Experimental Mechanics (2013) 53:755–765
DOI 10.1007/s11340-012-9687-0
Diffraction Assisted Image Correlation: A Novel Method
for Measuring Three-Dimensional Deformation
using Two-Dimensional Digital Image Correlation
S. Xia & A. Gdoutou & G. Ravichandran
Received: 22 January 2012 / Accepted: 5 October 2012 / Published online: 23 October 2012
# Society for Experimental Mechanics 2012
Abstract Digital Image Correlation (DIC) provides a full-
field non-contact optical method for accurate deformation
measurement of materials, devices and structures. The mea-
surement of three-dimensional (3D) deformation using DIC in
general requires imaging with two cameras and a 3D-DIC
code. In the present work, a new experimental technique,
namely, Diffraction Assisted Image Correlation (DAIC) for
3D displacement measurement using a single camera and 2D-
DIC algorithm is presented. A transmission diffraction grating
is placed between the specimen and the camera, resulting in
multiple images which are then used to obtain apparent in-
plane displacements using 2D-DIC. The true in-plane and out-
of-plane displacements of the specimen are obtained from the
apparent in-plane displacements and the diffraction angle of
the grating. The validity and accuracy of the DAIC method are
demonstrated through 3D displacement measurement of a
small thin membrane. This technique provides new avenues
for performing 3D deformation measurements at small length
scales and/or dynamic loading conditions.
Keywords 3D digital image correlation . Diffraction .
Small scale . Membrane . Displacement
S. Xia (*)
Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering,
Georgia Institute of Technology,
Atlanta, GA 30332, USA
e-mail: shuman.xia@me.gatech.edu
A. Gdoutou
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
Northwestern University,
Evanston, IL 60208, USA
G. Ravichandran
Graduate Aerospace Laboratories,
California Institute of Technology,
Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
Introduction
Measurement of strains and displacements is critical for the
characterization of materials and for the analysis and design
of engineering components and structures. Conventional
methods for displacement measurements include extensom-
eters, strain gages, and optical methods such as moiré,
holographic and speckle techniques. Digital Image Correla-
tion (DIC) provides a full-field non-contact optical method
for the accurate measurement of two-dimensional (2D) or
three-dimensional (3D) displacements and therefore tangen-
tial surface strains during deformation of materials, devices
and structures over a wide range of length and time scales
[1–9]. The length scales of DIC are determined by the field
of view and spatial resolution of the imaging system used,
while its time scales are constrained by the temporal reso-
lution (i.e., frame rate) of the imaging camera. The 2D-DIC
method is based on the comparison of two high-contrast
speckle images obtained before and after deformation
[1–3]. A correlation analysis between the images is carried
out to obtain the corresponding displacement with sub-pixel
resolution. For micro- and nano-scale characterization, DIC
has been used in measuring displacements from digital
micrographs obtained from electron (SEM) and scanning
probe (AFM) microscopy [4, 5, 7].
DIC typically requires high resolution cameras to image
the gray scale distribution of the specimen surface during
deformation. For the 2D-DIC, a single camera with its
optical axis perpendicular to the specimen surface is used,
limiting displacement measurement to the in-plane direc-
tions [1–3]. For 3D image correlation to obtain the three
displacement components (including the out-of-plane dis-
placement) of a deforming surface, two cameras viewing the
specimen at different angles are usually used [8, 9]. Reviews
on 2D-DIC measurements can be found in Pan et al. [10]
and on 3D-DIC can be found in Orteu [11]. Recently, 3D-
756
DIC measurements have been made using a single camera
[12–15]. Using a single camera is beneficial because of the
space limitations and cost reduction in setting up the system.
Furthermore, for dynamic measurements synchronization
issues of the two cameras need to be overcome. In Tong
[12], a 3D surface geometry and strain measurement setup
using a single camera and a rotation/translation stage was
described. The measurement principle of the setup was
