Optical Fibre Sensing for Offshore Renewable Energy

分布式光纤传感是一个具有重要工业意义的课题。利用不同形式的光纤后向散射来测量光纤中任何位置的局部环境，使得周界传感、电缆监测、油气管道/井监测和智能结构的发展成为可能。Fraunhofer CAP最近的项目是将分布式声学传感（DAS）与分布式温度传感（DTS）相结合，以创建多功能传感器系统。Fraunhofer CAP与EMEC合作，首次在船舶电力电缆中演示了这些技术，以检测动态脐带缆上的电力电缆振荡。在优化数据采集和分析方面还有很多工作要做。有必要找出DAS/DTS系统的局限性——我们能把安装的电力电缆变成分布式麦克风吗？使用DTS和DAS联合确定电缆埋深的准确度如何？我们还想考虑其他方法，如布里渊散射来测量应变和温度。这个工业研究项目将涉及建模和实验活动。积极参与合作项目，我们的目标是在安装的海上电缆上试用传感器系统。也将有机会探索其他类型的光纤传感器，如光纤布拉格光栅和长周期光栅。

Distributed optical fibre sensing is a topic of great industrial relevance. Exploiting different forms backscatter from optical fibre to measure the local environment at any position in the fibre has enabled the development of perimeter sensing, cable monitoring, oil and gas pipeline/ well monitoring and smart structures. Fraunhofer CAP have had recent projects on combining distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) with distributed temperature sensing (DTS) to create a multifunctional sensor system. Working with EMEC, Fraunhofer CAP have been able to demonstrate these techniques in marine power cables to detect power cable strumming on a live dynamic umbilical for the first time. There is much to be done in the optimisation of the data acquisition and analysis. There is a need to find the limits of the DAS/DTS systems - can we turn installed power cables into distributed microphones? How accurately can we determine cable burial depth using DTS combined with DAS? We also want to consider other methods such as Brillouin scattering to measure strain and temperature. Modelling and experimental activity would be involved in this industrial research project. Active involvement in collaborative projects will be expected and we will aim to trial sensor systems on installed offshore cabling. There will also be the opportunity to explore other types of fibre sensors such as fibre Bragg gratings and long period gratings.