EXPERIMENTAL STRESS ANALYSIS

Elective course ME817

Chapter 1: Photoelasticity
[2 Dimensional Stress Analysis]

Presentation prepared by
Prof. G. C. Mohan Kumar
Department of Mechanical Engineering
National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal
Mangaluru 575025, DK
 ME 817 Experimental Stress Analysis (3-0-0)3
• Photoelasticity: Behavior of Light, Polarized Light. Plane Polarizer and Wave Plates, plane and circular
Polariscopic, Theory of Photoelasticity: Stressed Model in Plane Polariscope and Circular Polariscope. Analysis
Techniques: Isochromatic and Isoclinic Fringes, Compensation Techniques, stress separation Techniques.
• Three Dimensional Photoelasticity: Stress freezing technique, Interpretation of Fringes, Effective Stresses. Shear
Difference Method. Case studies
• Electrical Resistance Strain Gauges: Strain sensitivity, Gauge Construction, Temperature Compensation, Gauge
Selection, Correction for transverse Strain, Semiconductor Strain Gauges. Rosette Analysis of three element,
rectangular Rosette, Delta Rosettes,
• Brittle Coating Method: Coating methods and stress analysis, Failure Theories, Crack Patterns produced by Direct
Loading, Pattern Produced by Releasing the Load, Double Crack Pattern, Crack Detection, Bi -axial stress Field
• Holography: Plane and Spherical waves, Interferometry, Holographic set up, recording and reconstruction
process, Iso-patches and displacement Measurement, Applications.
References:
• James W Dally and William F Riley, “Experimental Stress Analysis”, McGraw Hill, 2000
• Srinath, Lingaiah, Raghavan, “Experimental Stress Analysis”, Tata McGraw Hill, 1991
• Kuske, Albrecht and Robertson, “Photoelastic Stress Analysis” John Wiley & Sons., 1978
• A S. Kobayassin (Ed), “Hand Book of Experimental Stress Analysis” - SEMNCH, II edition,1974
• Sadhu Singh – “Experimental Stress Analysis”, Hanna publisher, 1982 2
 INTRODUCTION TO STRESS ANALYSIS
• Stress analysis is an engineering discipline that determines the stresses in
materials and structures subjected to static or dynamic forces or loads.
• A stress analysis is required for the study and design of structures, under
prescribed or expected loads.
• Stress analysis may be applied as a design step to structures that don’t yet exist.
• The aim of the analysis is usually to determine whether the member or collection
of members, usually referred to as a system, behaves as desired under the
prescribed loading.
• For example, this might be achieved when the determined stress from the applied
forces(s) is less than the tensile yield strength or below the fatigue of the
material.
• Analysis may be performed through experimental testing techniques, through
analytical mathematical modelling or computational simulation or a combination
of methods.

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Stress analysis may be carried out based on:

1) Analytical Methods
i) Strength of Materials
ii) Solid Mechanics: Theory of Elasticity, Theory of
Plasticity, Theory of thermo-elasticity, Fracture Mechanics

2) Numerical Methods
i) Finite Element Methods
ii) Boundary Element Methods
iii) Mesh-free Element Method
iv) Finite Difference Method

3) Experimental methods

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 EXPERIMENTAL METHODS IN MECHANICS OF SOLIDS

• Role of experiments in stress-strain analysis and in assessment of failure

risk:
• To acquire input data for computations (material characteristics, limit
values of the relevant quantities, assessment of the character and
magnitude of loads).
• To verify the results of computational models,
• To obtain some results in the fields of problems, where no
computational modelling is possible (problems of abrasion, corrosion,
erosion, cavitations, pitting, etc.)

As a whole, in mechanics no computation can exist without experiments

and only simple experiments can exist without computations.

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Systemization of measuring methods are

– methods for evaluation of stresses and strains,

– methods for monitoring of the fracture process,
– methods for evaluation of the body movements, including its distortions
(displacements),
– methods for evaluation of external loads acting upon bodies.

