Measurements of optical fiber strain in structural analogue modeling experiments

Optical fiber was buried in a sand box to simulate brittle compressional deformation and the distribution of optical fiber strain was measure by using the Brillouin optical time domain reflectometer(BOTDR)and compared with the model deformation.The results show that the optical fiber strain sensing technique can be used to measure the strain magnitude in the structural analogue modeling experiment.In the experiment,strain propagated forward from the pushing end,and the portion where the strain magnitude increased abruptly is the location where faults or folds are developed.Therefore we can use the technique to foresee the potential deformation part of the analogue model and lay a foundation for a further model strain study.