Strain Concentration Characterization for the Multi-Tooth Contact Based on Multi-Resolution Digital Image Correlation and Orthogonal Analysis

The strain concentration analysis is of great importance in multi-tooth contact problems. However it still lacks of effective approach for its experimental characterization. In this paper, the strain concentration state of the multi-tooth structure was characterized based on an optical metrology and orthogonal analysis. A proposed multi-resolution segmentation-aided digital image correlation method was adopted to measure the deformation of the contact body. To identify the stain concentration areas, a threshold segmentation method was implemented and the strain distributions in these regions were recalculated. Based on the orthogonal design and the measurement results, the influences of different structural parameters to the strain concentration were distinguished and quantified. A series of tests was carried out and the proposed method was implemented to analyze the contact between chain connectors. Results showed that the influences of the parameters to the strain concentration have significant differences, and the optimal factors were determined accordingly.