Full-field Strain Measurement Technique Research Articles

Out-of-Plane Performance of Lightweight AAC Infills within RC Frames Using Noncontact Full-Field Strain Measurement Technique

Out-of-Plane Performance of Lightweight AAC Infills within RC Frames Using Noncontact Full-Field Strain Measurement Technique

Smooth mode decomposition: Theory and its applications in full-field output-only modal analysis

Full-field output-only modal analysis (OMA) became popular due to its superior spatiotemporal resolution over traditional sensing methods. It provides rich spatial dynamic information, which is essential for high-fidelity modal models, model updating, and non-intrusive health monitoring. However, the full-field sensory techniques implementation in OMA is hurdled by the excessive storage and computational requirements and the temporal aliasing effect. This paper develops a novel modal decomposition method, called smooth mode decomposition (SMD), to tackle these hurdles by exploiting the spatial dynamics and smoothness of the observed field measurements. SMD imposes the smoothness constraint on the identified mode shapes to resolve a set of orthogonal modes, called the smooth orthogonal modes (SOMs), that maximally represent the original field while also keeping the mode shape as smooth as possible. Since the SMD seeks spatially-smooth modal structures, the requirements on the temporal sampling can be relaxed. Hence, the SMD can be applied to nonuniformly and sub-Nyquist sampled full-field measurement data. Moreover, the SOMs converge to linear normal modes of uniformly distributed parameter systems, which provides a physically meaningful decomposition of the measurement data. Through a series of numerical examples, the SMD is compared to other popular covariance-based OMA methods. These examples demonstrate the merit of the proposed method when the vibration system has nonuniform system parameters and when the data is undersampled. Further, a full-field strain measurement technique, the three-dimensional digital image correlation, is utilized where spatiotemporal displacement measurements are obtained from a vibrating cantilever beam. The SMD is shown to provide accurate mode estimates with undersampled experimental data. Statistically, SMD shows its flexibility and quality in modal identification using temporally randomly captured images, which opens an avenue for alleviating storage and processing requirements for image-based full-field OMA.

Creep damage parameter extraction from ex-service 12% Cr steel using digital image correlation computed strain data

Several continuum damage mechanics (CDM) modelling approaches for predicting creep deformation of tempered ferritic steels have been developed in the literature, which have evolved from efforts to extend the operability of power plant components. Few of these models, however, focus on damage assessment of ex-service states of power plant steels through the extraction of damage parameters. Furthermore, few CDM approaches leverage the high density of creep curve data available through full-field strain measurement techniques such as digital image correlation (DIC). This work uses multiple creep curves obtained from DIC computed strain data at several stresses and temperatures from individual specimens of X20CrMoV12-1 (X20) piping steel. These curves serve as input data to a modified Oruganti continuum damage mechanics (CDM) model whereby microstructural-specific damage parameters can be extracted. Good agreement is noted between CDM-extracted parameters and microstructural, creep cavity density and hardness damage indicators. Damage parameters based on subgrain growth are particularly sensitive to the ex-service state of the X20 steel. The proposed CDM approach using DIC computed creep curves is shown to be a material efficient alternative to traditional damage assessment methods of ex-service material.

Inflated Cone Experiment for High-Throughput Characterization of Time-Dependent Polymer Membranes

Abstract Long-term behavior of polymer membranes in the nonlinear regime is probed by strain histories under various stress levels. Current characterization methods for polymer membranes impose a uniform stress field and hence require a series of long-duration tests to be conducted, which poses a significant experimental challenge. Here, we present the inflated cone method to generate a continuous spectrum of strain histories under various stresses in a single experiment. By imposing a known stress gradient and utilizing a full-field strain measurement technique, the inflated cone method provides a high-throughput approach for extracting time-dependent data of polymer membranes. The method is suitable for studying nonlinear time-dependent deformations under a biaxial stress state. The stress range and ratio can be easily modulated by cone geometry design. We demonstrate the utility of the method through creep-recovery tests carried out on a polyethylene thin film. The proposed experimental method is highly beneficial for the development of nonlinear viscoelastic and viscoplastic models.

