Smart DIC: User-independent, accurate and precise DIC measurement with self-adaptively selected optimal calculation parameters

Existing subset-based digital image correlation (DIC) must rely on user-selected key calculation parameters (i.e., subset size and shape function) to proceed with displacement/deformation analysis. However, the lack of clear guidelines for selecting these parameters leads to varying choices among users, thus introducing artificial uncertainty in DIC measurements. Previous theoretical analyses and experimental studies revealed that optimal calculation parameters must account for both local speckle pattern quality and deformation at each required point. That means these key parameters should vary at each calculation point, posing a significant challenge for optimal parameter selection. To tackle this challenge, a novel Smart-DIC is proposed to achieve user-independent, accurate and precise displacement field measurements. This method comprehensively considers the local speckle pattern quality and local deformation at each calculation point, and gives the explicit formulas to determine optimal calculation parameters. Based on these optimal calculation parameters, Smart-DIC outputs accurate and precise displacement measurements without the need for users’ inputs. To validate its metrological performance, numerical tests were processed using data from DIC Challenge 1.0 and real images of tensile tests of a commercial AL-based alloy. The experimental results underscore the capacity of Smart-DIC to efficiently achieve accurate and precise displacement measurements across various scenarios by automatically selecting optimal subset sizes and shape functions.