Shape monitoring of composite cantilever beam by using fiber bragg grating sensors

In this study, an experiment was performed to monitor the two-dimensional shape of a cantilever composite structure using fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors. To monitor the shape of a composite structure, a deflection equation developed by NASA was applied and a composite beam attached to three FBG sensors was used. In the experiment, the shape of the composite beam was successfully estimated and an error was evaluated by comparing a real deflection. The error increased with real deflection; therefore, it was compensated by using the linear relationship between the error and the real deflection. After compensating the error, the measured deflection shows good agreement with the real deflection. Finally, the experiment shows that the FBG sensor and the deflection equation are suitable for monitoring the deflection curve of the beam structure with compensation of the error.