Load Extraction from Photoelastic Images Using Neural Networks

Photoelastic materials develop colored fringes under white light when subjected to mechanical stresses, which can be viewed through a polariscope. This technique has traditionally been used for stress analysis of loaded components, however, this can also be potentially used in sensing applications where the requirement may be measurement of the stimulating forces causing the generation of fringes. This leads to inverse photoelastic problem where the developed image can be analyzed for the input forces. However, there could be infinite number of possible solutions which cannot be determined by conventional techniques. This paper presents neural networks based approach to solve this problem. Experiments conducted to prove the principle have been verified with theoretical results and finite element analysis of loaded specimens. The developed technique, if generalized, can be implemented for whole-field analysis of the stress patterns involving complex fringes under different loading conditions. This can also provide direct visualization of the stress field, which may find application in a variety of specialized areas including biomedical engineering and robotics.