Abstract

Fiber optic sensors are routinely touted as being perfect for embedding in composite materials to create smart materials. In spite of this, there are few published reports where fiber sensors were embedded in a commercially manufactured composite structure and interrogated during the normal operation of that structure. This report describes our efforts to embed arrays of fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors in composite propeller blades and record the dynamic strains experienced by those blades during water tunnel testing. The results show large changes in strain that depend on the location of the blade in an unsteady flow field and how those strains vary with distance along the midchord of the blade.

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