AN ASSESSMENT OF FROZEN STRESS PHOTOELASTICITY

The frozen stress technique is compared with other experimental and numerical techniques. The frozen stress technique gives elastic stresses due to steady loading, but is the only experimental technique which can give interior stresses; the others are limited to free surfaces, but can be used to give plastic and creep strains. The requirements for frozen stress work are set out and the types of results which can be obtained are stated. Finite element analysis is the only real alternative for the interior of components and surfaces which are inaccessible due to the proximity of other components.