The invention discloses an ectopic digital volume correlation method based on displacement gradient decomposition. The ectopic digital volume correlation method based on displacement gradient decomposition comprises the following steps that primary three-dimensional imaging is conducted on a sample so as to obtain three-dimensional image data G1 (x, y, z) before the sample is deformed; ectopic deformation is conducted on the sample, secondary three-dimensional imaging is conducted on the deformed sample so as to obtain three-dimensional image data G2 (x, y, z) after the sample is deformed; a displacement field u (x, y, z) between the three-dimensional image data G1 (x, y, z) before the sample is deformed and the three-dimensional image data G2 (x, y, z) after the sample is deformed is calculated by means of DVC, and the displacement field u (x, y, z) comprises a rigid displacement field uR (x, y, z) and a deformation displacement field uD (x, y, z); a displacement gradient T (x, y, z) is calculated out by means of the displacement field u (x, y, z); a deformation displacement gradient D (x, y, z) and a rotation displacement gradient R (x, y, z) are calculated with a displacement gradient decomposition method; the rigid displacement field uR (x, y, z) is calculated by means of the rotation displacement gradient R (x, y, z) and boundary conditions; the deformation displacement field uD (x, y, z) is calculated by means of the displacement field u (x, y, z) and the rigid displacement field uR (x, y, z), and the deformation displacement field uD (x, y, z) of the sample is a three-dimensional displacement field after the sample is deformed in situ. The ectopic digital volume correlation method based on displacement gradient decomposition not only overcomes difficulties of in-situ on-line experiments in an in-situ digital volume correlation method, but also has a high degree of accuracy and high precision.