METHODS FOR MONITORING COMPONENTS USING MICRO AND MACRO THREE-DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS

A method (300) of monitoring a component (10) includes providing (310) the component (10) which includes a body having an exterior surface (11) and a plurality of passive strain indicators (40) configured on the exterior surface (11). The method includes directly measuring (320) the component (10) with at least one three-dimensional data acquisition device (102). The direct measurement (320) generates a first point cloud (322) and a plurality of second point clouds (326). The first point cloud (322) corresponds to the exterior surface (11) and includes a plurality of first data points (324), each data point (324) having an X-axis coordinate, a Y-axis coordinate, and a Z-axis coordinate. Each second point cloud (326) corresponds to one of the plurality of passive strain indicators (40) and includes a plurality of second data points (328), each data point (328) having an X-axis coordinate, a Y-axis coordinate, and a Z-axis coordinate. A second data point (328) density of each second point cloud (326) is greater than a first data point (324) density of each first point cloud (322).