based on parallel or pinhole perspective projections of 3D
objects at different orientations. Tay et al. [13] and Quan et
al. [14] developed a method that uses global two-
dimensional DIC with a single camera to measure large
three-dimensional displacements. They demonstrated the
accuracy of the proposed method on a uniformly displaced
silicon wafer and a non-uniformly deformed cantilever
beam. Pankow et al. [15] developed a 3D-DIC method
capable of measuring dynamic out-of-plane displacements
using a series of mirrors and a single high-speed camera.
The series of mirrors convert one single camera into two
virtual cameras that view the specimen surface from two
different angles and capture two images simultaneously. The
method has the ability to obtain data at high speeds with
higher resolution than available on the market, without the
limitations related to synchronization of the two cameras.
Furthermore, destructive tests can be performed without the
risk of destroying the cameras. The method has been applied
successfully in static as well as dynamic shock tube experi-
ments on sandwich panels. A general limitation of the
current 3D-DIC technique is the acquisition of images at
different angles results in shape distortion of the regions that
is being interrogated. It is also necessary to employ a 3D-
DIC algorithm that is needed to compute the displacements
from the two images obtained from viewing the specimen at
two different angles.
In the present work, a new 3D-DIC technique, namely,
Diffraction Assisted Image Correlation (DAIC), has been
developed. The DAIC method utilizes a transmission dif-
fraction grating and a single camera, and is capable of 3D
displacement measurement with a 2D-DIC algorithm. Dif-
fraction of light, which occurs when a light wave is incident
and bends around an object, has found wide use in experi-
mental mechanics for deformation characterizations
[16–19]. In this study, we exploit the light splitting and
bending characteristics of a diffraction grating to obtain all
three displacement components of a specimen from the in-
plane displacement components of higher-order diffraction
images. The distortions in the images are minimal since the
specimen itself is not viewed at an angle. The validity and
accuracy of the method have been demonstrated through
measurement of displacements of a small thin membrane.
The use of the grating in place of stereoscopic images by
viewing the region of interest at two different angles [8, 9]
or using mirrors [15] to create multiple images eliminates
Exp Mech (2013) 53:755–765
perspective difference between the images and uncertainties
associated with calibrating the angles in the geometrical
arrangement [20], resulting in a simpler and more compact
arrangement. This method can be adapted and amenable for
implementation with an optical microscope and thus en-
abling 3D displacement measurements of materials and
structures at the micro and nano scales (e.g., nano compo-
sites, MEMS). Other potential applications include local
strain measurements in deforming materials at the grain
scale under quasi-static and dynamic loading conditions.
The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. The
theory for the proposed 3D-DIC experimental method is
presented in Section 2. In Section 3, the details of the
experimental setup are described. The results demonstrating
the new 3D-DIC technique are presented in Section 4. The
discussions on the applicability and limitations of the tech-
nique are given in Section 5 and the conclusions for the
study are drawn in Section 6.
Theory
The newly developed DAIC experimental setup involves
viewing the region of interest under monochromatic illumi-
nation through a transmission diffraction line grating, as
shown in Fig. 1. When an initially flat object (AB) is placed
parallel to the grating and observed in the direction perpen-
dicular to the grating surface, multiple views of the object
are obtained corresponding to different diffraction orders.
d±
d
-
A
-
θ P
B
-
A
e//
en P
e⊥ B
A+
θ
P+
B+
Transmission
grating
Fig. 1 Schematic of the optical arrangement for 3D displacement mea-
surement by DAIC using a diffraction grating and a single camera. e⊥ and
e// are unit vectors perpendicular and parallel to the grating rulings,
respectively, and en is a unit vector normal to the grating surface
Exp Mech (2013) 53:755–765 757

