Design and Development of a Novel Packaged Fibre Bragg Grating Based Acoustic Emission Monitoring System for Crack Detection in Engineering Applications

Structural health monitoring (SHM) is an important aspect in ensuring the safety and integrity of structures. Amongst the many existing methods of monitoring the health of the structures, fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensors are emerging as a promising method due to their small size, immunity to electromagnetic interference, high temperature stability, multiplexing capability and intrinsic safety. The FBG based acoustic emission (AE) detection technique is gaining attention and is a potential tool for measuring cracking activity in engineering structures. The objective of this thesis research is to develop novel methods based on FBG sensors to determine micro and nano cracks in engineering structures in the early phase of their development to prevent catastrophic failure of the structures.