Abstract

India is poised to use nuclear energy in a big way. The safety of these systems depends upon monitoring various parameters in hazardous environment like high radiation, high temperature exceeding 1000°C, and gas/coolant leakages. In this chapter, we shall dwell on basics of distributed sensing, related instrumentation, device fabrication, and actual advanced field applications. Techniques like Raman scattering, resonance response of fiber gratings, and selective absorption are employed for design, development, and fabrication of distributed sensors and devices. Raman distributed sensors with advanced data processing techniques are finding increasing applications for fire detection, coolant leak detection, and safety of large structures. The systematic investigations related to portable systems developed at the author's lab have been described. Wavelength-encoded fiber gratings are the attractive candidate for high gamma radiation dose measurements in environment such as particle accelerators, fission reactors, food processing facilities, and ITER-like installations. The basics of fiber gratings, their operational designs, and devices based on fiber gratings have been described with advanced applications like high temperature sensing, strain measurements at cryogenic temperatures, and strain in nuclear environment. Finally, novel approaches are described for distributed hazardous gas monitoring for large areas such as airports, train stations, and reactor containment buildings.

Keywords: Raman optical fiber distributed temperature sensor, fiber Bragg grating sensor, long period grating sensor, dynamic self-calibration, strain sensors for nuclear environment
