Introducing Photoelasticity — a simulation of circular and elliptical polarisation

Abstract

That there are difficulties in introducing the subject of photoelasticity to engineering students is widely recognised. These difficulties are of two kinds — the student with whom we are concerned seldom has a very deep knowledge of physics, although modern trends in technical education are doing something to rectify that. Secondly the traditional way of teaching strength of materials, with the emphasis on isolated topics (for example: stresses in beams, shear stress distribution, thick cylinders and the rest) makes it difficult for the links between these studies to be fully grasped, and the ‘field approach’ is never developed. The student practically has to relearn his elasticity before he can do any useful work.

Citation

Pallett, G. and Greenwood, J.D. (1961), "Introducing Photoelasticity — a simulation of circular and elliptical polarisation", Education + Training, Vol. 3 No. 3, pp. 31-33. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb014950