The focus here is on the positive (+1) and negative (−1) where ðuP  en Þ is the out-of-plane displacement of the
first-order images, which correspond to the first-order dif- point P.
fraction of the transmitted light. The two first-order images Equation (6a,b) imply that, if the in-plane displacement
can be thought of as virtual images formed from two virtual fields of the two virtual images are provided, the 3D dis-
objects (A+B+ and A−B−). By using a backward ray-tracing placement field of the real object can be calculated by add-
method (see Appendix), the distance between the grating ing or subtracting equation (6a) and (6b) as follows:
and the two virtual objects, d±, is found to be
uInplane
 þuInplane
d uInplane ¼ P Pþ
;
d
¼ ; ð1Þ
P 2 ð7a; bÞ
cos3 θ ðuP uPþ Þe?
Inplane Inplane

in which d is the distance between the real object and the
grating, and θ is the first-order diffraction angle. From the
diffraction grating equation, θ is obtained as
 
1 l
θ ¼ sin ; ð2Þ
p
where λ is the wavelength of the light source and p is the
pitch of the grating (1/Line Density).
Consider a point P on the real object with a position
vector XP. The position vectors of the corresponding points
(P+ and P−) mapped onto the two virtual objects are
XP
¼ XP  ðd
 d Þen

d tan θ e?
ð3Þ
¼ XP  d cos13 θ  1 en
d tan θ e?
where e⊥ and e// are unit vectors (in-plane) perpendicular
and parallel to the grating rulings, respectively, and en is a
unit vector (out-of-plane) normal to the grating surface.
Now a displacement of P, uP, is introduced. The current
position of P becomes xp ¼ Xp þ up , and the distance

denote the x- and y-component displacement fields of the
between P and the grating becomes d  up  en . Then
the current positions of P+ and P− are calculated as
uP  en ¼ 2 tan θ :
The above equation (7a,b) form the basis of performing
3D displacement measurement with a single camera and a
2D-DIC algorithm. Note that adding the net in-plane dis-
placements from the positive (+) and negative (−) first-order
diffracted images removes the contribution from the out-of-
plane displacement, while subtracting them provides only
the contribution due to the out-of-plane displacement. Now
consider a Cartesian xyz-coordinate system with its principal
axes (ex, ey, ez) coincident with (e⊥, e//, en). When the ruling
on the grating is aligned in the y-direction, the three dis-
placement components (u,v,w) of the object along the x-, y-
and z- directions are derived from equation (7a,b) as
ðU 1 ðx;yÞþU þ1 ðx;yÞÞ
uðx; yÞ ¼ 2 ;
ðV 1 ðx;yÞþV þ1 ðx;yÞÞ ð8a; b; cÞ
vðx; yÞ ¼ 2 ;
ðU 1 ðx;yÞU þ1 ðx;yÞÞ
wðx; yÞ ¼ 2 tan θ ;
in which ðU 1 ðx; yÞ; V 1 ðx; yÞÞ and ðU þ1 ðx; yÞ; V þ1 ðx; yÞÞ
negative and positive first-order images, respectively.

 
1 Experimental Procedure
xP
¼ xP  ðd  uP  en Þ  1 en
ðd  uP  en Þ tan θ e? :
cos3 θ
ð4Þ Experimental Setup
Subtracting equation (3) from equation (4) gives the
The schematic of the experimental setup is shown in Fig. 2.
displacements of P+ and P− as
A white light source filtered with a narrow band optical filter
  (632.8±1.0 nm bandpass, NT65-753, Edmund Optics, Bar-
1
uP
¼ uP þ ðuP  en Þ  1 en  ðuP  en Þ tan θ e? : rington, NJ) was used to provide quasi-monochromatic illu-
cos3 θ
mination. A transmission grating of 110 lines/mm groove
ð5Þ density (NT46-073, Edmund Optics, Barrington, NJ) was
The components of uP and uP
in the grating plane used to achieve multiple views of the area of interest on the
can be expressed as uInplane ¼ uP  ðuP  en Þen and specimen. The value of the first-order diffracted angle of the
P
grating calculated using equation (2) was 3.99○. The dis-
uInplane
P
¼ uP
 ðuP
 en Þen . Combining these two tance between the sample and the grating was fixed at
expressions with equation (5) gives a relationship be- 28.7 mm, which insured that the diffracted images were
tween uInplane
P and uInplane
P
, not overlapping. The rays passing from the specimen pro-
cessed by the grating were collected by a long distance
uInplane
Pþ ¼ uInplane  ðuP  en Þ tan θ e? ;
Inplane
P ð6a; bÞ microscope lens (K2/S, Infinity Photo-Optical Company,
uP ¼ uInplane
P þ ðuP  en Þ tan θ e? ; Boulder, CO), and focused on the CMOS camera with a
758 Exp Mech (2013) 53:755–765

