An Integrated Approach to the Separation of Principal Surface Stresses Using Combined Thermo-Photo-Elasticity

A new instrument capable of the full-field separation of principal stresses on the surface of a component is presented. The instrument combines the techniques of thermoelastic stress analysis and reflection photoelasticity in a single optical head, permitting the simultaneous capture of both data from the same point of view. A single strain witness coating is employed for the acquisition of both the thermoelastic and photoelastic data, which is both birefringent under applied stress conditions and opaque at the infrared wavelengths to which the thermoelastic analysis system is sensitive. This enables the combined technique to be performed continuously from the same surface during loading. The performance of the new instrument is validated in the analysis of a classical laboratory specimen of known geometry. Separated stress data from the experiment is compared to simulated data, demonstrating that the accuracy of the stress separation technique is comparable to that of the individual thermoelastic and photoelastic techniques, and it is concluded that combined thermo-photo-elasticity is a powerful tool for the experimental separation of principal surface stresses.