Characterization of fatigue damage in adhesively bonded lap joints through dynamic, full-spectral interrogation of fiber Bragg grating sensors: 1. Experiments.

In this study we measure the in situ response of a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor embedded in the adhesive layer of a single composite lap joint, subjected to harmonic excitation after fatigue loading. After a fully reversed cyclic fatigue loading is applied to the composite lap joint, the full-spectral response of the sensor is interrogated at 100 kHz during two loading conditions: with and without an added harmonic excitation. The full-spectral information avoided dynamic measurement errors often experienced using conventional peak wavelength and edge filtering techniques. The short-time Fourier transform (STFT) is computed for the extracted peak wavelength information to reveal time-dependent frequencies and amplitudes of the dynamic FBG sensor response. The dynamic response of the FBG sensor indicated a transition to strong nonlinear dynamic behavior as fatigue-induced damage progressed. The ability to measure the dynamic response of the lap joint through sensors embedded in the adhesive layer can provide in situ monitoring of the lap joint condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]