Calibration of a digital image correlation system

The use and results of the procedure published by Standardisation Project for Optical Techniques of Strain measurement (SPOTS) for a successful calibration of a digital image correlation (DIC) system are described. The details of the calibration specimen used are discussed together with procedure and criteria that must be met to achieve an acceptable calibration. The DIC system was evaluated over a strain range of 289 to 2110 μstrain, with a resulting calibration uncertainty ranging from 14 to 28.7 μstrain. The optical strain measurements were obtained from images taken directly from the bare metal surface, which had been prepared with grit paper, as opposed to generating a speckle pattern by painting the surface.