WCA May/July 2020

The economic impact of our project has a lot of potential. If used properly our strain gauge would be able to help improve structural integrity through monitoring and regular maintenance. This means that whether the structure is destroyed and replaced or simply reinforced, the bill associated with it will be much less than it would be if it failed with no warning. The cost of potential medical bills, clean up, and any other damage to nearby structures will be far greater. Also, the cost of making a fibre optic strain gauge utilising pseudorandom code is much cheaper than its counterpart of fibre Bragg grating. The economic impact of our project, we believe, is a positive one that will save money, not spend it. 3 Conclusions The IWCS_Fiber project is the creation of a fibre optic strain gauge that utilises pseudorandom code interrogation. This strain gauge must be implemented into a design that can be used in a classroom setting for future mechanical engineering students to use in their instrumentation lab. Working with our faculty mentors we decided it was best to create a pressure vessel that will undergo strain so that the fibre optic strain gauge can be attached to it to measure strain. Real-time strain results will be displayed for the students to see and take home to measure for further data analysis. Right now, at the end of senior design one, all materials are in and ready for build and the code is ready to be tested for correlation. 4 Acknowledgements We appreciate Jim Hartman and the IWCS for being our sponsors and for giving us the platform to present our research and design regarding fibre optic strain gauges. Also, a special thanks to our mentors Dr Jerry Dhalberg, Dr Garry Hodgins and Mr Franklin Green for guiding us through this endeavour. Courtesy of IWCS Cable & Connectivity Symposium, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, September/October 2019.

University of North Carolina at Charlotte Engineering Senior Design Charlotte, North Carolina USA Tel : +1 252 414 8420 Email : whodges3@uncc.edu

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Wire & Cable ASIA – May/July 2020