Abstract
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°.
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