Fig. 2 (a) Photograph of the (a)

optical setup for the proposed Camera Light
DAIC method; (b) schematic of Imaging lens
the setup (top view); (c) a close- condenser Filtered
up view of the arrangement of light source
the grating and the specimen

Transmission Pressure
grating chamber

(b) To pressure
Thin steel sensor Pressure
Face plate plates
Chamber

-1st order
Illumination
Camera Imaging lens 0th order
light
+1st order

Transmission
grating PDMS
Glass
membrane
To syringe window

(c)
PDMS
membrane

Transmission
grating

resolution of 2048 by 1536 pixels (3.2 μm pixel size) and
imaging speed of 12 frames per second (PL-B623, Pixe-
LINK, Ottawa, Canada). A working distance of 152.4 mm
between the sample and the front of the camera lens was
kept constant for all the experiments. The pixel size in the
sample plane was calibrated with a high precision stage
micrometer to be 2.93 μm/pixel.
Generally, for classic 3D-DIC [8, 9], two images are
obtained at different angles, one from Camera #1, and the
other from Camera #2, which result in two perspective
views (distorted images). Two perspective views inclined
at ±40° of a circular region of a transmission electron
microscope (TEM) test grid with square pattern (pitch size,
120 μm) are shown in Fig. 3(a), as seen in classic 3D-DIC.
Figure 3(b) shows three views of the same TEM square grid
obtained using the beam splitter grating, corresponding to
the negative first-order (−1), zeroth-order (0), and positive
first-order (+1) diffraction. The grating gives three undis-
torted face views of the grid, which are in contrast to the two
distorted perspective views of the grid in Fig. 3(a).
The incident light rays from the specimen are processed
through diffraction to create multiple images, resulting in a
more compact and simpler arrangement in comparison to
traditional 3D-DIC techniques developed to date [8, 9, 15].
Exp Mech (2013) 53:755–765 759

Fig. 3 Images of a circular re- (a)

gion (1.9 mm diameter) of a
TEM test grid: (a) from two
cameras viewed at two different
angles (±40°) as in traditional
3D-DIC measurement; (b) from
a single camera and a beam
splitter transmission diffraction
grating (110 lines/mm)
corresponding to +1, 0 and −1
diffraction orders of the grating.
Note the distortion of images in
the traditional 3D-DIC measure-
ment due to the perspective na-
ture of the view
(b)

Since the out-of-plane displacement of the specimen is first-order images, the proposed method eliminates the need
encoded in the in-plane displacements measured from the for a 3D-DIC algorithm. The full 3D displacement can be

Fig. 4 Speckle patterns for (a)

negative first (−1) (left), zeroth
(0) (center), and positive first
(+1) (right) diffraction orders
obtained with the beam splitter
grating (110 lines/mm), (a) be-
fore and (b) after deformation of
a PDMS membrane subjected to
a pressure of 5 kPa

