High-accuracy 2D digital image correlation measurements using low-cost imaging lenses: implementation of a generalized compensation method

The ideal pinhole imaging model commonly assumed for an ordinary two-dimensional digital image correlation (2D-DIC) system is neither perfect nor stable because of the existence of small out-of-plane motion of the test sample surface that occurred after loading, small out-of-plane motion of the sensor target due to temperature variation of a camera and unavoidable geometric distortion of an imaging lens. In certain cases, these disadvantages can lead to significant errors in the measured displacements and strains. Although a high-quality bilateral telecentric lens has been strongly recommended to be used in the 2D-DIC system as an essential optical component to achieve high-accuracy measurement, it is not generally applicable due to its fixed field of view, limited depth of focus and high cost. To minimize the errors associated with the imperfectness and instability of a common 2D-DIC system using a low-cost imaging lens, a generalized compensation method using a non-deformable reference sample is proposed in this work. With the proposed method, the displacement of the reference sample rigidly attached behind the test sample is first measured using 2D-DIC, and then it is fitted using a parametric model. The fitted parametric model is then used to correct the displacements of the deformed sample to remove the influences of these unfavorable factors. The validity of the proposed compensation method is first verified using out-of-plane translation, out-of-plane rotation, in-plane translation tests and their combinations. Uniaxial tensile tests of an aluminum specimen were also performed to quantitatively examine the strain accuracy of the proposed compensation method. Experiments show that the proposed compensation method is an easy-to-implement yet effective technique for achieving high-accuracy deformation measurement using an ordinary 2D-DIC system.