Trans-jacket Fibre Bragg Gratings for in-situ Health Monitoring of Defence Platforms in Harsh Environments

This thesis reports on the durability and reliability of trans-jacket Fibre Bragg Gratings (FBGs) under harsh loading conditions. FBG refers to an optical fibre sensor that measures deflections and temperatures. Trans-jacket FBGs are made by using advanced laser technology, which offers many advantages. However, the fatigue behaviour of trans-jacket FBGs under large cycles of the intense load was not comprehensively investigated. This thesis presents a series of experiments to investigate the fatigue behaviour of trans-jacket FBGs. The results help facilitate the transition of FBG sensors for use on high-value defence aerospace platforms.