Linear least squares approach for evaluating crack tip fracture parameters using isochromatic and isoclinic data from digital photoelasticity

In this work, digital photoelasticity technique is used to estimate the crack tip fracture parameters for different crack configurations. Conventionally, only isochromatic data surrounding the crack tip is used for SIF estimation, but with the advent of digital photoelasticity, pixel-wise availability of both isoclinic and isochromatic data could be exploited for SIF estimation in a novel way. A linear least square approach is proposed to estimate the mixed-mode crack tip fracture parameters by solving the multi-parameter stress field equation. The stress intensity factor (SIF) is extracted from those estimated fracture parameters. The isochromatic and isoclinic data around the crack tip is estimated using the ten‐step phase shifting technique. To get the unwrapped data, the adaptive quality guided phase unwrapping algorithm (AQGPU) has been used. The mixed mode fracture parameters, especially SIF are estimated for specimen configurations like single edge notch (SEN), center crack and straight crack ahead of inclusion using the proposed algorithm. The experimental SIF values estimated using the proposed method are compared with analytical/finite element analysis (FEA) results, and are found to be in good agreement.     

Local zone wise elastic and plastic properties of electron beam welded Ti–6Al–4V alloy using digital image correlation technique: A comparative study between uniform stress and virtual fields method

Joining of materials using welding results in the formation of material zones with varying microstructure across the weld. Extraction of the mechanical properties of those individual heterogeneous zones are important in designing components and structures comprised of welds. In this study, the zone wise local extraction of the elastic and plastic properties of an electron beam welded Ti–6Al–4V titanium alloy has been carried out using both the uniform stress method (USM) and the virtual fields method (VFM) involving digital image correlation (DIC) technique. The surface strain field obtained using DIC technique from a transverse weld specimen tensile testing is used for extracting the zone wise strain evolution. Initially, using uniform stress assumption, zone wise full range stress–strain curves are extracted. In USM methodology, the elastic and plastic material models are fitted to the zone wise stress–strain curves and required parameters are extracted from it. But inherent disadvantage is lot of images need to be processed for the parameter extraction. Recently, VFM is gaining lot of popularity in characterization domain as it is robust, accurate and faster. VFM is based on the principle of virtual work where, the weak form of local equilibrium equations and kinematically admissible virtual displacement fields are utilized for parameter extraction. Hollomon׳s power law is used here as the hardening rule. Young׳s modulus, Poisson׳s ratio, yield stress, strength coefficient and strain hardening exponent are the parameters extracted zone wise using both USM and VFM. A Vicker׳s microhardness measurement is also conducted across the weld zone towards mapping the strength behavior. Fusion zone has reported higher yield strength, strength coefficient and Poisson׳s ratio. Young׳s modulus value is found decreasing from base metal towards the fusion zone. The trend observed in parameter variation across the weld zone obtained by both USM and VFM compares very well. Due to various advantages associated with VFM technique it is generally recommended for parameter extraction.     

Mechanical characterization of polytetrafluoroethylene polymer using full-field displacement method

The aim of this work is to estimate two important material properties of the polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) polymer by means of a single experimental test. The displacement fields around a crack tip are used for estimating the modulus of elasticity (or, Young's modulus) and Poisson's ratio. These parameters are evaluated by fitting linear fracture mechanic expression of displacement fields in the vicinity of the crack, for mode I, to the experimental data. Measurements of these displacements are carried out using digital image correlation (DIC) method. In this way, the experimental procedure is conducted by loading a double-edge-cracked plate specimen. In order to validate the results, two available experimental tests have been performed. The modulus of elasticity is determined by means of the tensile test, using a standard test machine. Moreover, the Poisson's ratio is obtained by measuring lateral compressive and longitudinal extensional strain using DIC method.     

