A NOVEL FIBER OPTIC SENSOR IS PROPOSED FOR THE MEASUREMENT OF BLAST WAVE PRESSURE HISTORY IN AN EXPLOSIVE ENVIRONMENT.

A NOVEL FIBER OPTIC SENSOR IS PROPOSED FOR THE MEASUREMENT OF BLAST WAVE PRESSURE HISTORY IN AN EXPLOSIVE ENVIRONMENT. THE CAPABILITY TO CONSISTENTLY MEASURE BLAST-RELATED SURFACE PRESSURES ON THE ORDER OF 20-100 KBAR WITH 400KHZ RESPONSE UNDER HIGH G LOADING DOES NOT EXIST IN PRESENT SENSORS. FIBER OPTIC SENSOR TECHNOLOGY WHICH HAS EVOLVED IN THE LAST 5 YEARS, OFFERS AN APPROACH BASED ON MICROBEND-INDUCED MODAL COUPLING TO SENSITIVELY MEASURE HIGH FREQUENCY STRAINS. AN OPTICAL FIBER IMBEDDED IN A COMPACT HARDENED CASING CAN BE CONFIGURED TO PERFORM DIRECT MEASUREMENTS OF BLAST WAVE PRESSURE HISTORY. FIBER OPTIC SENSORS ARE ALSO HIGHLY RESISTANT TO EMI/RFI AND RADIATION. THE SENSOR TO BE DEVELOPED IS ANTICIPATED TO BE LOW-COST AND SURVIVABLE. IN PHASE I, DYNAMICS TECHNOLOGY WILL DEVELOP ONE OR MORE CONCEPTUAL SENSOR DESIGNS THROUGH ANALYSIS AND LABORATORY TESTING. UPON VALIDATION OF THE SENSOR CONCEPT, A PRELIMINARY PROTOTYPE DESIGN WILL ALSO BE PREPARED. PROTOTYPE LABORATORY TESTING. UPON VALIDATION OF THE SENSOR CONCEPT, A PRELIMINARY PROTOTYPE DESIGN WILL ALSO BE PREPARED. PROTOTYPE LABORATORY AND FIELD TESTING WILL BE PERFORMED IN PHASE II.