ESTIMATION OF MASONRY MECHANICAL CHARACTERISTICS BY ESPI FRINGE INTERPRETATION

Electronic speckle pattern interferometry (ESPI) can be a powerful too l for efficient non-destructive testing and evaluation of microdeforma tions of masonry materials and structures. Unlike traditional transduc ers, ESPI requires no direct contact with the object, and the full-fie ld visualisation it offers provides for a better understanding of the surface behaviour. This paper describes an in-plane deformation inspec tion system which has been built up for an automatic acquisition of in terferograms at different stages of a test. The system is applied to t he evaluation of some mechanical characteristics of masonry components . Qualitative and quantitative results are obtained and an overall dis cussion is presented.