ABSTRACT--A new approach to full-field automated photoelasticity is presented in which a circular polariscope is used to enable the isochromatic phase value (c 0 to be determined unambiguously and without input of a known isochromatic value obtained using an auxiliary technique. Values of cosc~ are obtained from light-field and dark-field images for three loads of small incremental steps. Using a relatively straightforward procedure, ramped phase maps for c~ are produced which can be unwrapped using conventional techniques. The resulting distribution of cl is then found absolutely using information provided by which Oct is the incremental change in the isochromatic phase value between the load steps. The results obtained for disk-in,compression tests presented here in comparison with theoretical solutions demonstrate that the technique is both simple to use and very accurate. A similar approach may be adopted using three wavelengths instead of three load steps.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.