Application of an improved subpixel registration algorithm on digital speckle correlation measurement

Digital speckle correlation method (DSCM) has been widely used in experimental mechanics to obtain the surface deformation fields. One of the challenges in practical applications is how to obtain the high accuracy with far less computation complexity. To determine the subpixel registration of the DSCM, a high efficient gradient-based algorithm is developed in this paper. The principle is described and four different modes of the algorithm are given. Based on computer-simulated images, the optimal mode of the algorithm is verified through the comparison of computation time, optimal subset-region size and sensitivity of the four modes. The influences of speckle-granule size and speckle-granule density on accuracy are studied and a quantitative estimation of the optimal speckle-granule size range is obtained. As the applications of this method, the practical deformation measurements with the rigid body translation and rotation as well as an experiment on biomechanics are presented to certify the feasibility and the validity of the algorithm. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.