Fracture mechanics of propagating 3-D fatigue cracks with parametric dislocations

Abstract

Propagation of 3-D fatigue cracks is analyzed using a discrete dislocation representation of the crack opening displacement. Three dimensional cracks are represented with Volterra dislocation loops in equilibrium with the applied external load. The stress intensity factor (SIF) is calculated using the Peach–Koehler (PK) force acting on the crack tip dislocation loop. Loading mode decomposition of the SIF is achieved by selection of Burgers vector components to correspond to each fracture mode in the PK force calculations. The interaction between 3-D cracks and free surfaces is taken into account through application of the superposition principle. A boundary integral solution of an elasticity problem in a finite domain is superposed onto the elastic field solution of the discrete dislocation method in an infinite medium. The numerical accuracy of the SIF is ascertained by comparison with known analytical solution of a 3-D crack problem in pure mode I, and for mixed-mode loading. Finally, fatigue crack growth simulations are performed with the Paris law, showing that 3-D cracks do not propagate in a self-similar shape, but they re-configure as a result of their interaction with external boundaries. A specific numerical example of fatigue crack growth is presented to demonstrate the utility of the developed method for studies of 3-D crack growth during fatigue.     

Measurement of Stress Intensity Factors of a Mixed-Mode Interface Crack by a Speckle Photography

The image-processing system based on a two-dimensional Fourier transform is presented for the analysis of Young’s fringes pattern created from a double-exposure speckle photograph. The fringe spacing and orientation are determined using only one Young’s fringes pattern without any other diffraction halo patterns. The stress-intensity factors of a mixed-mode interface crack were measured by speckle photography. A compact normal and shear specimen with an interface crack was employed. This specimen enables us to carry out the experiment under various kinds of mixed-mode loading. A steel and an epoxy resin were used as dissimilar materials. The displacement along the crack lines at the free surface was measured by speckle photography. The K₁ and K₁₁ values were determined by a least squares method using displacement data along the crack lines. Three-dimensional finite element analysis was carried out on the same specimen. An accuracy of stress intensity factors obtained by the speckle photography was discussed by comparison of results obtained by the finite element analysis.Presented at 1996 International Workshop on Interferometry (IWI ‘96), August 27–29, Saitama, Japan.     

Application of stereo vision to the study of mixed-mode crack-tip deformations

A stereo vision is applied to evaluate crack-tip parameters for fracture specimens subjected to a mixed-mode loading (tension and shear). By using a special loading device, the applied remote loading is oriented at an angle with respect to the axis of the crack. At each loading angle, the calibrated vision system was rotated so that the axis of the crack is parallel to the horizontal or vertical axis of the image frame. At a load close to the crack initiation, the displacement field around the crack-tip region of the fracture specimen was measured relative to a specimen coordinate system located at the crack tip of the fracture specimen. During the experiment, the fracture specimen was subjected to rigid body translation and rotation. Hence, the displacement fields are affected by the rigid body translation and rotation. Using the experimentally determined displacements and the analytically determined displacements with several higher order terms being included, the stress intensity factors and the amount of rigid body translation and rotation were calculated through a least-squares fit. The effect of the rigid body motion on the measured displacements was then eliminated using the computed rigid body translation and rotation. Experimental results indicate that a K_I and K_II dominant region is observed in the corrected displacement fields.     

Processing discontinuous displacement fields by a spatio-temporal derivative technique

In this paper, a digital image correlation (DIC) method coupling cross-correlation with spatio-temporal differential techniques was proposed for assessing discontinuous displacement fields. The accuracy and robustness of the algorithm was assessed on a set of numerical tests by processing computer generated speckled-pattern images. Fracture mechanical tests in mode I were considered, in which both in-plane and out-of-plane rigid-body movements were taken into account. The ability for recovering the analytical asymptotic displacement field in mode I was analysed, and stress intensity factor, crack opening displacement and crack tip location were used as quantitative parameters for validation purposes. Throughout these tests, the results obtained with the proposed method were systematically compared to the ones from Aramis DIC-2D commercial code. Globally, the results computed from both methods are in good agreement with reference values. However, due to the high spatial resolution (point-wise characteristic), a better matching of the displacements in the neighbour of discontinuities could be obtained by the proposed method.     

A digital image correlation method for fatigue test experiments

In this paper, a method based on the digital image correlation (DIC) technique is proposed to monitor the crack growth process during a cyclic fatigue test. Stroboscopic illumination is used to acquire DIC speckle pattern images while the test sample is dynamically loaded. The proposed DIC algorithm uses the fact that the load is periodic to increase the accuracy of the displacement field estimates (a sinusoidal fitting method is introduced for this purpose). Using the appropriate post-processing both the crack lengths and the stress intensity factors can be estimated in function of the number of fatigue cycles. A validation test case on an aluminum U-profile will be presented in the paper.     