• It is impossible to measure stresses directly

• The evaluation of stresses is always based on calculations:

– Strains can be measured directly or calculated from the measured displacements.
For the calculation of stresses, knowledge of constitutive relations and their
parameters is necessary.
– To obtain the constitutive relations (between stresses and strains) and their
parameters, some basic mechanics tests are necessary. In these tests the stress
values are calculated on the basis of the measured force and some assumptions on
the stress distribution(uni-axial tension, bending, etc.)
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Experimental methods for stress analysis may be classified as:

a) Point-by-point methods:
The method which give stress or strain or displacement details at selected points only in
the body under loading.
Examples:
Mechanical extensometers, Optical extensometers
Variable capacitance transducers, Electric strain gauges

b) Whole-field methods:
The method which give stress or strain distribution details in the whole field
of body under loading.
Examples:
Tensometry method, Photoelasticimetry or Photoelasticity
Brittle lacquers or Grid lacquers method
Moire method, Holographic method
Radiographic strain measuring method
Stress pattern analysis
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Tensometry method
– This method is most frequent method adopted in practical applications.
– In contrast to other methods it is local, it does not measure a strain
field(strains in the whole body or on its whole surface) but only the change
of a specified length, which is recalculated in to the average strain value
specific for the gauge location.
– Therefore, the accuracy depends on the gauge size and on the strain
gradient.
Photoelasticimetry method
– Involves complex experiment with a transparent model using a polarized
light.
– It is based on the photoelastic effect: some transparent material become
optically anisotropic under load.
Brittle lacquers method
– This method based on the low ultimate strain of some resins, which crack
at a certain value of strain.
– These strain indicating lacquers(or films) are advantageous for finding
dangerous locations of the body and the direction of the maximum
principal strain (stress) here. 8
Moire method
– is based on the light interference when passing diffraction lattices: the difference
between the deformed and reference lattices creates the moire strips
corresponding to displacements equal to the lattice span.
Holographic method
– is based on the laser light interference between the hologram of an undeformed
body and the real deformed body.
– The created interference strips are proportional to the displacement magnitude.
– Disadvantage is that an accurate mutual positioning of the hologram and
the body is extremely difficult.
Radiographic strain measuring method
– is based on the diffraction of a monochromatic X-ray on the crystallic lattice (with
span on the order 10-10 m) which acts as a diffraction lattice.
Stress pattern analysis
– it exploits the transformation of the strain energy in to heat.
– It evaluates temperatures in different points of the body under conditions of
repeated deformation caused by a cyclic loading.

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 Introduction to Photoelasticity

• Photoelasticity is a nondestructive, whole-field, graphic stress-

analysis technique based on an opto-mechanical property called
birefringence, possessed by many transparent polymers.

• Combined with other optical elements and illuminated with an

ordinary light source, a loaded photoelastic specimen (or
photoelastic coating applied to an ordinary specimen) exhibits
fringe patterns that are related to the difference between the
principal stresses in a plane normal to the light propagation
direction.

• The method is used primarily for analyzing two-dimensional

plane problems. A method called stress freezing allows the
method to be extended to three dimensional problems.

• Photoelastic coatings are used to analyze surface stresses in

bodies of complex geometry.
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Advantages.
• Photoelasticity, as used for two-dimensional plane problems, provides reliable full-field
values of the difference between the principal normal stresses in the plane of the model,
• provides uniquely the value of the non-vanishing principal normal stress along the
perimeter(s) of the model, where stresses are generally the largest, furnishes full-field
values of the principal stress directions (sometimes called Stress Trajectories), is
adaptable to both static and dynamic investigations.

Disadvantages
• Photoelasticity requires that a model of the actual part be made (unless photoelastic
coatings are used), requires rather tedious calculations in order to separate the values
of principal stresses at a general interior point, can require expensive equipment for
precise analysis of large components, is very tedious and time-consuming for three-
dimensional work.

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 Nicol prism

Wollaston prism
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