Optical fiber Bragg grating mesh for multiphase flow sensing

Abstract

This work introduces a new approach to characterize the multiphase flow by means of the utilization of optical fiber Bragg gratings. Here, the force applied by the air/liquid flow on the fiber gratings is the underlying mechanism of these sensors. Flow images are constructed from the response of a 8x8 mesh of sensors, with a total of 16 different FBGs multiplexed in wavelength. The data from each sensor has been processed in order to obtain a 2D plot of the air/liquid phase as well as a 3D plot of the air bubbles inside the tube for each time interval.