Noise removal in three-fringe photoelasticity by median filtering

In three-fringe photoelasticity, the total fringe order is obtained by comparing the colour of the unknown photoelastic fringe pattern with a calibration specimen. Comparison is conventionally done by minimising the colour difference error using the least square method. This can give the total fringe order from a single-colour isochromatic field. This technique, however, leads to misidentification of fringe order in some regions. Some researches have proposed boundary identification technique to remove this error. Whilst this ensures continuity of fringe order data over the domain, this does not provide accurate results for every region. A simpler method has been proposed in this paper using median filtering which can be easily undertaken using any standard image processing software. The method is demonstrated with the help of a simple example of disc under diametral compression.     

Noise removal in three-fringe photoelasticity by adaptive colour difference estimation

Three-fringe photoelasticity (TFP) can give the total fringe order from a single-colour isochromatic fringe field. In TFP, the total fringe order is obtained by comparing the colour of the unknown photoelastic fringe pattern with a calibration specimen. Comparison is conventionally done by minimising the colour difference error. This leads to misidentification of fringe order in some regions. A new colour difference formula is proposed with an additional term, which ensures continuity of fringe order data over the domain. Fringe order data obtained by conventional TFP is used as base data and the new method is termed as refined TFP. To enable applicability of the technique to arbitrary geometries, a new boundary identification technique is developed. The new method is demonstrated with some example problems.     

Novel calibration and color adaptation schemes in three-fringe RGB photoelasticity

Isochromatic demodulation in digital photoelasticity using RGB calibration is a two step process. The first step involves the construction of a look-up table (LUT) from a calibration experiment. In the second step, isochromatic data is demodulated by matching the colors of an analysis image with the colors existing in the LUT. As actual test and calibration experiment tint conditions vary due to different sources, color adaptation techniques for modifying an existing primary LUT are employed. However, the primary LUT is still generated from bending experiments. In this paper, RGB demodulation based on a theoretically constructed LUT has been attempted to exploit the advantages of color adaptation schemes. Thereby, the experimental mode of LUT generation and some uncertainties therein can be minimized. Additionally, a new color adaptation algorithm is proposed using quadratic Lagrangian interpolation polynomials, which is numerically better than the two-point linear interpolations available in the literature. The new calibration and color adaptation schemes are validated and applied to demodulate fringe orders in live models and stress frozen slices.     

Scanning schemes in white light photoelasticity – Part II: Novel fringe resolution guided scanning scheme

Varied spatial resolution of isochromatic fringes over the domain influences the accuracy of fringe order estimation using TFP/RGB photoelasticity. This has been brought out in the first part of the work. The existing scanning schemes do not take this into account, which leads to the propagation of noise from the low spatial resolution zones. In this paper, a method is proposed for creating a whole field map which represents the spatial resolution of the isochromatic fringe pattern. A novel scanning scheme is then proposed whose progression is guided by the spatial resolution of the fringes in the isochromatic image. The efficacy of the scanning scheme is demonstrated using three problems – an inclined crack under bi-axial loading, a thick ring subjected to internal pressure and a stress frozen specimen of an aerospace component. The proposed scheme has use in a range of applications. The scanning scheme is effective even if the model has random zones of noise which is demonstrated using a plate subjected to concentrated load. This aspect is well utilised to extract fringe data from thin slices cut from a stereo-lithographic model that has characteristic random noise due to layered manufacturing.     

Review of RGB photoelasticity

Automatic methods of photoelasticity have had a significant progress with the development of automatic acquisition and image processing methods. This article concerns RGB photoelasticity, which allows the determination of the photoelastic retardation using, usually, a single acquisition of the isochromatic fringes in white light by a colour camera. In particular, the article presents an overview of the main characteristics of RGB photoelasticity that is influence of the quarter-wave plate error, number of acquisitions, type of light source, determination of low and high fringe orders, methods for searching the retardation, scanning procedures, calibration on a material different from that under test, combined use of the RGB and phase shifting methods. A short section on the applications of RGB photoelasticity completes the article.     

