Questions about moving to polyamory

My question is basically what do you think about switching to polyamory, and what advice or thoughts do you have about it.

Here's my story. I and my wife were both raised in an extremely right wing religious group (orthodox judaism). What this means is that basically up until my marriage, neither me or my wife had much contact with the opposite sex. After we got married, we had immediate physical issues with painful sex. We went to local rabbis, and their advice was to use guilt and manipulation to coerce sex. I refused, but she still felt the guilt from her mentors and rabbis, and that further complicated the issue. Over the course of the next 2 years or so, the issue destroyed her libido to the point where we don't even kiss. Fast forward 6 more years (we are currently at 8 years).

We have since left the religion, and discovered that my wife can have a sexual interest in other guys, but she doesn't feel it for me. She is also considering that she is bi, but is unsure (when she thinks of the faces and bodies, she's pretty sure she's down, but she is grossed out by vaginas, including her own. She was grossed out by penises in the beginning just as much, but has gotten used to mine being around). In the same token, I am now a 32 year old virgin, and have an active sex drive that is pretty unrequited.

We discussed the idea of open relationships for several years now, but the logistics were always complicated. This year, we have to spend the year apart anyways (she needs to do rotations for medicine all over the world), and we were thinking this would be a good opportunity to try it without having to worry about how a partner will feel the first night that one of us is out (that was a big hesitancy for us. We see us being ok with it once we get used to it, but would feel guilty whoever goes first, knowing the other person is just waiting around thinking about it).

I love my wife, and want to spend the rest of my life with her. neither of us are looking for another partner that we consider equal to each other (I guess the word is primary), but we both feel that we can have more satisfying sex lives outside of the traditional bonds of marriage.

I do not want to go down this path if the likely outcome is that it will negatively impact my relationship with my wife, as I truly have grown to love her over the last 8 years, and love that more than my sex drive.

I have no experience with this, and we are both afraid of losing what we have, but we are also afraid of forgoing our sexual inclinations for the long run. Thoughts? I don't just need yes or no's. if you have things for me to consider, let me those too. Thanks.