Hole-drilling Strain-gage Method of Measuring

Residual Stresses
Authors indicate that this method permits the magnitudes and
principal directions of residual stresses at the hole location to be determined

by N. J. Rendler and I. Vigness

ABSTRACT--The hole-drilling strain-gage method of

measuring residual stresses in elastic materials can be
termed semidestructive if holes of very small diameters
are used. The method permits the magnitudes and
principal directions of residual stresses at the hole loca-
tion to be determined. This is accomplished by means
of an emirpically determined relation between the magni-
tudes and directions of the principal stresses and the
strain relaxation about the hole as the hole is drilled.
This relation was obtained for a nondimensional model
of the hole-gage assembly in order to make the results
independent of hole size. A generalization was postu-
lated to extend the use of this calibrated solution to the
measurement of residual stresses in all elastic, isotropic Cr

materials.

Introduction
W i t h t h e exception of X - r a y techniques, t h e r e are
no p r a c t i c a l n o n d e s t r u c t i v e m e t h o d s for m e a s u r i n g
residual stresses. I t is possible, however, to deter-
m i n e r e s i d u a l s t r e s ~ s b y drilling a hole in a speci-
m e n a n d m e a s u r i n g t h e resulting change of s t r a i n
in t h e v i c i n i t y of t h e hole. 1-~ R e c e n t refinements
in s t r a i n - g a g e - m a n u f a c t u r i n g t e c h n i q u e s h a v e m a d e
it possible to o b t a i n s t r a i n gages of v e r y small
dimensions. Thus, a hole of o n l y a few h u n d r e d t h s
of an inch in d i a m e t e r a n d d e p t h m a y suffice for t h e
m e a s u r e m e n t . Since this a m o u n t of d e s t r u c t i o n
Fig. 1--Hole.gage assembly in a stressed plate
can sometimes be t o l e r a t e d , this m e t h o d is called
semidestructive. While it would be possible to
calcu]aLe t h e relief of s t r a i n caused b y drilling t h e
hole a n d to o b t a i n t h e a v e r a g e s t r a i n over t h e area
covered b y t h e gage, an e x p e r i m e n t a l a p p r o a c h is m e n t a l c a l i b r a t i o n s r e l a t i n g t h e s t r a i n - g a g e read-
considered m o r e practical. B y using n o n d i m e n - ings to residual stress can be m a d e to a p p l y t o a n y
sional units a n d m a i n t a i n i n g similitude, t h e experi- size hole. C a l i b r a t i o n s can also be m a d e for t h e
d e t e r m i n a t i o n of r e s i d u a l stress as a f u n c t i o n of
_hr. J. Rendler is Research Engineer and I. Vigness was Head, Shock and d e p t h below t h e surface. However, s e n s i t i v i t y is
Vibration Branch, U. S. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D. C.
e x p e c t e d to limit t h i s d e p t h to a value a p p r o x i -
Paper was presented at 1966 S E S A Spring Meeting held in Detroit, Mich.
o n M a y 4-6. m a t e l y equal to a hole d i a m e t e r .

Experimental Mechanics I 577

 d e p t h o f z 4- Az, as shown in Fig. 1, is
AEz(a) = K:(a)zzA~ (1)
where ~: is the stress at depth z, a is the angle (see
Fig. 2) between a radial direction from the hole
and the stress axis, Ae:(a) is the radial strain at a
given radial distance caused b y drilling a distance
Az at a d e p t h z, and K:(a) is a parameter which is a
constant for a n y given z, Az and a. This parameter
must be experimentally determined.
For simplicity, we will consider only the case
where the value z is t a k e n as the full d e p t h of the
X hole, in w h i c h case
HOLE
~(~) = K(~)~ (2)
where e(a) is the radial strain at a given radial posi-
tion and angle ~ caused b y drilling a hole of a given
GAGE diameter and depth.
CIRCLE I f one considers two principal stresses in a plane
parallel to the surface, and, of course, orthogonal
to each other, then b y superposition
e(a) = K(a)am~= + K ( a 4- 90~ (3)

Fig. 2--Gage coordinates referenced to stress direction
Theoretical Approach
A hole drilled in a stressed material will change
the strain in the surface area surrounding the hole.
Consider the strain in a radial direction at a fixed
distance from the hole of given diameter and for a
uniaxial-stress field of known direction. The
change of strain as one drills from a d e p t h z to a
where a is measured from the direction of the maxi-
m u m stress.
Generally, the directions of the principal stress
axes are not known. Let the angle fl, Fig. 2, be
the u n k n o w n angle between the x-coordinate direc-
tion and the direction of ~ = . Strains will be
measured along the strain circle at various values of
0, as measured from the x-coordinate. The value
of a in eq (3) is then
= O - # (4)

Gmin

-- - ,
~ ~,0L~

STRAIN
OIROLE
Fig. 3--Strain as the radial ~ S TRAIN x.
distance between gage (Q) (b) CIRCLE
circle and ellipse is shown
for uniaxial stress along
(a) the x-axis, (b) the y-
axis. The strain, propor-
tional to K(a), is shown in
L K(Q)
rectangular coordinates at
(c)

# i

(c

578 I December 1966