Applications of Photoelasticity to Structural Analysis

The purpose of this paper is to give an overall view of some important applications of experimental stress analysis in the field of civil engineering that have taken place recently in France at the National Institute of Applied Sciences of Lyon. Problems encountered in the construction of large structures like buildings containing nuclear reactors and tunnels under rivers are described. The approach followed to manufacture photoelastic models and to evaluate the results is briefly presented. Of particular interest to American engineers should be the availability of epoxy-based materials exhibiting a range of moduli of elasticity at the freezing temperature. This permits the simulation of composite models like layered soils and permits the evaluation of the behavior of large structures as a whole, including the behavior of the foundation.