MEEN 486

Strain Gage
Measurement and Data
Acquisition

Strain Gage

Electrical component
Bonded to material
Strains as material strains
Resistance changes as gage strains
R=120 (nominal)

Strain Gage
Calibration information
Manufacturer provides gage factor
or GF

R/R

2.x typical

m=GF

L/L

Strain Gage
Equation

R / R
GF

Measure R and change in R

Calculate strain ()
So how do we measure R?

Measure R
Fluke DMM
Measure R directly

Agilent DMM
Measure R directly
Data to PC if desired

Balance or Deflection
Measure R using Wheatstone Bridge
R1 is the strain gage
R2 is a variable resistor
Balanced:
Eo is Galvanometer
Achieve null i
Manual (slow) or feedback

Deflection:
Eo is voltmeter
Direct! Fast!

Deflection Bridge
Measure voltage output of bridge
Calculate unknown resistance R1
(strain gage) R
R

E E

Equation
R R R R
o

Equation for R1
E from
R measured E o

R1

E
i

R3 R4

Eo
R3

Ei R3 R4

Deflection Bridge and Highspeed DAQ

Connect USB-6008 to Deflection Bridge
Measure voltage
Calculate R1

10,000 samples per second

12 bit
Recall
Resolution
Quantization error u0
Q

EFSR
?
M
2

eq Q / 2

EFSR
2 * 2M

LabVIEW Review
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MEEN 382 F2010

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your memory
BH 118A or install on Laptop (30 day?)
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Strain Gage
Lets try it out
Deflect beam/strain gage
Observe R change
Deflect beam
Observe voltage change on Deflection
Bridge
Calculate R1 from Bridge Equation
Calculate from Strain Gage Equation
How good is the answer?

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