Measurement of through-thickness stresses using small holes

Abstract

Previously the deep-hole method was developed to measure residual stresses in thick-section engineering components. In this paper it is demonstrated that stresses arising from external applied loading can also be measured. A series of calibration studies using aluminium and steel samples, with thicknesses varying from 5 to 50 mm, are presented. The samples were subjected to tensions, bending and torsion. It is shown that the deep-hole method can measure linear and non-linear stress distributions.