Determining Stress Components from Isopachic Contours Using Airy Stress Function

Abstract

A method for determining stresses from isopachic contours obtained by interferometry or thermoelasticity is proposed in this paper. A Poisson equation that represents the relationship between the sum of principal stresses and an Airy stress function is solved using a finite element method. Therefore, the distribution of the Airy stress function can be obtained from the measured isopachic contours. Then, the stresses are obtained from the Airy stress function. Boundary conditions are required for solving the Poisson equation. In the present stage, tractions along the boundary are used for obtaining the Neumann boundary condition. Results of simulation and experiment indicate that stress components can be obtained from isopachics by the proposed method.