MECHENG 3501

Level III

LABORATORIES
Semester 1 2016
COORDINATOR:
Antoni Blazewicz
E-MAIL: antoni.blazewicz@adelaide.edu.au

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LAB 6: Solid Mechanics

Part 2: Internal Pressure Calculation of a Pepsi Can
A/Prof Andrei Kotousov, Zhuang He

Aims:
Familiarise students with a three-dimensional optical displacement measurement technique called digital
image correlation (DIC). Students will learn to:

Acquire images and calibrate the Vic-3D system.

Acquire and analyse images after calibration.

Use post processing tools of the Vic-3D system to quantify displacement and strain.

The main focus of this experiment is to calculate the internal pressure of an unopened Pepsi can based
on the measured displacement/strain data.

1. Introduction
1.1 Background
The experimental strain gage technique for the measurement of stress and stain involves cumbersome
processes of surface preparation, bonding of the gages, and soldering connections to the strain recording
instruments. In cases where its not able to bond strain gages to the surface of the test specimen or when
expansive surface deformation measurements are needed, alternate strain measurement techniques are
required. In such cases a technique called digital image correlation (DIC) can be used to measure strains
in test specimen undergoing deformation. DIC is an optical method that tracks the movement of random
dot patterns on the surface of the specimen to calculate three-dimensional displacements and strains.
This method will be adopted for the purpose of the current experiment.
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The method comprises three main steps:

1. Applying a random dot pattern on the surface of the test specimen.
2. Using cameras to capture images of the surface.
3. Using a computer algorithm to track the movement of the dots. This algorithm defines a
rectangular boundary, called the subset (indicated in red in Fig.1), and then tracks the changes
of all dots inside this subset.

Figure 1: Random speckle pattern on the surface of the test specimen.

The math behind the DIC algorithm essentially maps dots back to their original configurations, enabling
computations of dot displacement. The mapping equations dont have exact solutions, so the program
estimates mapping solutions as each time step. Another important parameter is step size: how many
pixels the algorithm allows dots to move before it creates its next subset. Normally this should be set no
more than half the size of the subset.
1.2 Vic-3D system
The Vic-3D system (Correlated Solutions, Inc., Columbia, USA) will be employed in this experiment.
It provides full field, three-dimensional measurements of shape, displacement and strain via the DIC
algorithm. It can measure strains from approximately 50 microstrain to approximately 1000% strain, for
specimen sizes ranging from ~ 8 mm to several meters. The displacement resolution will scale with the
field of view. The measuring error will depend heavily on the speckle pattern quality. Typical noise
levels for a good test are around 1/100000 of the field of view, so, approximately a micron at 100 mm.
The Vic-3D system incorporates:

The image acquisition

and correlation

software

Two digital cameras

A pair of (FUJINON) lenses with adjustable focal lengths

A camera stand

Standard (LED) light source

Calibration grids
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2. Theory
In this experiment, we will examine the internal pressure of an aluminum Pepsi can. When a Pepsi can
is opened the walls of the can undergo strain, which can be quantified in two directions, one being the
circumferentially around the can and the other being lengthwise or parallel to the axis of the can. The
pressure change inside of the can is easily determined once we know the values of hoop or longitudinal
strain.
2.1 Specimen geometry
In the case of this experiment, a Pepsi can will be simplified as a thin cylindrical vessel (see Fig. 2). The
dimensions of the Pepsi can are: total length L = 130 mm, internal radius r = 32.895 mm and wall
thickness of the cylinder t = 0.105 mm. The Pepsi can was fabricated from 3004 Al alloy with Youngs
modulus E = 72 GPa and Poissons ratio = 0.35.

P
r

Figure 2: Half of a thin cylindrical vessel subjected to internal pressure.

2.2 Calculating pressure from strain
Fig. 2 shows the hoop and longitudinal stresses acting on an element on the cylinder surface.
Total force on half cylinder owing to internal pressure = P 2 r L.
The resisting force owing to hoop stress set up in the cylinder walls = 2 t L.
Therefore, hoop stress =

Consider now the cylindrical vessel shown in Fig. 3.

Total force on the end of the cylinder owing to internal pressure = P r .
The resisting force owing to longitudinal stress = 2 r t.
Therefore, longitudinal stress =

Then, for plane stress condition, we have:

Longitudinal strain =

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Figure 3: Cross section of the thin cylindrical vessel.

3. Experimental Procedure
3.1 Preparation of speckled surface
Step 1: Paint the specimen surface using white spray paint, let the white paint dry.
Step 2: Spray black paint, which creates random speckle pattern (e.g. speckled surface shown in Fig. 4).

