Comparative analysis of digital image correlation techniques for in-plane displacement measurements

Two-dimensional Digital Image Correlation (DIC) is widely accepted and commonly used in the field of experimental mechanics as a practical and effective tool for quantitative inplane deformation measurement of an object surface. Cross-Correlation and Least Square Matching are the two most popular techniques for the extraction of image correspondences based on similarities between grey values. A comparative analysis between these two approaches is presented performing a simple test on a traditional brick for construction mounted on a micrometric sledge. Performance analysis in cases where good image data cannot be assumed (e.g. being the specimen surface not properly patterned and/or the camera used gives low quality images) are considered in particular.