Date of Award:

5-2026

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Committee Chair(s)

Ryan Berke

Committee

Ryan Berke

Committee

Thomas Fronk

Committee

Nadia Kouraytem

Committee

Haoran Wang

Committee

Marv Halling

Abstract

Understanding how materials and parts deform during testing is crucial for creating safer and more reliable engineering systems. Engineers need to measure not only how much a part deforms, but also where deformation concentrates before any damage or failure happens. Digital image correlation (DIC) is a camera-based, non-contact measurement method that tracks surface motion and deformation across a whole area. It is particularly useful when traditional contact-based measurement techniques cannot withstand harsh conditions or capture enough detail. This dissertation develops optical methods to improve DIC in three challenging measurement situations. First, a shortwave ultraviolet lighting technique is developed to reduce the blackbody radiation emitted by specimens at high temperatures. This allows for reliable measurements at temperatures up to 1600 °C by suppressing the glow from the specimen at those temperatures. Second, this work demonstrates that using shorter wavelengths of light at high magnification lowers image blur and enhances measurement accuracy. Third, a multiscale imaging method is created using color-separated speckle patterns and synchronized cameras to measure both overall deformation and localized strain in the same mechanical test. These improvements increase the temperature range, accuracy, and flexibility of DIC, making it a more useful tool for demanding experimental mechanics applications.

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