Figure 4: Speckled surface.

3.2 Calibration
Set up the Vic-3D system as shown in Fig. 5. Plug the USB connectors of the two cameras into the
computer. Open the image acquisition (Vic Snap) software. Create a new folder with your group name.
The acquired images will be stored in this folder. A live feed of the two cameras will appear on the
screen (one on the left and the other on the right).
It is now time to set focus. Use the focus control on your lenses to achieve a sharp focus on the surface
of the specimen. In addition, it is also necessary to adjust the brightness of the image. There are three
ways available for this: (1) light source control, (2) aperture setting on the lenses, and (3) the exposure
time setting of the camera. Once above settings are complete, the live feed should be bright but there
should be no overdriven (red) pixels in the field of view (note that red pixels indicate an excess of light
which adversely affect the analysis).

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Figure 5: Vic-3D (Correlated Solutions, Inc., Columbia, USA) set up.

Select a calibration grid that approximately occupies 80% of the field of view (note that if the grid is too
large, it will be difficult to keep it fully in the field of view in both cameras; if the grid is too small, it
may be difficult for Vic-3D to automatically extract points). Hold the calibration grid at a distance
approximately equal to where the free surface of the specimen was. One student moves the grid in space,
simultaneously another student captures images, 20 ~ 35 images will be a good number.
To calibrate the system using the acquired images, open the image correlation (Vic-3D) software. Click
on Add Calibration Images

. Select all the calibration images stored in the folder, then click on

Analyse . For each image, a score will be displayed (see Fig. 6) representing the error between the
identified position of a target point in the image and theoretically predicted position of this point. Good
scores will be shown in green and bad scores will be in red. To remove a certain image from the
calibration, simply right click on it and select Remove Point. An overall error score will be displayed
in the lower right. If this score is green, then the calibration is good and you can click Accept to finish.
Otherwise, redo the calibration process.

Figure 6: Stereo system calibration process.

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3.3 Correlation in Vic-3D

Acquire test images using Vic Snap software. Capture an image of the unopened Pepsi can. This will
be the reference image. Then capture 10 images after opening the can. Re-open Vic-3D. Click on Add
Speckle Images

. Select all the test images stored in the folder.

Create an area of interest using the AOI tools as shown in Fig. 7. Select the Polygon tool from the set of
AOI tools (second from the left). Then click a series of points to define the boundaries of the area of
interest, double click to finish. The defined area of interest (as shown in red) is the portion of the image
that will be analysed for shape, displacement and strain.

AOI tools

Figure 7: Defining an area of interest.

Next, set the subset size and step size for this area of interest. The default values (subset size = 29 and
step size = 7) work well for most speckle patterns. Click on Start Analysis

, then click on Run.

3.4 Viewing and extracting data

When the analysis is complete, the new data will be displayed in the data tab at left. Double click on a
file to view. Right click to select show 2D or 3D plot. You may also right click and show different
contour variables, including:

X, Y, Z (surface geometry in x-, y-, z-axes, respectively)

U, V, W (displacement in x-, y-, z-axes, respectively)

exx, eyy, exy (strain in x- and y-axes and shear strain)

e1, e2 (first and second principal strain)

gamma (principal strain angle)

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Use post processing tools of the Vic-3D system to quantify surface geometry Y and displacement V. To
begin, select the Inspect Line
tool from the Inspector toolbar (third from the left). Define a line that
parallel to the axis of the can by clicking two endpoints (see Fig. 8). Next, click the Plot Extractions
button (farthest right) in the Inspector toolbar. Finally, save the extraction by clicking on Export.
The selected results will be saved in a CSV file. Note that the longitudinal strain that required for
calculating internal pressure of the cylindrical vessel can be simply obtained as = .

Figure 8: Two-dimensional contour plot of surface geometry Y.

Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the scientific and technical assistance of Dr. Mark Pankow, the Department
of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, North Carolina State University.

References
1. Correlated solutions Vic-3D-v7-Guide.
2. North Carolina State University Stress and strain measurement using digital image correlation.
3. Sutton A, Orteu JJ, Schreier HW (2009) Image correlation for shape motion and deformation
measurements. Springer, New York.

Report Structure
a.
b.
c.
d.

Title of the report, author, student ID and date.

Introduction addressing the aims of the practice.
Brief description of the typical sequence for completing an experimental test with Vic-3D system.
Results and discussion: (1) Surface geometry (show 3D plot); (2) Contour plots of in-plane
displacement V (show 2D plot); (3) Plot the displacement V as a function of the surface geometry Y
for the defined line; (4) Calculate longitudinal strain and internal pressure of the Pepsi can.
e. Conclusion.
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