数字图像相关中基于位移场局部最小二乘拟合的全场应变测量

为了从含噪声的位移场中计算得到可靠的应变场,提出一种基于位移场局部最小二乘拟合的全场应变求解方法。介绍了数字图像相关方法的原理,阐述了基于位移场局部最小二乘拟合的全场应变求解方法,并讨论了计算区域边界、孔洞及裂纹附近区域等情况下的应变计算。对均匀变形和中心带圆孔的薄铝板拉伸实验的计算结果表明,该方法能有效地从原始位移场数据中提取全场应变信息。在均匀变形情况下应选择大的应变计算窗口,计算结果更逼近真值;在非均匀变形情况下,如果位移场中包含较强的噪声,则应选择较大的应变计算窗口,而位移场精度很高时可选择更小的应变计算窗口。     

A fast digital image correlation method for deformation measurement

Fast and high-accuracy deformation analysis using digital image correlation (DIC) has been increasingly important and highly demanded in recent years. In literature, the DIC method using the Newton-Rapshon (NR) algorithm has been considered as a gold standard for accurate sub-pixel displacement tracking, as it is insensitive to the relative deformation and rotation of the target subset and thus provides highest sub-pixel registration accuracy and widest applicability. A significant drawback of conventional NR-algorithm-based DIC method, however, is its extremely huge computational expense. In this paper, a fast DIC method is proposed deformation measurement by effectively eliminating the repeating redundant calculations involved in the conventional NR-algorithm-based DIC method. Specifically, a reliability-guided displacement scanning strategy is employed to avoid time-consuming integer-pixel displacement searching for each calculation point, and a pre-computed global interpolation coefficient look-up table is utilized to entirely eliminate repetitive interpolation calculation at sub-pixel locations. With these two approaches, the proposed fast DIC method substantially increases the calculation efficiency of the traditional NR-algorithm-based DIC method. The performance of proposed fast DIC method is carefully tested on real experimental images using various calculation parameters. Results reveal that the computational speed of the present fast DIC is about 120-200 times faster than that of the traditional method, without any loss of its measurement accuracy     

Crack Tip Opening Angle as a Fracture Resistance Parameter to Describe Ductile Crack Extension and Arrest in Steel Pipes under Service Pressure

The angle between two element sides representing the crack tip is defined as the crack tip opening angle (CTOA). Its critical value is used as a criterion of fracture resistance for characterizing stable tearing in thin metallic materials. Various methods are used for determination of the CTOA. Optical microscopy is one of the most common methods as well as fitting of experimental load-displacement diagrams by the finite element method (DIC). Additionally, analytical analysis using the experimental load-displacement curve method (SSM) derived from the plastic hinge model of deflection in three-point bending of a ductile specimen is applied. This approach assumes a constant rotation centre distance. Values of CTOA for API 5L X65 pipe steel found by three methods—DIC, CNM, and SSM—are given. Values of CTOA given by these three methods are similar and close to 20°. A discussion on the different parameters used to characterize the fracture resistance of running cracks in a pipe under service pressure is presented. The energy of fracture at impact determined by Charpy or drop-weight tear test (DWTT) tests and the critical J energy parameter are considered as well as the yield locus after damage, cohesive zone energy, and CTOA is another approach. One notes that CTOA is assumed to be constant during stable crack extension and decreases linearly with crack length during the instable and primary phase. A numerical technique to describe a ductile running crack using the node release technique and using CTOA as the fracture resistance criterion is presented. This method is compared with three different two-curve methods (TCMs): the Battelle, high strength line pipe (HLP), and HLP-Sumitomo methods. The Batelle TCM, as the oldest method, based on Charpy energy, gives a strongly conservative prediction. Predictions by the CTOA method are close to those obtained by the HLP-Sumitomo one.     

