As part of a study into the torsional behaviour of stainless steel beams, a relatively small device has been developed to accurately measure the 3D rotation over the full 360° range. This device is an accelerometer based tilt sensor, or inclinometer, which enables the user to obtain real-time rotations. Together with these inclinometers, the innovative technique Digital Image Correlation (DIC) can be applied in order to combine the advantages of both systems. This paper describes the development of these inclinometers and the application of Digital Image Correlation to extract rotations.