(b)
760
obtained with a 2D-DIC algorithm, which is relatively easier
to implement and computationally much less intensive.
Specimen and Loading Device
The proposed DAIC technique has been validated by conduct-
ing pressure bulge and rigid-body translation and rotation
experiments on a thin polymeric membrane made of polydi-
methylsiloxane (PDMS). The elastomer and curing agent of
PDMS (Sylgard 184, Dow Corning Company, Midland, MI)
were mixed at a weight ratio of 10:1, and degassed in a
vacuum chamber for 30 min to remove trapped air bubbles.
The liquid PDMS premix was then spin-coated on a transpar-
ency film, followed by curing at 80 °C for 1 h. The cured thin
membrane was peeled off from the transparency film and was
cut to size for use in the experiments. For the pressure bulge
experiment, the PDMS membrane was inflated up to a pres-
sure of 5 kPa. In order to create a random speckle pattern as
well as the contrast which was required for DIC, the mem-
brane was covered with fine graphite powder (3–5 μm in size)
using a paint brush. For the rigid-body translation and rotation
experiments, spray painting was used to generate a speckle
pattern. The patterned membrane was clamped between two
thin steel disks, which were in turn attached to an airtight
pressure chamber. In the pressure bulge experiment, the mem-
brane specimen was inflated by increasing the pressure inside
the chamber with a syringe mounted on the optical table, and
the pressure was monitored using a pressure sensor (GPS-
BTA, Vernier, Beaverton, OR). The membrane had a thick-
ness of approximately 40 μm, and a diameter of 1.9 mm for
the inflated area.
Data Reduction
The images of the negative (−1) and positive (+1) first
orders were acquired and processed using Vic-2D software
(Correlated Solutions, Inc., W. Columbia, SC) to obtain the
net in-plane displacements (U −1, V −1) and (U +1, V +1). The
correlation was performed between images obtained from
the same order of diffraction, i.e., between positive first-
order (+1) images and between negative first-order (−1)
images before and after deformation. The data was exported
into MATLAB and the in-plane-displacements (u, v) as well
as the out-of-plane displacement (w) were computed using
equation (8) (a)–(c), respectively.
Results
Validation of the Method
Two sets of three speckle images of the circular membrane
corresponding to the negative first-order, zeroth-order and
Exp Mech (2013) 53:755–765
positive first-order diffraction, as shown in Fig. 4(a) and (b),
were obtained before and after pressurization in the pressure
bulge experiment. These images were then processed with
the procedure described in Subsection 3.3. The correlation
results for the two sets of net full-field in-plane displace-
ments, namely, (U +1, V +1) and (U −1, V −1) are shown in
Fig. 5. Note that the U +1 and U −1 fields contain both in-
plane and out-of-plane displacements of the membrane and
don’t exhibit any anti-symmetry about the central vertical
axis. The components of the 3D deformation displacement
field (u, v, w) are computed according to equation (8) by
using data from 2D-DIC, and are shown in Fig. 6(a)–(c).
The computed out-of plane displacement field shows axial
symmetry corresponding to the deformation of the circular
membrane and the in-plane displacements also show appro-
priate symmetries and anti-symmetries, i.e., u (v) is sym-
metric about the central horizontal (vertical) axis and anti-
symmetric about the central vertical (horizontal) axis.
Error Assessment
If the true displacement field of the inflated membrane is
known, one can perform a quantitative error assessment by
comparing the measured and true displacement fields of the
membrane. In previous work employing bulge testing of a
large membrane (a few to tens of centimeters in diameter)
[15, 21–23], the true displacement used for comparison is
well approximated with that obtained from either theoretical
calculation or finite element modeling. However, the same
approximation is found to be very inaccurate in the present
work. The challenge here lies in the fact that the rigid-
clamping condition of the bulge test configuration tends to
be harder to satisfy as the size of the membrane becomes
smaller. Therefore, experiments involving rigid-body mo-
tion are chosen to perform quantitative error assessment
from which the true displacements are easy to obtain.
It is straightforward to estimate the error associated with
the proposed 3D displacement measurement scheme. The
theoretical derivation used in obtaining equation (8)
involves no approximations, and hence is strictly valid and
does not introduce any systematic error. Neglecting any
errors due to geometrical misalignment, if ε is the error
present in the displacements (U +1, V +1) and (U −1, V −1),
the final measurement errors are εu,v 0ε in the measured x
and y displacements and "w ¼ "=tan θ in the z displacement
according to equation (8). In the present work, ε has two
possible sources for error: the first is inherent to 2D-DIC
measurement and the second is caused by image distortion
due to grating imperfection.
The first type of error was evaluated by performing a
direct 2D-DIC measurement without using the transmission
grating. Figure 7(a) shows the spatial distribution of mea-
surement error of a constant x-displacement field, u06.03
