I

NTRODUCTI
ON
Photo-el
ast
ici
tydescr
ibeschangesintheopti
calproperti
esofamat eri
al
undermechanicaldef
ormation.I
tisapropert
yofalldiel
ectr
icmediaand
i
sof tenusedt oexperi
ment al
lydeter
minethestressdi st
ribut
ioni na
material
,wherei tgi v
es a pi ct
ure of st
ress distr
ibut
ions around
di
scont i
nui
ti
esinmateri
als
Photo-
elast
icanaly
sisisanopti
caltechni
queformeasur
ingdeformat
ion
whichusest hetemporarybir
efr
ingenceexhi
bit
edbymostt ranspar
ent
mediawhent heyaresubj
ectedtostrai
n
Photo-
elastic analy
sis suppl
ies visual i
nfor
mation on t he str
ess
di
stri
butionprovidesquanti
tat
iveevidenceofhighl
yst r
essedareasand
peakstressesatsurfaceandinter
iorpoint
softhestructur
eareasoflow
str
esslev el
wherestruct
uralmateri
al i
suti
li
zedi
neffi
cientl
y.
PHOTOELASTI
CBENCHSETUP
Theexperi
ment alset
upofphot o-
elast
icbenchi ncl
udeslightsource
capabl
eofgivingwhit
elightaswellasmonochr omaticli
ght,pol
ari
ser
plat
e,anal
yserplat
e,l
oadingf
rameandtranspar
enttestspecimen.
CLASSI
FICATI
ONOFPHOTOELASTI
CBENCH
t
ransmi
ssi
onpol
ari
scope
1.Ci
rcul
arpol
ari
scope
2.Pl
anepol
ari
scope
Scat
ter
edl
i
ghtpol
ari
scope
r
efl
ect
ionpol
ari
scope.
l
ens-
syst
em pol
ari
scope.

COMMANLYUSEDPHOTO-
ELASTI
CMATERI
ALS
Gl
ass
Pol
ycar
bonat
e
Epoxyr
esi
n
PRI
NCI
PLE
Theexperimentalprocedurerel
iesonthepr opertyofbiref
ri
ngence,as
exhi
bit
ed by cer t
ain t r
ansparent mater
ials. Bir
efr
ingence is a
phenomenoni nwhichar ayofl i
ghtpassi
ngt hroughagi venmat er
ial
exper
iencestworefr
activeindi
ces.
Whenphotoel asti
cmat er
ialissubj ectedt of orce,opt i
calpropert
ies
changesi
ndi r
ecti
onproporti
ontot hest ressesdev el
oped.Themat erial
becomesbirefr
ingentandacol ourfulinterferencepatternisobser ved
whenpolar
isedl i
ghtpassi
ngt hrought hest r
essedmat eri
alspli
tsinto
twobeams.
Thezero-f
ri
ngeorderi
sblackandindi
cat
esnostress.St
resscanbe
quant
if
iedandl
ocali
sedbycount
ingt
henumberoff
ri
ngesanddensi
ty.
Theclosedt
hefri
nges,t
hest
eepert
hest
ressgr
adi
ent
,indi
cat
inganar
ea
ofst
ressconcent
rat
ion.

FORMULATI
ON
PROCEDURE
1.Theappar
atusi
ssetasshowni
nthef
igur
e
2.t
he tr
anspar
enttestspeci
men i
sfi
xed i
nthe Loadi
ng Fr
ame
wi
thoutl
oadi
ngthespeci
men.
3.Whenthewhit
elight
ssourceisswit
chedonnof ri
ngesorfew
f
ri
ngescanbeseen(asaresul
tofr
esidualst
ressorpre-
str
essi
n
t
hespeci
men)
4.Now thespecimenisl
oadedgr
adual
l
yandsimul
taneousl
yt he
col
ourfulf
ri
ngestar
tst
oappearonspeci
menwhenseenf rom
anal
ysersi
de.
5.Nowspeci
meni
sgr
adual
l
yunl
oaded.
6.Whent
hemonochr omati
cli
ght
ssour
cei
sswi
tchedonnof
ri
nges
orf
ewfr
ingescanbeseen.
7.Now thespecimenisloadedgr
aduall
yandsimult
aneousl
ythe
bri
ghtanddarkfri
ngestar
tstoappearonspeci
menwhenseen
fr
om anal
ysersi
de.
8.Nowspeci
meni
sgr
adual
l
yunl
oaded.

APPLI
CATI
ON
Geart
oot
hmodel
Cr
ankshaf
tmodel
Pl
ast
iccut
ler
y
Assembl
yst
ressanal
ysi
s
Resi
dual
str
essanal
ysi
s

ADVANTAGES
noneedt
osi
mpl
i
fygeomet
ry,const
rai
ntsandl
oads.Sor
esul
ts
 ar
epr
efer
redbyanal
ystwhi
l
edesi
gni
ngmechani
cal
component
s
Component
sofanysi
zewhi
char
einact
ualser
vicecanal
sobe
anal
yzed
Canprov
idebot
hmagni
tudeanddi
rect
ionofpr
inci
palst
ressand
st
rai
n

LI
MITATI
ONS
Phy
sicsoff
ormat
ionofphot
o-el
ast
icf
ri
ngesi
scompl
ex
Pr
otot
ypeormodel
neededt
obebui
l
t
Ver
ysensi
ti
vet
oyoungmodul
usandpoi
sonr
ati
o