The Stress Intensity Factor of Opening Mode Determined by Digital Image Correlation

Applications of the digital image correlation method (DIC) for the determination of the opening mode stress intensity factor (SIF) is investigated using an edge cracked aluminum plate in this paper. Standard compact tension test specimen was tested under tensile loading and the full-field displacement fields of the test sample were recorded using DIC. The SIF associated with unavoidable rigid-body displacement translation were calculated simultaneously from the experimental data by fitting the theoretical displacement field using the method of least-squares. Selection of displacement and convergence values is discussed. For validation, the SIF thus determined is compared with theoretical results, confirming the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed technique. Therefore it reveals that the DIC is a practical and effective tool for full-field deformation and SIF measurement.