Vibrometer offers full surface strain measurement

Knowledge of stresses and strains in a component and an understanding of their origins is vital to design engineers considering the durability of their product.

Obtaining a detailed map of the component stresses and strains under dynamic loading is highly time consuming using traditional methods.

Added to this the placement of strain gauges on modern extremely lightweight materials can have a measureable effect on damping and stiffness causing uncertainty in the results.The ASDEC use of 3D scanning laser is a non-contact method that does not add mass to the structure and therefore has no observer effect on the results.

These high quality results are extremely quick to obtain as there is no need to invest time in the delicate art of affixing foil strain gauges to the component.

Tim Stubbs, General Manager at ASDEC says,“By offering the capability of 3D full surface strain mapping on curved surfaces ASDEC is taking its capabilities to the next level. The ability to obtain detailed maps of component stresses and strains under dynamic load conditions will be extremely interesting to engineers particularly in the aerospace field where durability of components such as turbine blades is a critical concern.  In addition the ability to produce results with enough detail to directly compare the measured strains directly back to FE models will allow all durability engineers to improve their design cycles”  

ASDEC is also able to utilise robot controlled placement of the system to allow the 3D scanning lasers to fully track a curved surface.  This level of control helps maintain the orientation of the laser heads with a curved surface allowing for detailed measurements of strain on complex components such as turbine blades in extremely short timeframes compared to conventional methods.The system can be programmed to scan full surface strain of any object that can be fitted into the test chamber. 

In addition to this ASDEC offer a remote scanning service utilising their mobile 3D scanning laser vibrometer allowing equivalent testing at a customer’s private location.