A novel fiber Bragg grating-based smart clamp with macro strain measurement: design, modeling, and application to incipient looseness detection

Ensuring the safety and optimal performance of hydraulic pipelines, particularly in aircraft, is of paramount importance. The challenge of detecting incipient looseness in fasteners within a time-varying temperature environment has garnered widespread recognition, making it a focal point in the field of structural health monitoring. In this study, we propose an innovative solution—a smart clamp based on Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG). This clamp aims to detect incipient looseness in hydraulic pipe systems by measuring its macro strain. Notable advantages include its ability to avoid the chirping of the FBG, the ease of building a distributed sensing network, especially for the blind-hole connected structure, and its applicability for monitoring clamps connected with small-diameter bolt. The analytical model of the clamp under the preload of the connected bolt, along with the unique condition for the measurement, is provided. Demonstrating a force resolution [Formula: see text], the clamp exhibits a strong capability in detecting incipient looseness. Furthermore, environmental temperature interference is mitigated by configuring two FBGs. Conducting application experiments in a hydraulic system, the results indicate that the proposed clamp can effectively detect the loosening and tightening processes in real time, even under the time-varying temperature environment.