Scanning schemes in white light Photoelasticity - Part I: Critical assessment of existing schemes

The use of white light based Three Fringe Photoelasticity (TFP)/RGB Photoelasticity has gained importance in the recent years. With recent advances in TFP, it is possible to resolve fringe orders upto twelve. The main advantage of this technique is that it requires only a single image for isochromatic demodulation, which makes it suitable especially for problems where recording multiple images is difficult. The accuracy of isochromatic data obtained using TFP/RGB Photoelasticity is dependent on the scanning scheme used to refine the data, which is necessary to incorporate fringe order continuity. In this paper, the existing scanning schemes are critically evaluated for their ability to scan the entire model domain, influence of seed point selection and noise propagation. The scanning schemes are assessed using four problems of increasing level of geometric complexity - Circular disc under compression (simply connected), bi-axially loaded cruciform specimen with an inclined crack, a thick ring subjected to internal pressure and a finite plate with a hole (multiply connected).