New approaches to the full-field analysis of photoelastic stress patterns

This paper presents two new methods that provide a complete solution for the automatic fringe analysis of photoelastic data. Previous solutions have not yet provided a complete full-field analysis of both fringe sets (isochromatic and isoclinic) over a multiple number of fringes with an automatic measurement of absolute magnitude. This paper reviews previous approaches and discusses the options along which this work has been directed. Specifically, two new algorithms are presented. Firstly, the combination of phase maps at three wavelengths in order to remove the isochromatic ambiguity at every π turning point, that would occur in a single phase map. Additionally, this algorithm allows the automatic measurement of absolute magnitude, providing the neutral axis is within the field of view. Secondly, a new method is proposed that removes the areas of 2π ambiguity in an isoclinic phase map by cross-correlating regions of low modulation at two different wavelengths. The algorithms are demonstrated by applying them to the analysis of an engine connecting rod. The rod was manufactured as a full-scale three-dimensional model in araldite (Ciba-Geigy CT200), from which a central slice was taken after having been stress frozen.