Liquid-Filled Multicore Elastic Optical Waveguide for Multi-Point Bending Sensing

Abstract

Multi-point bending sensors are widely used across various fields. However, conventional multi-point sensors are limited by complex fabrication processes and low elasticity, which hinder their ability to measure large-angle bending effectively. In this study, we propose a liquid-filled, multicore elastic multi-point bending optical waveguide sensor. The sensor utilizes a helical fiber core array design, which enables the decoupling of multi-point bending measurements. This approach allows for the straightforward fabrication of double-core and triple-core helical optical waveguide sensors, facilitating proof-of-concept demonstrations and performance evaluations. Additionally, a loss slope factor is introduced for theoretical analysis. Experimental results indicate that the mean deviation between predicted and measured bending optical loss is less than 4.2%, confirming the potential applicability of this multi-point bending sensing approach in engineering applications.