Application of non-contact strain measurement based on CCD camera in PMMA material constitutive model

Abstract

The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observation (JUNO) will build a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) spherical vessel of a diameter of 35.4 meters. The constitutive model of PMMA is a key parameter for the design of PMMA structure. The bulk polymerization bonding area is often the weak point of the PMMA structure, so it is useful to understand the constitutive model of bonding areas for FEA. However, the traditional contact strain measurement methods, such as the strain extensometer and resistance strain gauge, will have an impact on the strain of PMMA, as the lossy measurement. Traditional measuring methods also can’t measure the small-sized bonding areas as 3 mm in most structures. The non-contact strain measurement method based on the CCD camera is studied. The tensile test result shows that the influence of environment on the strain value is less than 0.01%. The two strain measurement methods, the CCD camera and strain extensometer, are compared. The strain curves obtained by the two methods are highly consistent, and the maximum strain difference is 8.53 e-4. The fracture strain of the PMMA tensile specimen is 4.32% and slight plastic deformation has occurred. The Zhu-Wang-Tang (ZWT) nonlinear viscoelastic constitutive model of PMMA is obtained by fitting the stress-strain data. The tensile test result of PMMA specimen with bulk polymerization bonding area shows that the constitutive equations are different when the length ratio of the bonding area is different. By analyzing the relationship between the length ratio and the coefficients of constitutive equation, the constitutive equation of the bonding area is finally obtained. The results show that the coefficient of the constitutive equation of the bonding area is smaller than that of the mother material. The fracture strain of PMMA specimen with bonding area is 2.60%, lower than that of mother material, which makes the coefficient of the bonding area constitutive equation opposite to the sign of the mother material. The tensile strength of specimen with bonding area is about 85.68% of that of the mother material. The lower tensile strength makes the bonding area become one of the weak points of the structure.