Investigating fiber unwinding mechanisms in optical fiber pack: Numerical simulation and experimental verification

Optical fiber functions as the exclusive medium through which the optical fiber aerial vehicle transmits information. If the fiber is damaged, the aerial vehicle may fail to achieve a precise guidance. Therefore, conducting a dynamic analysis of fiber unwinding is crucial to ensuring the aerial vehicle system’s reliability. This paper presents a numerical simulation method to analyze whether the stress and bending moment of the optical fiber exceeds the threshold of the optical fiber when it is unwinding from the surface of the optical fiber pack, thereby causing the optical fiber to break. Initially, a three-dimensional finite element model of the optical fiber pack is developed, and the process of fiber unwinding from its surface to air is simulated. Subsequently, the influence of material parameters (elastic modulus and shear modulus) on fibers unwinding is investigated. A large elastic modulus can cause excessive bending of optical fibers, thereby affecting the transmission of optical fiber signals. In addition, when the shear modulus is 980 MPa, the bending moment of the optical fiber during the unwinding process is greater compared to 500 and 1500 MPa. Finally, an experimental platform for studying fiber unwinding has been designed and implemented. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed numerical simulation method can accurately predict the dynamics of fiber unwinding.