Monitoring Water Contamination in Jet Fuel Using Silica-Based Bragg Gratings

Abstract

This work quantifies water contamination in jet fuel (Jet A-1), using silica-based Bragg gratings. The optical sensor geometry exposes the evanescent optical field of a guided mode to enable refractometery. Quantitative analysis is made in addition to the observation of spectral features consistent with the emulsification of water droplets and Stokes' settling. The measurements are observed for cooling and heating cycles between ranges of 22 °C and -60 °C. The maximum spectral sensitivity for water contamination was 2.4 pm/ppm-v, with a resolution of <5 ppm-v.