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Title: High resolution monitoring of strain fields in concrete during hydraulic fracturing processes

Journal Article · · Optics Express
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.24.003894· OSTI ID:1253358
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [1]
  1. Univ. of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA (United States)
  2. Corning Inc., New York, NY (United States)
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Here, we present a distributed fiber optic sensing scheme to image 3D strain fields inside concrete blocks during laboratory-scale hydraulic fracturing. Strain fields were measured by optical fibers embedded during casting of the concrete blocks. The axial strain profile along the optical fiber was interrogated by the in-fiber Rayleigh backscattering with 1-cm spatial resolution using optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR). The 3D strain fields inside the cubes under various driving pressures and pumping schedules were measured and used to characterize the location, shape, and growth rate of the hydraulic fractures. The fiber optic sensor detection method presented in this paper provides scientists and engineers an unique laboratory tool to understand the hydraulic fracturing processes via internal, 3D strain measurements with the potential to ascertain mechanisms related to crack growth and its associated damage of the surrounding material as well as poromechanically-coupled mechanisms driven by fluid diffusion from the crack into the permeable matrix of concrete specimens.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
FE0003859
OSTI ID:
1253358
Journal Information:
Optics Express, Vol. 24, Issue 4; ISSN 1094-4087
Publisher:
Optical Society of America (OSA)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 12 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (14)

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Cracking assessment in concrete structures by distributed optical fiber journal February 2015
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Spontaneous Raman scattering in optical fibers with modulated probe light for distributed temperature Raman remote sensing journal January 1999
Proposal of Brillouin optical correlation-domain reflectometry (BOCDR) journal January 2008
Submillimeter crack detection with brillouin-based fiber-optic sensors journal November 2009
Optical frequency domain reflectometry in single‐mode fiber journal November 1981
High-spatial-resolution distributed strain measurement in optical fiber with Rayleigh scatter journal January 1998
High resolution optical frequency domain reflectometry for characterization of components and assemblies journal January 2005

Cited By (1)

A Uniform Strain Transfer Scheme for Accurate Distributed Optical Fiber Strain Measurements in Civil Structures journal May 2018

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36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
fiber optics sensors
pressure measurement
scattering Rayleigh