21006 Issue in Determination of Principal-Stress Directions Using Phase-Shifting Photoelastic Experiment

Abstract

A phase-shifting technique has been often used to determine photoelastic parameters such as isochromatic fringe orders and principal-stress directions from several photoelastic images acquired by photoelastic experiment. Accurate parameters do not be determined sometimes by the phase-shifting technique. In this study, a factor that adversely affects the determination of the principal stress directions by the phase-shifting technique was investigated. Results indicated that the principal stress directions determined by the phase-shifting technique depend on the performance of a polarization plate.