EXPERIMENTAL STRESS ANALYSIS OF PROPELLER BLADES UTILIZING PHOTOELASTIC COATING TECHNIQUES.

The photoelastic coating technique gives the magnitude and direction of principal stresses as well as the location and intensity of probable stress concentrations on the surface of a component subjected to load. In this investigation, the technique was applied to a statically loaded, skewed propeller blade to demonstrate its feasibility. The blade was coated with a moldable photoelastic plastic and data was obtained with a commercial reflectance polariscope. Principal stress distributions were determined from photoelastic data at selected sections and are graphically portrayed.