Exp Mech (2013) 53:755–765
Fig. 5 Net in-plane displace-
ments obtained using 2D digital
image correlation between
images in Figs. 6(a) and (b): (a)
negative first order (U −1); (b)
negative first order (V −1); (c)
positive first order (U +1); (d)
positive first order (V +1). The
value of the displacement is in
μm
pixels (17.68 μm), which was produced by translating the
unpressurized membrane in the in-plane direction with a
high-precision translation stage. The sub-pixel error as
shown is due to the combined effects of intensity interpola-
tion and noise, lens aberrations, acoustic noise and vibra-
tion. Subsequently, a second 2D-DIC measurement was
made on the same rigid-body translation by placing back
the transmission grating and correlating two speckle images
of the negative first-order before and after translation.
Figure 7(b) plots the error distribution of the new measure-
ment, which contains both the inherent 2D-DIC error and
the possible error originating from grating imperfection. The
image distortion effect due to the presence of the grating is
found to be negligible, since the root-mean-square (RMS)
values of the two displacement error maps in Fig. 7(a) and
(b) are identical (0.041 pixel). The two error maps corre-
spond to the same sensor plane location, enabling a fair
comparison by including the same amount of lens distortion.
Additional rigid-body translation tests were also performed
for the y-displacement component and the positive first-
order, and led to the same conclusion.
To assess the error in out-of-plane (z) displacement mea-
surement, a linearly varying z displacement field along the
x-direction was generated by rotating the unpressurized
membrane about a vertical axis for 11.0 degrees. Figure 8
761
(a) plots the contour map of the measured displacement, and
Fig. 8(b) shows a comparison between the measured and
true displacement profiles along the central horizontal axis.
The RMS error of the measured displacement was calculat-
ed to be 0.70 pixel, which is about 17 times the RMS error
(0.041 pixel) of in-plane displacement measurement. This
ratio is in good accordance with the value of 1/tan3.99°0
14.3, thereby validating the expression for error estimation
"w ¼ "=tan θ given earlier.
Discussion
The expression for the out-of-plane error "w ¼ "=tan θ indi-
cates that a large diffraction angle is necessary to achieve a
small error in the out-of-plane (z) displacement measure-
ment. In the case of θ045°, the z displacement measurement
will have the same error level as the in-plane displacement
measurement. Higher measurement accuracy of the z dis-
placement may be attainable with θ larger than 45°. Never-
theless, as discussed in the Appendix, virtual objects formed
at the positive and negative first orders of diffraction have a
non-zero image thickness. Increasing θ will increase this
thickness and thus deteriorate the image quality if the thick-
ness becomes greater than the depth-of-field of the imaging
762
Fig. 6 Contours of the in-plane (x,y) and out-of-plane (z) displace-
ments of the pressurized (5 kPa) circular PDMS membrane obtained
using the beam splitter grating: (a) u; (b) v; (c) w. The value of the
displacement is in μm
lens. The optimal selection of θ must take this constraint into
account for achieving the best accuracy in the z displace-
ment measurement.
The newly developed DAIC method has been demon-
strated here for 3D deformation measurement of a thin
membrane of millimeter size. There is, however, no funda-
mental reason for this method to be limited to this size
range. When this method is properly integrated with a
Exp Mech (2013) 53:755–765
(a)
0.15
0.1
-0.5
0.05
0 0
-0.05
0.5
-0.1
-0.15
-0.5 0 0.5
(b)
0.15
0.1
-0.5
0.05
0 0
-0.05
0.5 -0.1
-0.15
-0.5 0 0.5
Fig. 7 Measurement errors of an x-displacement field generated using
in-plane rigid-body translation. (a) Direct view without transmission
grating; (b) negative first-order view through transmission grating
commercial optical microscope, micron-sized objects can
be studied with a pixel resolution as small as about
0.25 μm. The resolution of 3D displacement measurement
corresponding to this pixel size would be at the sub-pixel
level, i.e., on the order of tens of nanometers. Nevertheless,
the method possesses practical limitation of measuring very
large specimens (over tens of centimeters) due to cost and
manufacturing issues of large transmission gratings.
In the present work, all zeroth-order images at the center
of the view have not been utilized in the analysis, resulting
in inefficient usage of the available pixels of the camera. It is
possible to custom make a transmission grating with nearly
completely suppressed zeroth-order intensity through a care-
ful design of the groove profile of the grating. With such a
grating, the two first-order images can be arranged next to
each other to fill the entire field of view for improving the
efficiency of pixel usage. Another class of gratings that can
be used for the proposed method are blazed transmission
gratings which are commercially readily available. The
blazed gratings have asymmetric groove profiles that typi-
cally concentrate most of the transmitted light power to the
zeroth order and the positive first order. When a grating of
this type is used, it is noted that the correlation on the
Exp Mech (2013) 53:755–765 763

