A Non-Contact Technique for Direct Strain Measurement Using Laser Speckle Spectral Density

When an optically rough surface is illuminated by laser, a grainy pattern is produced at a distance away from the surface, which is known as laser speckle pattern. This pattern is random in intensity with its grains separated by an average amount controlled by the intermediate optical system or the diameter of the illuminated area of the surface in absence of an optical system. It has been shown that the grain spacing of such pattern may be correlated to yield a singly-peaked power spectral density of an intensity ensemble which is found by spatial ensemble averages. This correlation holds only if the sampling is done in a plane referred to as the constant plane. On an average basis such a characteristic peak persists with an in-plane rigid-body motion of the test object and within a uniformly rough area of the surface. The behavior of such peak with an induced in-plane strain is shown to be non-linear and of second order for the test range, when frequency values of such peak is plotted versus strain. Further, the slope of such curve changes sign when a strain of opposite sign is sensed. Finally, the best responses were obtained when no intermediate optical system was employed in the observation field