On the effects of through-thickness thermal conduction on stress measurement by thermoelastic techniques

Stress measurement by means of the thermoelastic technique has been growing in popularity since the mid-1980s. This paper looks in detail at the effects of thermal conduction on such measurements. It is shown that for accurate quantitative stress determination, on all but the simplest of geometries, thermal-conduction effects may have to be considered. Such effects can be experimentally observed and modifications which can be made to an experiment affected by thermal conduction are suggested.