Evaluation of heterogeneous mechanical tests for model calibration of sheet metals

The accuracy of strategies combining heterogeneous mechanical tests and full-field strain measurement techniques is dependent on many factors. Recently, many heterogeneous mechanical tests with different specimen shapes have been proposed using optimization techniques or empirical knowledge. However, a comparison of heterogeneous mechanical tests is a difficult task because studies use different materials and different representations of the strain and stress states. This work discusses metrics, calculated from the stress and strain tensors, to evaluate heterogeneous mechanical tests and proposes a metric to evaluate the tests’ sensitivity to anisotropy. To illustrate the approach, four heterogeneous mechanical tests are evaluated through the use of the suggested metrics. Results show that the use of various metrics provides a good basis to evaluate heterogeneous mechanical tests. Moreover, this work identifies a heterogeneous mechanical test achieving a high range of mechanical states and high values of equivalent plastic strain.

Fatigue damage analysis of GFRP composites using digital image correlation

Glass fibre reinforced polymer composites are frequently used in marine applications where the combined effects of cyclic loads and the seawater environment limit their fatigue life. This paper aims to demonstrate the degradation that seawater causes to the stiffness of the composites. Three-point bending fatigue properties of cross-ply woven glass fibre composites commonly used to manufacture tidal turbine blades are reported for both wet and dry conditions. Failure analysis based on the Digital Image Correlation method was performed to identify damaged zones on the test coupon surface and to follow failure progression during the fatigue tests. To characterize the damage in the composite, stiffness degradation has been monitored during the entire fatigue history. Scanning electron microscopy was used to identify multiple failure mechanisms on the specimen fracture surface. In addition, for further verification of microscopy results, X-Ray Micro-computed tomography, was used to characterize the internal damage such as delamination. From the full-field strain measurement technique and microscopic examination of failed samples, it was found that distributed localized strains are evidence of the number of resin cracks and de-bonded areas. SEM examination shows a degraded fibre/matrix interface region due to the action of seawater.

Analysis of Heterogeneous Tests for Sheet Metal Mechanical Behavior

Strategies combining heterogeneous mechanical tests and full-field strain measurement techniques are providing increasingly more valuable data, ensuring calibrated constitutive models for the accurate representation of the elastoplastic behavior of sheet metals. However, the accuracy of these strategies is still dependent on many factors, such as the shape of the specimen, the choice of an appropriate strain field measurement technique, or the selection of an identification strategy. Recently, many heterogeneous tests with different specimen shapes and boundary conditions have been proposed using optimization techniques or empirical knowledge. Examples of these specimens include shapes based on cubic splines, notches, holes, slits or even Greek letters. However, the qualitative and quantitative comparison of each heterogeneous test is a difficult task, as studies tend to use different materials and representations of the strain and stress tensors. As a result, the selection of a single heterogeneous test is still a dilemma and a subject under research. Thereby a set of indicators to evaluate and qualitatively rank each heterogeneous test is proposed, calculated through the strain and stress fields on the sheet plane of the specimen, within a virtual (numerical) approach, and investigate its application to steel and aluminum, to account for the material dependency.

Localized strain fields in honeycomb materials with convex and concaved cells

Characterizing the local deformations and strain fields in ligaments of periodic honeycomb materials is instrumental to applications such as cores of sandwich structure as well as honeycomb shaped tunable phononic crystals, compliant metamaterials, and 4D printed shape memory materials. Such applications employ honeycomb shaped materials whose nonlinear behavior is controlled by localized deformations in their ligaments. These local deformations can exhibit values and complex non-uniform states that far exceed the overall macroscopic deformations and strains sustained by the honeycomb material in value and complexity. Each of the aforementioned applications can be better designed with an improved understanding of the evolution of local strain fields in honeycombs' ligaments during their deformation. This work aims to characterize the local strains and deformations developing in honeycomb ligaments near honeycombs’ macroscopic onset of yielding. Finite element computations and the full field strain measurement technique digital image correlation (DIC) are used to measure and characterize the local deformations in the ligaments of concaved and convex honeycombs. Results show nonlinear strain gradients and significant localization in deformed ligaments. Moreover, complex state of stress comprising biaxial normal stresses and shear stresses exists near plastic zones.

