CX-270412: Versatile Acoustic and Optical Sensing Platforms for Passive Structural System Monitoring – Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Virginia Tech, in collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, proposes to develop an acoustic based sensing system capable of monitoring phenomena such as strain, temperature, pressure and corrosion to better evaluate the aging and degradation of relevant structural components in nuclear facilities. As part of this work, a first-of-its-kind sensing system based on acoustic fiber Bragg gratings (AFBGs) will be developed. The distributed acoustic based sensing system will be radiation hardened via the use of acoustic fiber waveguides (AFWs) designed and constructed from radiation tolerant fused silica and sapphire fibers. The performance of the AFBGs and AFWs will be qualified via comprehensive theoretical modeling, experimental validation, and radiation exposure testing. A prototype AFBG based sensing system will be benchmarked against commercially available fiber optic sensing techniques in a representative target environment in a laboratory setting.