Full-Field Strain DIC Measurement of Steel Plate Girder Fatigue

In steel plate girder fatigue testing, cyclic loads act continuously and the strain state of the structure surface keeps changing. Traditional strain gauges measure data at points arranged on the structure surface; although they can record strain values at specific locations, fatigue hot spots do not necessarily appear at the instrumented positions. As for where these hot spots initiate and how they subsequently propagate, the coverage of discrete measurement points is usually limited, making it difficult to fully capture the response of the structure throughout the loading process.

Haytham DIC technology can overcome this limitation: through full-field strain measurement, it acquires in real time the strain changes of the entire structure surface during loading. This non-contact full-field strain monitoring clearly records the locations where fatigue hot spots occur, their variation trends and their propagation process, providing more comprehensive and detailed data than traditional methods.

During the test, Haytham DIC can observe not only the changes in the data at individual measurement points, but also the evolution of the strain distribution over the entire structure surface at the same time. With this full-field strain monitoring, testers can more accurately identify the specific locations of fatigue hot spots and their variation paths, providing an important basis for subsequent analysis, evaluation and structural optimization. The application of Haytham DIC makes the data in fatigue testing more comprehensive and precise, providing stronger support for structural health monitoring.