Investigation of the effect of steel fibers on the shear crack-opening and crack-slip behavior of prestressed concrete beams using digital image correlation

The effect of steel fiber reinforcement on the shear behavior of prestressed concrete beam is studied using digital image correlation (DIC) technique. Steel fiber reinforced prestressed concrete (SFRPC) beams with fiber dosages of 0.5% and 1.0% by volume were cast and tested under shear. SFRPC beams were tested under a three-point bending configuration at a shear span (a) to depth (d) ratio of 2.4 to simulate shear dominant behavior. Other parameters such as compressive strength of concrete, prestressing reinforcement ratio and level of prestressing were kept constant. The kinematics of diagonal shear cracks including crack opening and crack slip were monitored using DIC based full-field strain measurement technique. The improvement in aggregate interlock and residual tensile strength at the crack tip due to the addition of steel fiber was reflected in the post-peak response of SFRPC beams. DIC analysis revealed that the full depth crack was formed in all the SFRPC beams before reaching their peak loads. The dilatant behavior was found to be consistent for all the test specimens (control and fiber reinforced concrete beams) up to peak load. The test results portray that the addition of steel fibers stiffens the post-peak response and reduces the crack opening and crack slip. Moreover, the failure mode changed from shear (brittle) to flexure-shear (less brittle) mode.

Determination of vibration amplitudes from binary phase patterns obtained by phase-shifting time-averaged speckle shearing interferometry.

Speckle shearing interferometry (shearography) is a full-field strain measurement technique that can be used in vibration analysis. In our case, we apply a method that combines the time-averaging and phase-shifting techniques. It produces binary phase patterns, where the phase changes are related to the zeroes of a Bessel J0 function, typical of time-averaging. However, the contrast and resolution are better compared to traditional time-averaging. In a previous paper, we have shown that this is particularly useful in vibration testing performed under industrial conditions, because fringe patterns are noisier than in quiet laboratory environments. This paper goes a step further in proposing a processing method for estimating the vibration amplitude, for helping non-experts to identify vibration modes. Since shearography measures the spatial derivative of displacement, spatial integration is required. Prior to that, different processes like denoising, binarization, automated nodal line detection, and amplitude assignment are applied. We analyze the performance of the method on synthetic and experimental data, in the function of noise level and fringes density. Results on data acquired in an industrial environment illustrate the good performances of the proposed method.

Distributed optical sensing in composite laminates

An optical fiber–based full-field strain measurement technique was used to investigate delamination growth in laminated composites. An experimental setup to load the test samples under idealized modes of delamination was used to investigate the ability to capture the shape and location of the delamination front. It is envisioned that the demonstrated approach has significant field applications in controlled laboratory settings where delaminations have to be located accurately. Furthermore, the ability of this measurement system to provide full-field strain measurements at any given pre-implanted location through the thickness overcomes the surface strain measurements obtained by digital image correlation. In order to demonstrate the technique, distributed fiber optic sensing is used to monitor the propagation of delaminations under pure mode I and II loading. Optical fibers were embedded one ply from the crack plane of both double cantilever beam and end notch flexure specimens. To establish a repeatable fabrication methodology, manufacturing techniques for embedding the optical fibers during the laminate layup process were established. Specimens with and without embedded fibers were tested to verify the fibers did not affect measured fracture toughness values. Crack lengths measured with the optical fibers compared well with true crack lengths, and measured strain distributions compared well with results from finite element analysis.

Experimental and numerical study of strength mismatch in cross-weld tensile testing

The mechanical properties of welded boiler tubes used in power plants can be significantly altered as a result of the fabrication history, such as pre-straining and heat treatment. The primary aim of the study was to determine the effect of fabrication history on local tensile properties across the welds. This was achieved by testing cross-weld specimens machined from welded thin-walled tubes (with unstrained or pre-strained base metal) before and after heat treatment. Digital image correlation, which is a full-field strain measurement technique, was implemented in order to obtain the local stress–strain curves and to extract the corresponding local tensile properties such as offset proof stress. Evidence of strain hardening due to the constraint and thermo-mechanical cycles during the welding process was found in the heat-affected zone and evidence of softening was observed in the pre-strained base metal. It was found that the heat treatment process removed the effect of pre-straining and welding on the proof stress and the strength along the specimen was nearly homogenized. However, mapping the local stress–strain curves in the as-welded cross-weld specimens with pre-strained base metal has revealed abnormal strain relaxation with increase in load in the weld-affected region. For a better understanding of this behaviour, a tensile test of a cross-weld specimen with a large strength mismatch between the weld metal and the base metal was simulated using the finite element method. It was found that the strength mismatch in the specimen causes the development of biaxial stresses in the heat-affected zone once local yielding begins, and the use of global axial stress to construct the local stress–strain curve results in an apparent ‘reduced-strain’ anomaly. Nevertheless, for the strength mismatch ratios studied, this anomalous behaviour did not seem to significantly affect the determination of the local proof stress in the specimens.

