9/23/2016 HowIsTemperatureAffectingYourStrainMeasurementAccuracy?

NationalInstruments

HowIsTemperatureAffectingYourStrainMeasurementAccuracy?
PublishDate:Mar15,2016

Overview
Inmechanicaltestingandmeasurement,itisoftenimportanttounderstandhowanobject
reactstovariousforces.Youcommonlymeasurestrain,ortheamountofdeformationofa
bodybecauseofthoseappliedforces,usingastraingage.Whenusingastraingage,you
bondthestraingagetothedeviceundertest,applyforce,andmeasurethestrainby
detectingchangesinresistance.Ideally,wewouldliketheresistanceofthestraingageto
changeonlyinresponsetoappliedstrain.However,straingagematerial,theleadwiring,as
wellasthespecimenmaterialtowhichthegageisapplied,alsorespondstochangesin
temperature.Temperaturerelatedeffectsarethemostcommoncausesoferrorinstrain
measurements.

TableofContents
1.StrainGageMeasurements
2.CompensatingforTemperatureDriftoftheSensor
3.PreventErrorsCausedbyLeadResistances
4.MinimizeTemperatureEffectswithHalfBridgeandFullBridgeSensors
5.GageExcitationandSelfHeating
6.Summary

1.StrainGageMeasurements
Themostwidelyusedgageisthebondedmetallicstraingage.Themetallicstraingage
consistsofaveryfinewireor,morecommonly,metallicfoilarrangedinagridpattern.The
gridpatternmaximizestheamountofmetallicwireorfoilsubjecttostrainintheparallel
direction.Thecrosssectionalareaofthegridisminimizedtoreducetheeffectofshear
strainandPoissonstrain.Thegridisbondedtoathinbacking,calledthecarrier,whichis
attacheddirectlytothetestspecimen.Therefore,thestrainexperiencedbythetest
specimenistransferreddirectlytothestraingage,whichrespondswithalinearchangein
electricalresistance.Straingagesareavailablecommerciallywiththemostcommon
nominalresistancevaluesof120,350,and1,000.

Inpractice,thestrainmeasurementsrarelyinvolvequantitieslargerthanafewmillistrain.
Therefore,tomeasurethestrainrequiresaccuratemeasurementofverysmallchangesin
resistance.Thegagefactorisastraingage'ssensitivitytostrain,expressedquantitativelyas
ratiooffractionalchangeinelectricalresistancetothefractionalchangeinlength.For
example,supposeatestspecimenundergoesasubstantialstrainof500me(microstrain).A
straingagewithagagefactorof2exhibitsachangeinelectricalresistanceofonly2*
(500*106)=0.1%.Fora120gage,thisisachangeofonly0.12.Tomeasuresuch
smallchangesinresistance,andcompensateforthetemperaturesensitivity,straingages
arealmostalwaysusedinabridgeconfigurationwithavoltageorcurrentexcitationsource.

ThegeneralWheatstonebridgecircuit,illustratedbelow,consistsoffourresistivearmswith
anexcitationvoltage,VEX,thatisappliedacrossthebridge.Theoutputvoltageofthebridge,
VO,isequalto:

Figure1.WheatstoneBridgeCircuit

Fromthisequation,itisapparentthatwhenR1/R2=R4/R3,thevoltageoutputVOiszero.
Undertheseconditions,thebridgeissaidtobebalanced.Anychangeinresistanceinany
armofthebridgeresultsinanonzerooutputvoltage.Therefore,ifwereplaceR4inFigure1
withanactivestraingage,anychangesinthestraingageresistanceunbalancethebridge
andproduceanonzerooutputvoltagethatisafunctionofstrain.
2.CompensatingforTemperatureDriftoftheSensor
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9/23/2016 HowIsTemperatureAffectingYourStrainMeasurementAccuracy?NationalInstruments
2.CompensatingforTemperatureDriftoftheSensor

Straingagemanufacturersattempttominimizesensitivitytotemperaturebyprocessingthe
gagematerialtocompensateforthethermalexpansionofthespecimenmaterialforwhich
thegageisintended.Whilecompensatedgagesreducethethermalsensitivity,theydonot
totallyremoveit.Aresidualerrorontheorderof10me/Cisstillpossiblewhenyouusea
temperaturecompensatinggage.Therefore,additionaltemperaturecompensationis
sometimesnecessary.