Phase shifting photoelasticity in white light

The availability of image acquisition systems has led to the development of digital photoelasticity both in monochromatic and white light. In particular white light has been used mainly with the following methods: Spectral Content Analysis, RGB photoelasticity and phase shifting photoelasticity. Phase shifting photoelasticity in the colour domain has been used effectively for the determination of the isoclinic parameter in order to reduce the influence of the isochromatic fringes. The method has been also proposed for the determination of the isochromatic fringe order. This paper concerns the general characteristics of phase shifting photoelasticity in the colour domain. Special attention is drawn towards the influence of spectral content of the light source, the spectral response of the colour camera filters, the dispersion of the birefringence and the error of quarter wave plates.     

Application of the FFT method for the quantitative extraction of information from high-resolution interferometric and photoelastic data

This paper describes the application of a digital Fourier transform to phase encoded intensity distribution. Attention is drawn to a method of extracting quantitative information automatically from the interferometric fringe data. To achieve this, a set of carrier fringes has been added to interferometric fringe data. This has made it possible to form a phase map using a FFT (fast Fourier transform) algorithm. A minimum spanning tree (MST) phase unwrapping strategy has been used to create a contiguous map of the whole fringe field. Finally, the measurement parameter related to the fringe field has been calculated from one single image. Experimental results are given for the burner flames, a compressible flow and photoelastic fringe data. It has been shown that the methods developed have the potential for use as reflection analysis systems suitable for applications to non-stationary objects and complicated fringe fields.     

Using coloured structured light in 3-D surface measurement

The widest used algorithms for 3-D surface measurement using structured fringe patterns are phase stepping and Fourier fringe analysis. The techniques currently employed use mostly monochrome fringe patterns as a tool for phase information measurement and further surface reconstruction. However, the information contained in colour images is much more than that of monochrome, in this case, a new colour technique can be employed to analyse a measured scene with colour fringe patterns.This paper presents a new method for improving the measurement of 3-D shapes by using colour information of the measured scene as an additional parameter. The new method is based on primary colours (red, green and blue) to increase the number of the illuminated fringe patterns, which will remove or significantly reduce the common drawbacks of existing methods. The proposed technique produces a number of coloured structured lighting patterns, which are projected from different angles onto the scene. These patterns are analysed using masking algorithms, a specially adapted multi-colour version of the standard Fourier fringe analysis method and calibration routines. In this way a number of the standard difficulties are overcome.     

Robust geometric,phase and colour structured light projection system calibration

This paper introduces a new comprehensive procedure for both geometric and colour calibration of structured light system. In order to perform both geometric and colour calibration procedure, a new calibration artifact is proposed. The intrinsic and extrinsic parameters of projector and camera are estimated by using an extended pinhole camera model with a tangential and radial distortion. Camera image plane coordinates are obtained by extracting features from images of a calibration artifact. Projector image plane coordinates are calculated on the basis of continuous phase maps obtained from a fringe pattern phase reconstruction procedure. In order to stereo calibrate camera-projector system, pairs of corresponding image plane points are calculated with subpixel accuracy. In addition, one of three pattern views is used in colour calibration. RGB values of a colour field pattern detected by camera and their reference values are compared. This comparison leads to derivation of a colour transformation matrix. The performance of the proposed method is tested by measuring plane, sphere and distance reference. Also 360 degrees complex object 3D model from a set of measurements is obtained. Residual mean errors for all tests performed are calculated.     

