| Abstract: | With the photoelastic stress gage birefringence readings are made with light that traverses a path parallel to the surface of the workpiece. Individual stresses are determined in the elastic range of deformation, rather than stress or strain differences. The theory of a circular and linear stress gage is developed, including the influence of Poisson's ratio, and stress gradients. Stresses in the surface of the workpiece are expressed in terms of measured birefringence. Instrumentation is extremely simple. High sensitivity is derived from the relatively long optical-path length through the transducer. Applications should include stress analysis, load analysis and transducer design. |