Furthercorrectionispossiblebymeasuringtemperatureandusingacorrectioncurveto
correctthedata.Manufacturersprintthepolynomialcoefficientsofthiscurvetofourthorder
oneachpackageofgages(seeFigure2below).Withthecoefficientsyoucanconduct
temperaturecorrectioninsoftware.Anerrorassmallas1me/Cispossibleusingthis
technique.

Figure2.ThermalOutputRating
3.PreventErrorsCausedbyLeadResistances
Leadwireresistancesalsovarywithtemperature,andcanhaveagreateffectonthe
accuracyofstraingagemeasurements.Evenifyouhaveinitiallybalancedthesystem,
changesintheleadwireresistancewithtemperaturecanstillintroducelargeerrorsinstatic
measurements.Thiscanoccureventhoughtheleadwireresistanceismuchsmallerthan
thebridgeresistance,whichisnotsurprisingconsideringthatthetemperaturecoefficientof
copperistypicallytwoordersofmagnitudegreaterthanthetemperaturecoefficientofthe
gages.

Althoughyoucouldconnecttothegagewithtwowiresinaquarterbridgecircuit,drift
causedbyleadwiretemperaturechangewouldbeenormous.Forthisreason,youalways
performstaticmeasurementsusingthethreewirecircuit,shownhereinFigure3.Thebridge
remainsbalancedaslongasleadwireresistancesRLtrackwithtemperature.

Figure3.TwoWireandThreeWireConnectionsforQuarterBridgeSensors
4.MinimizeTemperatureEffectswithHalfBridgeandFullBridgeSensors
ByusingtwoorfourstraingagesinaWheatstonebridge,youcanminimizetheeffectof
temperature.Thesearecalledhalfbridgeandfullbridgeconfigurations,respectively.See
Figures4and5.Withallstraingagesinabridgeatthesametemperatureandmountedon
thesamematerial,anychangesintemperatureaffectallgagesinthesameway.Because
thetemperaturechangesareidenticalinthegages,theratiooftheirresistancedoesnot
change,andtheoutputvoltageofthegagedoesnotchange.Thesimplestwayyoucan
correctfortemperaturedriftisbyusinghalfbridgeorfullbridgeconfigurations.

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9/23/2016 HowIsTemperatureAffectingYourStrainMeasurementAccuracy?NationalInstruments

Figure4.HalfBridgeConfiguration

Figure5.FullBridgeConfiguration
5.GageExcitationandSelfHeating
Thechangeinoutputvoltageforagivenlevelofstrainincreasesindirectproportiontothe
excitationvoltage.Increasingexcitationvoltagethusimprovessignaltonoiseratio,buta
practicallimitisreachedwhentheilleffectsofgageselfheatingbecomepredominant.For
steel,werecommendanexcitationlevelbetween2to5watts/in2.Anoptimumexcitation
voltageisbestdeterminedbyanexperimentalprocedure.Withnoloadapplied,youshould
examinethezeropointofthechannelwhileexcitationlevelisprogressivelyraised.Once
instabilityinthezeroreadingisobserved,youshouldlowertheexcitationuntilstability
returns.Itisbesttoperformthisexperimentatthehighesttemperatureoverwhichyouare
takingmeasurements.Obviously,usinglargergagesandhigherresistancegages350
insteadof120ohmsdecreasesthepowerperunitareadissipated,andhigherexcitation
voltageispossible.
6.Summary

Temperaturerelatedeffectsareoneofthemostcommoncausesofmeasurementerrorwith
straingages.Bychoosingtheappropriatesensorfortheapplication(compensatedquarter,
half,orfullbridge)andusingthepropermeasurementtechniques(wiring,excitation,and
softwarelinearization)youcanminimizetemperaturedrifteffectsandachievetheaccuracy
requiredforyourapplication.

RelatedLinks
MeasuringStrainWithStrainGages(http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/3642)

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