Digital image correlation displacement measurement of a rotating RC helicopter blade

An image sensing methodology is developed to enable structural integrity monitoring of rotating parts. The proposed approach is based on simultaneously triggering two high-speed cameras in order to acquire images of the rotating subject in an apparent fixed position and employing 3D Digital Image Correlation (DIC) thereafter to acquire shape and measure total deformation. A controller was developed to generate the trigger signals at appropriate times and is capable of supporting multiple use cases. The present contribution includes the application of this method to a radio-controlled helicopter's rotor blade under dynamic loading from rotation at 680 rpm and a comparison of this method with previous results.