Global Digital Image Correlation Research Articles

Estimating zero-strain states of very soft tissue under gravity loading using digital image correlation.

This paper presents several experimental techniques and concepts in the process of measuring mechanical properties of very soft tissue in an ex vivo tensile test. Gravitational body force on very soft tissue causes pre-compression and results in a non-uniform initial deformation. The global digital image correlation technique is used to measure the full-field deformation behavior of liver tissue in uniaxial tension testing. A maximum stretching band is observed in the incremental strain field when a region of tissue passes from compression and enters a state of tension. A new method for estimating the zero-strain state is proposed: the zero strain position is close to, but ahead of the position of the maximum stretching band, or in other words, the tangent of a nominal stress-stretch curve reaches minimum at lambda greater or similar 1. The approach, to identify zero strain by using maximum incremental strain, can be implemented in other types of image-based soft tissue analysis. The experimental results of 10 samples from seven porcine livers are presented and material parameters for the Ogden model fit are obtained. The finite element simulation based on the fitted model confirms the effect of gravity on the deformation of very soft tissue and validates our approach.

Determination of three-dimensional displacement using two-dimensional digital image correlation

A novel method that uses a two-dimensional (2D) digital image correlation (DIC) based on a single CCD camera to measure three-dimensional (3D) displacement and deformation is proposed. Rigid-body displacement in 3D space consists of both in-plane and out-of-plane components. The presence of an in-plane displacement component results in a shift of the center of the image displacement vector, while the slope of the image displacement vector is related to the out-of-plane displacement component. Global DIC is employed to determine the displaced position of each point on an object based on a linear distribution characteristic of the displacement vector. Speckle images with deformation introduced by 3D displacement are generated to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method. In the 3D rigid-body displacement, both in-plane and out-of-plane displacement components are separated by determining the intercept and slope of the image displacement vector. In the 3D deformation, a zero order displacement (pure rigid-body displacement) mode is assumed in a small subset of pixels. Simulated and experimental results demonstrate that both in-plane and out-of-plane displacements can be accurately retrieved using the proposed method.