Use of Coefficients of Influence to Solve Some Inverse Problems in Plane Elasticity

Abstract

The principle of superposition of the order of isochromatic fringes and the concept of the coefficient of influence of the order of those fringes are introduced. The method is proposed to solve some inverse problems in elasticity and is applied to the determination of the forces that act at the points of contact between disks loaded in their plane. For this purpose Michell equations are used to determine the stresses at selected points of a disk and the coefficients of influence are computed numerically. The method can be generalized to other plane bodies loaded in the plane and if no theoretical solution is available the problem could be solved completely experimentally. The application presented in the paper is related to a study of discrete, or granular, media.