Photoelastic Stress Patterns: An Analytical Method for Producing Facsimilies of Experimental Results

A piece of glass, bent or strained, produces brilliantly colored patterns when polarized light is transmitted through it. This discovery, by David Brewster, is the essence of the photoelastic method. A discussion of the Stress-Optic Law and its empirical nature is presented as a supporting argument for a modified equation from which photoelastic patterns can be produced by analytical methods.