Fiber Bragg grating-based strain gage rosette

Optical strain gages are based on so-called fiber Bragg gratings, and use light – rather than electrical signals – to measure strain. This makes them highly suitable for applications where it is inadvisable to use conventional, electrical strain gages. Suitable applications include, for example, potentially explosive atmospheres and areas where there is high voltage or powerful electromagnetic interference.

Optical strain gages are also ideal for materials testing of fiber composites because tests of up to 10 million load cycles with a strain of ±5.000 µm/m are now possible. Conventional, electrical strain gages are not able to meet such requirements.

Detecting measurement data with optical strain gages is very easy and HBM provides a comprehensive range of equipment and accessories to simplify data capture and subsequent analysis from a single source.

These include interrogators through to the data acquisition software catman®AP, which includes a special EasyOptics module for optical strain gages.