(a) Pixel the distance between the grating and the measured object).
60 Therefore, simultaneous focus on the both images is diffi-
0.5 40 cult, especially at large diffraction angles. This fact limits
the use of blazed gratings to small diffraction angles.
20
y (mm)

Finally, it is worth noting that the study reported in this

0 paper has been focused on deformation characterization of an
0
initially flat object. For an initially curved object, one can
-0.5 -20 perform deformation measurement by first correlating speckle
images from different diffraction orders and reconstructing the
-40
initial 3D profile of the object. Some preliminary work has
-0.5 0 0.5 been done to prove the validity of this idea. Further work on
x (mm) this aspect is in progress, and will be reported elsewhere.

(b)
Out-of-plane displacement (pixel)

80 Conclusions
Measured
60 True A new DIC-based experimental method, called the Diffrac-
40 tion Assisted Image Correlation (DAIC) method, has been
20
(a)
0
d
-20
d
-40
-60 e// A
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1
en P

x (mm) e
B
Fig. 8 Measurement of an out-of-plane displacement field associated
with rigid-body rotation about an axis parallel to the y axis. (a) P+
Measured out-of-plane displacement field; (b) comparison between C
the measured and true displacement profiles along y00
Transmission
zeroth-order images does not include the out-of-plane dis- grating
placement, w, while the image correlation corresponding to
the first order contains the projected component of w. (b)
1.3
Hence, the following equations can be deduced to obtain
the 3D displacement components,
1.2

uðx; yÞ ¼ U 0 ðx; yÞ; 1.1

vðx; yÞ ¼ V 0 ðx; yÞ; ð9a; b; cÞ
ðU 0 ðx;yÞU þ1 ðx;yÞÞ
d ( ) 1
wðx; yÞ ¼ tan θ ; d / cos 3
0.9 = 5 deg
where U0 and V0 represent the in-plane displacements = 10 deg
obtained by performing 2D-DIC on the zeroth-order images. 0.8 = 20 deg
An experiment to validate the proposed approach (whose
= 40 deg
results are not presented here) using a blazed grating with 0.7
300 lines/mm groove density and first-order diffraction an- -10 -5 0 5 10
gle of 10.98° (NT49-575, Edmund Optics, Barrington, NJ) (degrees)
was carried out and has shown preliminary success. A
drawback of using blazed gratings, however, is that the Fig. 9 (a) Ray diagram illustrating formation of a virtual image by
first-order diffraction of a transmission grating; (b) plots of d + as a
zeroth-order and first-order images have different object function of Δθ for different values of first-order diffraction angle. d + is