边界元法分析二维线弹性裂纹扩展

用边界元法研究裂纹扩展过程.首先将尖端区域Williams渐近展开的特征分析法与边界积分方程结合,解出切口尖端附近应力奇异性区域的各应力场渐近展开项系数,获得平面切口/裂纹结构完整的位移和应力场.再基于考虑非奇异应力项贡献的最大周向应力脆性断裂准则,运用边界元法分析边缘含裂纹半圆形弯曲试样在荷载作用下的启裂方向,对裂纹扩展过程给出自动跟踪方法,通过算例证明边界元法模拟裂纹扩展过程的正确性和有效性.     

相干梯度敏感干涉测量技术及在静态断裂力学实验中的应用

介绍了相干梯度敏感(CGS)干涉测量技术的基本原理及其在静态Ⅰ型断裂实验中的应用,验证了该方法对裂纹尖端局部变形场和断裂特性进行定量研究的可行性。给出了代表静态Ⅰ型裂纹尖端奇异场光力学信息的CGS控制方程,模拟并分析了Ⅰ型裂纹尖端的CGS条纹模式,对静态Ⅰ型裂纹尖端变形场和断裂特性进行了三点弯曲的CGS试验,并提取了应力强度因子KⅠ。结果表明,试验结果与理论分析结果相吻合。     

Digital image correlation using iterative least squares and pointwise least squares for displacement field and strain field measurements

Digital image correlation (DIC) method using iterative least squares algorithm (ILS) for displacement field measurement and pointwise least squares algorithm (PLS) for strain field measurement is proposed in this paper. A more general and practical intensity change model is employed with consideration of the linear intensity change of the deformed image, followed by an iterative least squares algorithm for calculating displacement field with sub-pixel accuracy. The concept of correlation function is not used in the ILS method, even though we prove that the algorithm is actually equivalent to the optimization of the sum of squared difference correlation function using improved Newton–Raphson method. Besides, different from the conventional strain estimation approaches based on smoothing the displacement fields first and followed by differentiation of the smoothed displacement fields, a simple yet effective PLS algorithm is proposed for extracting strain fields from the computed displacement fields. The effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed techniques is verified through numerical simulation experiments. A practical application of the algorithms to residual plastic deformation field measurement of GH4169 alloy subjected to tensile fatigue is also presented.     

Strain field denoising for digital image correlation using a regularized cost-function

In digital image correlation (DIC), the widely used forward-additive Newton–Raphson (FA-NR) algorithm and the recently introduced equivalent but more efficient inverse-compositional Gauss–Newton (IC-GN) algorithm are capable of providing both displacements and displacement gradients (strains) for each calculation point. However, the obtained displacement gradients are seriously corrupted by various noises, and for this reason these directly computed strains are usually considered as useless information and therefore discarded. To extract strain distributions more accurately, much research efforts have been dedicated to how to smooth and differentiate the noisy displacement fields using appropriate numerical approaches. In this contribution, contrary to these existing strain estimation approaches, a novel and alternative strain estimation approach, based on denoising the noisy strain fields obtained by FA-NR or IC-GN algorithm using a regularized cost-function, is proposed. The effectiveness and practicality of the proposed strain estimation technique is carefully examined using both computer-simulated images with imposed homogeneous and inhomogeneous deformation, and experimentally obtained images. Experimental results reveal that the strains obtained by the proposed method are comparable to those determined by post-processing of the displacement fields using conventional pointwise least squares strain estimation approach.     

A comparison of DIC and grid measurements for processing spalling tests with the VFM and an 80-kpixel ultra-high speed camera

During the last decades, the spalling technique has been more and more used to characterize the tensile strength of geomaterials at high-strain-rates. In 2012, a new processing technique was proposed by Pierron and Forquin [1] to measure the stress level and apparent Young’s modulus in a concrete sample by means of an ultra-high speed camera, a grid bonded onto the sample and the Virtual Fields Method. However the possible benefit to use the DIC (Digital Image Correlation) technique instead of the grid method has not been investigated. In the present work, spalling experiments were performed on two aluminum alloy samples with HPV1 (Shimadzu) ultra-high speed camera providing 1?Mfps maximum recording frequency and about 80?kpixel spatial resolution. A grid with 1?mm pitch was bonded onto the first sample whereas a speckle pattern was covering the second sample for DIC measurements. Both methods were evaluated in terms of displacement and acceleration measurements by comparing the experimental data to laser interferometer measurements. In addition, the stress and strain levels in a given cross-section were compared to the experimental data provided by a strain gage glued on each sample. The measurements allow discussing the benefit of each (grid and DIC) technique to obtain the stress-strain relationship in the case of using an 80-kpixel ultra-high speed camera.     