Photoelastic stress pattern analysis using Fourier transform with carrier fringes: influence of quarter-wave plate error

The Fourier transform method, widely applied in photomechanics for the automated analysis of interferometric fringe patterns, has been recently extended to the photoelastic isochromatic fringe patterns analysis. Unfortunately, its use in photoelasticity involves some limitations that have not been completely highlighted in literature. This work deals with the influence of the quarter-wave plate tolerance on the evaluation of the retardation. Both theoretical and experimental analyses have shown that the quarter-wave plate error does not affect the retardation only if the principal stress directions in the model and in the carrier are aligned. In general, instead, the tolerance of the quarter-wave plates leads to an amplification of the retardation error due to the influence of the isoclinics with a subsequent restriction of the field in which the method can be applied. For instance, using common quarter-wave plates and tolerating a maximum retardation error of about 0.03 fringe order, than the Fourier transform method cannot be applied as a full-field technique but only in the model zones in which the misalignment between the principal stresses in the model and in the carrier is less than 15°.     

Least-squares calibration method for fringe projection profilometry with some practical considerations

Fringe projection profilometry (FPP) is a widely used three-dimensional profile measurement technique. One vital step in this technique is calibration, which determines the system accuracy. The least-squares method, because of its flexibility and simplicity, is commonly used in system calibration for FPP. However, calibration results are affected by the nonlinear gamma of the projector and projection fringe cycle broadening. This paper proposes a new look-up table (LUT) generation method by analyzing the differences between the real and ideal unwrapped phases. The aforementioned problems could then be solved after the phase error is compensated by the LUT. Finally, the validity of the proposed method is demonstrated through experiments, and the accuracy reaches 0.02 mm.     

Automatic evaluation of photoelastic fringe constant by the nonlinear least-squares method

A nonlinear least-squares method was applied to determine the photoelastic fringe constant from isochromatic phase field obtained by digital phase-shifting photoelasticity. To perform automatic evaluation, not only the photoelastic fringe constant but the center coordinates of a disk under diametral compression are also determined simultaneously using the nonlinear least-squares method. A set of over-determined nonlinear equations is obtained to estimate the unknown parameters by an iterative procedure based on Newton–Raphson method. Simulation and experimental results show that the parameters are evaluated accurately from the isochromatic phase field obtained from the phase-shifting photoelasticity. The photoelastic fringe constant and the disk center coordinates can be evaluated easily, simply and automatically by the technique.     

A study on carrier-removal techniques in fringe projection profilometry

This paper describes a comparison of several carrier-removal techniques normally used in fringe projection for surface shape measurement. The performance of various algorithms, including the necessity for manual intervention, the complexity in data recording, and the side effect on measurement accuracy, is evaluated. The applicability of nonlinear carrier removal and the restrictions on the direction of carrier fringe in various algorithms are also investigated in this paper. It is also shown that an advanced algorithm is able to achieve carrier removal with minimal manual intervention and significantly simplify the calibration process of a fringe projection system.     

Data acquisition techniques in digital photoelasticity: a review

Advancements in the last two decades for data acquisition in digital photoelasticity have been brought out in this paper. Photoelasticity is an engineering tool and as an end user, one would like to know which of the techniques to be selected for a particular application. With this in view, the various techniques are reviewed and a brief summary of the steps involved in each of the techniques are also given. A need to capture the images in colour is indicated for full automation of data acquisition. Future directions of research in digital photoelasticity is also highlighted.     

调制度测量轮廓术的系统标定

调制度测量轮廓术是一种采用垂直测量方式的三维面形测量方法,可以测量表面有剧烈变化区域的复杂物体。提出了一种基于调制度测量轮廓术测量系统的标定方法,其纵向标定是利用几个相互平行的标定平面建立与CCD像面各像素点对应的测量高度与实际高度之间的映射关系,并利用映射关系确定每一像素点对应的映射关系系数,然后建立映射关系系数查找表,存人测量系统中,完成纵向标定。首先分析了测量系统的误差来源,然后给出了标定方法和标定过程,最后给出了实测结果。结果表明,利用提出的系统标定方法可以有效消除调制度测量轮廓术测量系统误差,显著地提高了系统测量精度。     

Whole field evaluation of stress components in digital photoelasticity—Issues, implementation and application