planes that are separated apart by d 1 cos3 θ  1 (d is normalized by the limiting value of d + as Δθ approaches zero
764
developed for 3D displacement measurement of small to
moderately sized objects (~100 microns to a few centi-
meters). By utilizing a one-dimensional (line) transmission
grating to obtain multiple-angle views of a test specimen,
the proposed method provides a simple and yet effective
solution to 3D displacement characterization with only a
single camera and 2D-DIC calculation. The validity and
accuracy of the method have been successfully demonstrat-
ed through 3D displacement measurement of a small soft
membrane. This method eliminates the need for stereoscop-
ic imaging and/or use of multiple mirrors, thus resulting in a
compact and simple setup. The use of 2D correlation and
algebraic operations to obtain full 3D displacements instead
of 3D correlation used in traditional methods significantly
reduces the computational effort. With minimal effort, this
method can be implemented into microscopy systems for
deformation characterization of micro-scale objects, such as
MEMS devices, micro/nano structured materials, and bio-
logical tissues and cells.
Acknowledgments The research reported in this paper was con-
ducted while SX was a postdoctoral scholar and AG was a summer
undergraduate research fellow (SURF) in the Graduate Aerospace
Laboratories at the California Institute of Technology (GALCIT). It
was supported by the Caltech Center for the Predictive Modeling and
Simulation of High-Energy Density Dynamic Response of Materials
through the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security
Administration Award# DE-FC52-08NA28613, which is gratefully
acknowledged. The authors thank M. Mello and J. Notbohm for
stimulating discussions.
Appendix: Location of a virtual image formed
by diffraction of a transmission grating
The ray diagram in Fig. 9(a) shows two selected rays
from a monochromatic point source of light, P, which is
placed at a distance, d, from a transmission line grating.
The definitions of the three unit vectors (e⊥, e//, en) are
the same as those in Fig. 1. The first-order diffraction
angle of the grating is θ ¼ sin1 ðl=pÞ where l is the
wavelength of the light and p is the pitch of the grating.
The first ray (PB) impinges the grating at an angle of θ,
and bends toward the normal to the grating surface after
passing through the grating. The second incident ray
(PC) deviates from the first by an angle of Δθ, resulting
in a different angle of diffraction, Δα. When one traces
back the diffracted rays, a virtual image is formed at P +,
where the two back-projected rays intersect. According to
the geometric relationship depicted in Fig. 9(a), the dis-
tance between P + and the grating is
jBC j tanðθ þ ΔθÞ  tan θ
d þ ðΔθÞ ¼ ¼d : ðA1Þ
tan Δa tan Δa
Exp Mech (2013) 53:755–765
Then, the grating equation sinðθ þ ΔθÞ  sin Δa ¼
l=p ¼ sin θ is invoked to obtain an expression for Δα.
By substituting this expression into equation (A1) one gets,
tanðθ þ ΔθÞ  tan θ
d þ ðΔθÞ ¼ d  : ðA2Þ
tan sin1 ½sinðθ þ ΔθÞ  sin θ
The limiting value of d + as Δθ approaches zero can be
obtained analytically. Denote the numerator in equation
(A2) by f (Δθ), and the denominator by g(Δθ). Both f(Δθ)
and g(Δθ) vanish as Δθ approaches zero. Using L’Hospi-
tal’s rule, in the limit as Δθ approaches zero,
f 0 jΔθ!0 d
d þ jθ!0 ¼ d ¼ : ðA3Þ
g jΔθ!0 cos3 θ
0
Figure 9(b) plots the curves of d + (normalized by

d cos3 θ) versus Δθ for various values of θ. It is seen that

d + varies around d cos3 θ with change in Δθ, implying a
non-zero thickness of the virtual image. d + is observed to be
less sensitive to change in Δθ when θ is small.
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