A Simple and Practical Single-Camera Stereo-Digital Image Correlation Using a Color Camera and X-Cube Prism

A simple and practical full-frame single-camera stereo-digital image correlation (stereo-DIC) technique for three-dimensional (3D) shape, displacement, and deformation measurements is proposed. The technique uses a compact X-cube prism-based color separation device and a color camera to capture images of blue and red colors from different optical paths, and then extracts the surface 3D shape and deformation information of a test sample by processing the captured two sub-channel color images using regular stereo-DIC algorithm. Compared with the existing full-frame single-camera stereo-DICs, the proposed one eliminates the need for a beam splitter and two bandpass filters to capture images, and offers more simple, compact, and easy-to-use optical arrangement. This novel single-camera stereo-DIC technique was validated by a series of baseline experiments involving 3D surface reconstructions, translation tests, and full-field deformation measurements, which provide a new flexible and practical avenue for measuring surface 3D shape and deformation, particularly in microscopic and high-speed applications.