Combined mode-I and mode-II fracture of ceramics with crack-face grain and/or whisker bridging

Crack-face grain and/or whisker bridging in ceramics was investigated under combined mode-I and mode-II loading. A novel technique for analysing the stress shielding at the crack tip caused by the bridging was proposed, in which the critical values of the local mode-I and mode-II stress intensity factors were numerically derived from an azimuthal angle at the onset of noncoplanar crack extension using the mixed-mode failure criteria. The wedging effect, which induced local mode-I crack opening at the tip, was identified under the combined-mode loading on polycrystalline alumina as well as an alumina matrix composite reinforced with silicon carbide whiskers. The effect was accelerated with the increase in the mode-II component of nominally applied loading and the decrease in the bridging zone length. It was also found that the stress shielding due to the whisker bridging was not only effective for mode-I but also for mode-II crack opening.     

Iterative two-step temporal phase-unwrapping applied to high sensitivity three-dimensional profilometry

Although temporal phase unwrapping method can be applied to solve some problems to measure an object with steep shapes, isolated parts or fringe undersampling in three-dimensional (3D) shape measurement, it needs to acquire and process a sequence of fringe pattern images which would take much time. Servin et al. proposed a 2-step temporal phase unwrapping algorithm, which only needs the 2 extreme phase-maps to achieve exactly the same results as standard temporal unwrapping method. But this method is only validated by computer simulation, shortage of experimental demonstration, its sensitivity coefficient G is limited, and it cannot be used when the G value is larger. We proposed an iterative two-step temporal phase-unwrapping algorithm which is an extension of Servin׳s method. First, add a fringe pattern with an intermediate sensitivity, project the fringe patterns of different sensitivity onto the tested object’s surface, and collect deformed fringe patterns with a CCD camera. Then we obtain the unwrapped phase with larger sensitivity coefficient G by cascading the sensitivity coefficients. And we derive the initial phase conditions of the 2-step temporal phase unwrapping algorithm. Finally, the experimental evaluation is conducted to prove the validity of the proposed method. The results are analyzed and compared with Servin׳s method. The experimental results show that the proposed method can achieve higher sensitivity and more accurate measurement, and it can overcome the main disadvantages encountered by Servin׳s method.     

Elliptically polarized white light photoviscoelastic technique and its application to viscoelastic fracture

The present paper demonstrates the successful application of the photoviscoelastic technique using elliptically polarized white light to the stress field evaluation of the crack growth in a viscoelastic strip. Using the proposed technique, which can determine both isochromatic and isoclinic parameters simultaneously from a single color image, the time-dependent stress state around a slowly propagating crack tip in a viscoelastic strip plate is successfully analyzed. Then, the time-dependent stress intensity factor extended for linearly viscoelastic materials is evaluated from the experimental results using a method based on the least squares. The results show that the proposed critical stress intensity factor for fast crack growth may be considered as a characteristic property of the material under monotonically increasing load.     

Two-frame phase-shifting interferometry for retrieval of smooth surface and its displacements

A new two-frame interferometric method with a blind phase shift of a reference wave is proposed for the reconstruction of smooth surface relief areas. In this method, a correlation approach based on the determination of correlation coefficient between intensity distributions of two interferograms is applied for the phase shift extraction. An algorithm for this method realization is developed and its performance is verified on test surfaces. An experimental setup containing a Twiman-Green interferometer was used in the reconstruction of smooth surfaces of metal specimens using the developed algorithm. Surface displacement phase fields were generated in case of a CT-notched specimen made of an aluminum alloy by the interactive procedure of element stitching of two surface reliefs and subtracting the surface relief after cyclic loading from the initial one. The received surface displacement fields allow us to determine the studied specimen fatigue process zone (FPZ) and FPZ size.