Fatigue crack monitoring in mild steel specimens using acoustic emission and digital image correlation

Acoustic emission (AE) is a passive form of non-destructive testing that relies on the detection of transient elastic waves released by localised sources within a material as it undergoes deformation. It is a highly sensitive technique for detecting processes such as plastic deformation and crack propagation. The aim of this investigation was to quantify AE in mild steel specimens and relate it to damage mechanisms. Digital image correlation (DIC), a full-field strain measurement technique, was used to characterise plastic deformation and crack growth. This paper investigates in detail the results of three 'dog-bone' style specimens undergoing uniaxial fatigue loading. AE was monitored in the tests, to allow both the detection and location of signals, and DIC images were captured periodically to provide a clear depiction of the surface strain field evolution. Located signals were compared with areas of high deformation and crack growth, as identified by the DIC system. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) fractography was used to investigate crack initiation and growth. The results demonstrate that the combination of AE and DIC can provide much useful information to help to distinguish the different AE signals originating from various possible failure mechanisms.

Deformation of Lithium-Ion Battery Anodes during SEI Formation: a Probe for the Structure of the SEI

Lithium-ion batteries are ubiquitous in small, portable electronics, where the lifetime of the battery now exceeds the expected lifetime of the device (ca. 2 years). Capacity fade over time, however, remains a significant challenge hindering the use of lithium-ion batteries in more demanding applications with long life-time requirements, such as in electric vehicles. One of the primary contributors to capacity fade is lithium trapping within the solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) on the anode, making understanding the SEI critical to the design of more reliable lithium-ion batteries. The size-scale (tens of nanometers) and reactivity of the SEI, though, make characterization of the SEI difficult. In this presentation, we present a new method to probe the structure of the SEI that is formed on lithium-ion battery anodes. A custom battery cell employs an unconstrained (i.e. not on a current collector) graphite composite electrode and allows optical access to the electrode during electrochemical cycling. Electrolyte is reduced on the electrode surface potentiostatically, and the resulting deformation of the electrode is measured using digital image correlation (DIC), an optical, full-field strain measurement technique. The amount of deformation of the electrode induced during SEI formation is related to the structure of the SEI layer. The strain measurements are then compared to galvanostatic cycling results, and the effects of different electrolyte salts, solvents, and additives on the SEI structure and battery capacity retention are evaluated. Figure 1

Full-field strain measurement and fracture analysis of rat femora in compression test

There is a growing interest in studying the fracture behavior of bones, primarily due to the increasing societal burden of osteoporotic fractures. In addition, bone is one of the most important biological materials whose fracture behavior is not yet well understood. This is partly due to the fact that bone is a complex hierarchical material, and exhibits heterogeneous, anisotropic, and viscoelastic mechanical behavior. Understanding the fracture behavior of such a complex material requires application of a full-field strain measurement technique. Digital image correlation (DIC) is a relatively new full-field strain measurement technique that can be used for measurement of 3D surface strains during mechanical testing of different types of bones. In this study, we use the DIC technique to measure the surface strains during compression testing of two groups of rat femora. The first group of femora was harvested from young animals (12 weeks), while the second group was harvested from more mature animals (26 weeks). The surface strains are measured both in the linear range and close to the fracture. Using the measured data, we assess two strain-based fracture prediction criteria, namely equivalent strain fracture criterion and fracture limit diagram, to determine whether they can consistently predict the onset of fracture. The maximum load is measured to be 296±22N (mean±SD) for young animals and 670±123N for mature animals. It is shown that fracture in the vast majority of cases occurs in the area of maximum tensile strain. The equivalent strain fracture criterion predicts that the fracture occurs when the equivalent strain reaches 1.04±0.02% (average±SD) for young animals and 1.39±0.24% for mature animals. The fracture limit diagram predicts that the fracture occurs once the sum of major and minor principal surface strains reaches 0.63±0.23% for young animals and −0.63±0.30% for mature animals. Based on these numbers and consistency of the criteria with the strain values recorded at the fracture locations, it is concluded that the equivalent strain fracture criterion tends to be more consistent among the tested specimens.

