The optical method of caustics

An overview of the basic principles of the optical method of caustics for the determination of stress intensity factors in crack problems is presented. The method is based on the assumption that the state of stress in the neighborhood of the crack tip is plane stress. However, the state of stress changes from plane strain very close to the tip to plane stress at a critical distance from the tip through an intermediate region where the stress field is three-dimensional. The caustic is the image of the so-called initial curve on the specimen and, therefore, depends on the state of stress along the initial curve. For the determination of stress intensity factors the values of the stress-optical constants are needed. These values depend strongly on the state of stress being plane stress, plane strain or three-dimensional. This complicated the experimental determination of stress intensity factors. For the characterization of the state of affairs near the crack tip a phenomenological triaxiality factor is introduced. A methodology based on the use of optically birefringent materials is developed for the determination of stress intensity factors without paying attention to the location of the initial curve in the plane stress, plane strain or three-dimensional region. Finally, a comparison of the methods of photoelasticity and caustics takes place, and the potentialities and limitations of both methods for the solution of crack problems are explored.