Structural Health Monitoring of Adhesively Bonded Pipe-to-Socket Joints by Integration of Polymer Optical Fibers and Their Load-Dependent Transmission Properties

Adhesively bonded pipe-to-socket joints are used in numerous industrial applications. One example is in the transport of media, e.g., in the gas industry or in structural joints for such sectors as construction, wind energy, and the vehicle industry. To monitor such load-transmitting bonded joints, this study investigates a method based on the integration of polymer optical fibers into the adhesive layer. Previous methods for monitoring the condition of pipes, such as acoustic or ultrasonic methods or the use of glass fiber optic-based sensors (FBG or OTDR), are very complex in methodology and require cost-intensive (opto-) electronic devices to generate and evaluate the sensor signals; they are therefore unsuitable for large-scale use. The method investigated in this paper is based on the measurement of integral optical transmission with a simple photodiode under increasing mechanical stress. When tried at coupon level (single-lap joint), the light coupling was varied to obtain a significant load-dependent sensor signal. Based on an angle-selective coupling of 30° to the fiber axis, a drop of 4% of the optically transmitted light power by a load of 8 N/mm² can be detected for the adhesively bonded pipe-to-socket joint with the structural adhesive Scotch Weld DP810 (2C acrylate).