Dependence of elastic properties of argillaceous rocks on moisture content investigated with optical full-field strain measurement techniques

The mechanical behaviour of the argillaceous rock considered in France as a potential host rock for nuclear waste repository strongly depends on water content. In order to quantify the dependence of the mechanical properties on humidity, an experimental setup that combines hydromechanical loadings with optical observations and digital image correlation (DIC) has been developed. It allows investigation of the hydromechanical behaviour of a material from the sample scale (cm) down to micrometric scale (100μm). Using this system, the shrinkage and swelling properties of the argillaceous rock at various constant uniaxial stresses, and the linear mechanical behaviour of the material at different moisture levels, were experimentally studied. A quasi-linear relation between the relative humidity, ranging from 39% to 85%, and the deformation during dehydration and rehydration is found at both the sample scale (cm), and a mesoscopic scale of a few hundred micrometres. This relation depends on the applied stress with much less swelling at higher axial compressive stress. In addition, a linear decrease of the axial Young's modulus (normal to bedding plane) with an increase of the relative humidity is observed.

Improving the validation of finite element models with quantitative full-field strain comparisons

The techniques used to validate finite element (FE) models against experimental results have changed little during the last decades, even though the traditional approach of using single point measurements from strain gauges has major limitations: the strain distribution across the surface is not captured and the accurate determination of strain gauge positions on the model surface is difficult if the 3D surface topography of the bone surface is not measured. The full-field strain measurement technique of digital speckle pattern interferometry (DSPI) can overcome these problems, but the potential of this technique has not yet been fully exploited in validation studies. Here we explore new ways of quantifying and visualising the variation in strain magnitudes and orientations within and between repeated DSPI measurements as well as between the DSPI measurements and FEA results. We show that our approach provides a much more comprehensive and accurate validation than traditional methods. The measurement repeatability and the correspondence between measured and predicted strains vary to a great degree within and between measurement areas. The two models used in this study predict the measured strain directions and magnitudes surprisingly well considering that homogeneous and isotropic mechanical properties were assigned to the models. However, the full-field comparisons also reveal some discrepancies between measured and predicted strains that are most probably caused by inaccuracies in the models' geometries and the degree of simplification of the modelled material properties.

Active noise thin-plate spline smoothing method for full-f ield strain measurement by digital image correlation

Digital image correlation has become an important and effective non-contact optical full-field strain measurement technique. The strain field obtained directly by image correlation algorithm is full of noise. In this letter, we explore a novel way of actively adding small amount of Gaussian random noise to original displacement field, subsequently utilizing the well-known thin-plate spline smoothing (TPSS) technique to smooth the noised displacement field, and finally differentiating smoothed displacement field to get reliable strain field. The resultant method, named as active noise thin-plate spline smoothing (ANTPSS), outperforms the conventional TPSS and spline least-squares approximation. Moreover, ANTPSS successfully smooths the displacement filed obtained from three-point bending experiment of foam block and generates a reliable inhomogeneous strain field.

Failure Predictions for Carbon/Epoxy Tape Laminates with Wavy Plies

Accurate matrix-dominated constitutive properties can be a key to accurate failure models for polymer-matrix composites. This work shows the effect of nonlinear interlaminar shear stress-strain relations on delamination failure predictions for thick IM7/8552 carbon/epoxy tape laminates with wavy plies. Nonlinear finite element model (FEM) predictions and subsequent test correlations are presented. The interlaminar shear stress-strain relations are generated using short-beam shear tests and a digital image correlation full-field strain measurement technique. Test data for the wavy-ply coupons show that nonlinear shear stress-strain response is required for accurate failure prediction.

Validating a voxel-based finite element model of a human mandible using digital speckle pattern interferometry

Finite element analysis is a powerful tool for predicting the mechanical behaviour of complex biological structures like bones, but to be confident in the results of an analysis, the model should be validated against experimental data. In such validation experiments, the strains in the loaded bones are usually measured with strain gauges glued to the bone surface, but the use of strain gauges on bone can be difficult and provides only very limited data regarding surface strain distributions. This study applies the full-field strain measurement technique of digital speckle pattern interferometry to measure strains in a loaded human mandible and compares the results with the predictions of voxel-based finite element models of the same specimen. It is found that this novel strain measurement technique yields consistent, reliable measurements. Further, strains predicted by the finite element analysis correspond well with the experimental data. These results not only confirm the usefulness of this technique for future validation studies in the field of bone mechanics, but also show that the modelling approach used in this study is able to predict the experimental results very accurately.