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A method of measuring a load on a surface produced by a contact force. An elastic film or coating is located on a supporting surface to provide an indication of normal and tangential or shear forces applied to the surface. A thickness measurement, corresponding to a normal displacement, and a tangen

A method of measuring a load on a surface produced by a contact force. An elastic film or coating is located on a supporting surface to provide an indication of normal and tangential or shear forces applied to the surface. A thickness measurement, corresponding to a normal displacement, and a tangential displacement of the film, corresponding to a shear displacement, is obtained and input to a response function to reconstruct the normal and shear load components of the contact force on the surface. A differential thickness measurement of the film is detected by an optical method in which a luminescent output from a luminophore in the film is measured. A luminescent output from a reference luminophore located below the film is also measured to provide a measurement system independent of the illumination source used to produce the luminescent output.

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What is claimed is: 1. A method of measuring a contact force on a surface comprising: providing an elastomeric coating material on the surface; subjecting a side of the coating material opposite from the surface to a contact force; measuring a first optical measurement value from the coating mater

What is claimed is: 1. A method of measuring a contact force on a surface comprising: providing an elastomeric coating material on the surface; subjecting a side of the coating material opposite from the surface to a contact force; measuring a first optical measurement value from the coating material corresponding to a normal stress based on a change in thickness of the coating material resulting from the contact force; measuring a second optical measurement value from the coating material corresponding to a shear stress produced by the contact force; and determining a contact load value for at least one of a plurality of locations on the surface based on both the first and second optical measurement values at the at least one location. 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the load value determined for the at least one location is expressed in terms of a differential measurement. 3. The method of claim 1 including providing an optical sensor, and positioning the optical sensor for receiving the first and second optical measurement values substantially simultaneously. 4. The method of claim 1 including a calibration step for determining a relative thickness of the coating material at each of the plurality of locations on the surface. 5. The method of claim 1 wherein the first optical measurement value comprises the magnitude of a luminescent output from the coating material and the second optical measurement value comprises a displacement of the coating material in a direction transverse to the thickness of the coating material. 6. The method of claim 1 including a base luminophore located in the coating material and a reference luminophore located adjacent the surface opposite the side subjected to the contact force, where the step of measuring the first optical measurement value comprises measuring optical emissions from the base and reference luminophores at the time the contact force is applied. 7. The method of claim 6 wherein the reference luminophore has a different luminescent spectra than that of the base luminophore, and at least a portion of the luminescent spectra of the reference luminophore lies in the absorption spectra of the base luminophore. 8. The method of claim 1 wherein the contact force is produced by a fluid flow over the surface. 9. The method of claim 1 wherein the surface is optically transparent and including providing an optically opaque layer on the side of the coating material opposite from the surface, and where the step of subjecting the coating material to a contact force comprises applying the contact force to the opaque layer and receiving the first and second optical measurement values through the optically transparent surface. 10. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining the load value comprises inputting a value corresponding to a normal stress, as determined from the first optical measurement value, and a value corresponding to a shear stress, as determined from the second optical measurement value, into a response function coupling the normal and shear stress values. 11. The method of claim 1 including the steps of estimating the thickness of the coating material at the at least one location, estimating an elastic response function at the at least one location, and producing a response function for the entire coating material using the estimated thickness and estimated response function. 12. The method of claim 1 wherein the coating material comprises a force sensitive film, and including the step of selecting a shear stress modulus and thickness of the pressure sensitive film with reference to a shear sensitivity. 13. The method of claim 1 wherein the coating material comprises a pressure sensitive elastomeric material. 14. A method of measuring a contact force on a surface comprising: providing an elastomeric coating material on the surface; providing a base luminophore in the coating material; providing a reference luminophore adjacent the surface; subjecting a side of the coating material opposite from the surface to a contact force; measuring a first component of a first optical measurement value corresponding to an optical emission from the base luminophore based on a change in thickness of the coating material resulting from the contact force; measuring a second component of the first optical measurement value corresponding to an optical emission from the reference luminophore; and determining a contact load value for at least one location on the surface based on the first and second components of the first optical measurement value, as measured at the at least one location. 15. The method of claim 14 wherein the reference luminophore has a different luminescent spectra than that of the base luminophore, and at least a portion of the luminescent spectra of the reference luminophore lies in the absorption spectra of the base luminophore. 16. The method of claim 14 including performing a calibration step comprising determining a ratio relating the luminescence of the reference luminophore to the luminescence of the base luminophore. 17. The method of claim 14 including the step of measuring a second optical measurement value corresponding to a displacement of the coating material in a direction transverse to the thickness of the coating material. 18. The method of claim 17 where the step of determining the load value comprises inputting a value corresponding to a normal stress, as determined from the first optical measurement value, and a value corresponding to a shear stress, as determined from the second optical measurement value, into a response function coupling the normal and shear stresses. 19. The method of claim 14 wherein the measured first and second components of the first optical measurement value comprise a function of an instantaneous thickness of the coating material to provide a measure of the contact force. 20. A method of measuring a contact force on a surface comprising: providing an elastomeric coating material on the surface; providing a base luminophore in the coating material; providing a reference luminophore adjacent the surface; subjecting the coating material to a contact force; measuring a first component of a first optical measurement value corresponding to an optical emission from the base luminophore; measuring a second component of the first optical measurement value corresponding to an optical emission from the reference luminophore; determining a contact load value for at least one location on the surface based on the first and second components of the first optical measurement value, as measured at the at least one location; and wherein the base luminophore emits a luminescence at an emission wavelength λa and an intensity Ia and reference luminophore emits luminescence at a different emission wavelength λb and an intensity Ib, and where the step of determining a load value includes detecting luminescent outputs Ia0 and Ib0 from the base and reference luminophores, respectively, at a first load condition, detecting luminescent outputs Ia1 and Ib1 from the base and reference luminophores, respectively, at a second load condition, and determining a normal deformation of the coating material at the at least one location using the ratio (Ia1Ib0/Ia0Ib1). 21. The method of claim 20 wherein at least a portion of the luminescent spectra of the reference luminophore lies in the absorption spectra of the base luminophore. 22. The method of claim 20 wherein the first load condition comprises applying a known normal contact force to the surface for calibrating the load measurement, and the second load condition comprises applying an unknown contact force to the surface. 23. The method of claim 22 wherein the unknown contact force comprises application of a fluid flow over the surface to apply the second load condition. 24. A method of measuring a contact force on a surface comprising: providing an elastomeric coating material on the surface; subjecting a side of the coating material opposite from the surface to a contact force; obtaining a thickness measurement value corresponding to a change in thickness of the coating material resulting from application of the contact force at the time the contact force is applied; and determining a load value for at least one of a plurality of locations on the surface based on the thickness measurement value. 25. The method of claim 24 where the step of determining the load value comprises inputting a value corresponding to a normal stress, as determined from the thickness measurement value, and a value corresponding to a shear stress into a response function coupling the normal and shear stresses. 26. The method of claim 24 including performing a calibration step by applying a known force to the coating material and measuring an optical measurement value corresponding to the known force. 27. The method of claim 24 wherein the step of obtaining a thickness measurement value comprises measuring a luminescent output from the coating material.