Measurement and Testing Technology; Sensors

    
Monitoring of the rotor blades of wind turbines by fibre Bragg grating sensors; Partial image on the right: sensor signals after 10⁷  load cycles (enlarged picture)

Non-destructive testing with optical methods, interdisciplinary research in the fields of measurement and sensor technologies as well as reliability assessment, validation, testing, calibration of sensors, measurement and testing systems are the main competences. Our results aim at users in testing laboratories, at producers and industrial users of instruments and testing equipment, at national and international bodies setting standards, technical rules, and guidelines for the assessment of testing laboratories. Research and development activities are organized in five working groups which are sponsored by public organizations or private industry. Many private customers and public authorities make use of our expert and consulting services.

Key areas of work

• Non-destructive testing, deformation analysis and characterization of materials by optical radiation physics and optical measurement and testing methods
• Materials- and components-integrated fibre-optical and electrical sensor technology
• Structural health monitoring and experimental stress analysis by fibre-optical, optical and electrical sensor technologies
• Certification of optical reference materials by means of reference measuring devices
• Reliability assessment, validation, testing and calibration of sensors, measurement and testing systems, expecially of ultra high force testing machines and force measuring systems until 36 MN as an accreditated testing laboratory

Technical equipment

• Optical measuring systems  -  for deformation measurements at large components and structures (e.g. short-range photogrammetry) as well as at microstructured components (e.g. digital speckle interferometry, shearography, Moiré methods, stereo image correlation, white light interferometry)  -  for investigation of opto-physical properties of materials and surfaces  -  for determination of the total spectral radiance factor of fluorescent reflective materials (reference methode)
• Electrical and fibre-optic multi-channel measuring systems with time synchronized video recording or experimental stress analysis,  structural health monitoring and long time monitoring of components and structures of high risk
• Fibre-optic sensors for physical and selected chemical quantities
• Force reference standards for compression and tension forces up to 5 MN (uncertainty ± 5 ·10^-4); for compression forces up to 36 MN
• Split-Hopkinson bar for characterization of dynamical behaviour of sensors and materials
• Brillouin measurement facility for distributed strain measurement in fibre optics
• Raman measurement facility for distributed temperature measurement in fibre optics

Service

• Selected posters of Division 8.1
• Presentations and publications can be found in the database PUBLICA
• Events

top