In photoelasticity, the method of obtaining the individual values of principal stresses/normal stresses separately is referred to as stress separation. Shear difference is one of the widely used techniques for stress separation in photoelasticity and one needs the value of fringe order and the isoclinic angle free of noise at every pixel over the domain. For accurate parameter determination, a ten-step phase shifting approach which uses a plane polariscope for isoclinic determination and a circular polariscope for isochromatic determination is proposed. A new quality guided approach for isoclinic unwrapping is developed. Isochromatic phasemap free of ambiguous zones is obtained by a new methodology and is unwrapped by a quality-guided approach. Whole field evaluation of stress components and its representation is then presented. The models used in this study are intentionally subjected to moderate loads showing a high level of isochromatic–isoclinic interaction. In view of this, the isoclinic data has several kinks which is found to cause streak formation in the whole field representation of separated stress components. An outlier smoothing algorithm is proposed for getting a smooth variation of the digital photoelastic parameters over the domain. Use of such smoothed data for stress separation has removed the streaks and has also greatly improved the accuracy of the separated stress components.     

Improved 3D displacement measurements method and calibration of a combined fringe projection and 2D-DIC system

An improved measurement method and an automatic calibration procedure are proposed for a combined 2D Digital Image Correlation and Fringe Projection system that allows measuring in- and out-of-plane displacement maps with only one image at each deformation stage of a specimen. The proposed method increases the accuracy and range of the out-of-plane displacements by taking into account the divergences of both the projected fringes (uncollimated) and the camera (with non-zero FOV). The calibration is performed automatically by acquiring a sequence of images of a reference plane by displacing perpendicular to it the camera and fringe projector with a motorized translation stage. The acquired images are then used to obtain a fringe function for each pixel and the necessary parameters required for the correction of the in-plane displacements. Furthermore, a closed form expression is obtained that relates the out-of-plane displacements with the shifted phase at each pixel for a given experimental set-up. This expression is in good agreement with the fringe function obtained by fitting a simple 2nd order polynomial to the experimental obtained calibration data. Finally, the polynomial approach is proposed as a fringe function because it avoids the errors in the determination of the required parameters of the theoretical expression as well as some small misalignment or aberration effects.     

地基气辉成像干涉仪探测高层大气风场的定标研究

我们研制的地基气辉成像干涉仪(ground based airglow imaging interferometer,GBAⅡ)样机成功地探测了地球上空90—100 km的大气风速和温度.为了提高GBAⅡ的探测精度,本文研究GBAⅡ所拍摄的成像干涉条纹的定标:对干涉条纹中心位置定标、电荷耦合器(CCD)暗噪声和平场定标、整个光学系统衰减系数定标、步进步长定标、光程差随入射角变化量定标、仪器响应度定标和零风速相位定标等理论和实验进行了研究.利用最小二乘法对GBAⅡ拍摄的30幅成像干涉图的圆心坐标定标在CCD(123.3,121.1)像素位置;利用632.8 nm激光获得GBAⅡ所用CCD的平场定标系数矩阵,分别得到平场前后的干涉图并检测出CCD的噪声和坏点;利用GBAⅡ获得图像的边缘亮环相位与中心亮斑相位的差值对入射角10.24°时,光程差相对0°入射角时变化了0.356个条纹;拍摄200幅成像干涉图的实验离散点进行正弦拟合后的均方根标准偏差达90.34%,该完整干涉条纹的步进间隔为4.06 nm,对应步进相位为0.0094π;针对正演公式中GBAⅡ的系统衰减系数对所拍摄的原始干涉图利用IDL编程得到光学系统衰减系数的多项式,拟合的均方根标准偏差达99.98%;采用632.8 nm激光作光源,简化了GBAⅡ的响应度表达式,通过实验得其响应度为4.97×10~(-3)counts·(Rayleigh·s)~(-1);针对GBAⅡ室外观测,给出零风速定标的矩阵表达式后,对532.0 nm和632.8 nm激光的对应零风速相位分别为-9.2442°和-68.6353°.本文提供了多种定标方法,并逐一通过实验进行验证,为国内被动遥感探测高层大气风场提供了强有力的实验支持.