A novel method of damage model recognition for intelligent composite structures based on double-fiber sensors network

Fiber optic smart composite structures technologies have become one of the key technologies in material science. The smart composite structure is used to estimate damage states. But it is difficult to detect the internal damage with little or no indication on the surface of the composite structures. In this paper, we proposed a method for identification of different damage model of composite structures using a double-fiber sensor network. The glass fiber reinforced epoxy resin E-51 honeycomb structure composite which is commonly used in aircraft was chosen to be the base material. The smart structures employed 8-way fibers sensors. Each four-fiber as a layer were orthogonally embedded into different depth of structures. The sensors were connected to a data acquisition system based on ARM. The transmission properties of double-fiber sensors were investigated and then validated by experiments in laboratory. Here three different energy impacts damage experiments were conducted on the double-fiber smart composite structures. The results show the method based on double-fiber sensors network used for the identification of the different damage models is feasible. It has a very important reference value for the future health monitoring technology of the composite structures. (C) 2015 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.