Rough terrain profiling using digital image correlation

Road profiling is an important aspect of vehicle dynamics simulations especially over rough terrains. The accurate measurement of rough terrains allows for more accurate multi body simulations. Three dimensional road profiles are usually performed by utilising a line scan sensor which measures several points lateral to the road. The sensors range from simple road following wheels to LiDAR sensors. The obtained line scans are longitudinally stitched together using the orientation and position of the sensor to obtain a full three dimensional road profile. The sensor’s position and orientation therefore needs to be accurately determined in order to combine the line scans to create an accurate representation of the terrain. The sensor’s position and orientation is normally measured using an expensive inertial measurement unit or Inertial Navigation System (INS) with high sensitivity, low noise and low drift. This paper proposes a road profiling technique which utilises stereography, based on two inexpensive digital cameras, to obtain three-dimensional measurements of the road. The system negates the use of an expensive INS system to determine orientation and position. The data sets also require subsampling which can be computationally expensive. A simple subsampling routine is presented which takes advantage of the structure of the data sets to significantly speed up the process.     

Photorefractive Fourier transform profilometer for the measurement of 3-D object shapes

In the present work dynamic moiré-like fringe patterns, produced by photorefraction with low spatial frequencies, applied for profile determination of small objects is proposed. Basically, a Fourier transform profilometry technique is developed for an automated profile determination. This means, as far as we know, a new experimental procedure that exploits the real time holographic two wave mixing in Bi₁₂TiO₂₀ crystal sample. Besides, the mainly advantages of this procedure are, comparatively to the classical fringe projection method using the Michelson interferometer, best fringe pattern contrast, less speckle noise, absence of noises produced by spurious reflections and, the most significant, a pure sinusoidal shape obtained by dynamic holographic moiré-like process using photorefraction.     

Effect of plasticizer and surface topography on the cleanability of plasticized PVC materials

A quantitative radiochemical measuring procedure was used to investigate soil adhesion on laboratory-made polyvinyl chloride (PVC) surfaces. The materials contained different plasticizers and microstructures. Both the quality and amount of plasticizers and the microstructure affected the cleanability of the PVC samples. The surface topography and structures were examined with a contact angle meter, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and a contact profilometer.     

Time delay and integration imaging for internal profile inspection

A time delay and integration imaging technique is presented and applied to internal surface contour measurement. Using the proposed optical arrangement, inspection of profiles of objects which are mounted on the internal surface of a hollow cylinder can be carried out. Tests conducted on objects with diameters ranging from 40 to 214 mm show good agreement with results obtained from conventional profilometer.