect strain
. Our experimental work was performed by embedding optical fibers in s
tandard concrete cylinders, attaching resistive electric strain gauges
on the surface, and testing the specimens under uniform compressive s
tress. Optical transmission data from the fiber and readings from the
electric strain gauges were simultaneously recorded.