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Strain Gauge Measurement

Techniques
Brooks Campbell,
Product Support Engineer:
Conditioned Measurements

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Session Outline

• What is strain?
• Methods of measuring strain
• Metal foil strain gauges
• Picking the right metal foil gauge
• Measuring strain
• Tips and tricks

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 What is Strain?

Engineering
Strain:
l l0
l
l0
l0 l0
l

Tensile Strain Compressive Strain

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 The Extensometer

• Invented by Dr. Charles Huston in 1879

• Mechanically amplifies changes in length
• Can be digitized
• Large and expensive

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Vibrating Wire/Resonant Sensors
• Rugged
• Can be embedded in
cement
• Immune to EM noise

T n
n
L

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 Fiber Bragg Grating Strain Sensors
• Single cable installation
• No remote power
requirements
• Immune to EM noise
• More NI Week
presentations on FBG
1
( ) 1
(V ) n0 B

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 Metal Foil Strain gauges
• Most commonly use Strain
sensor
• Cost effective
• Available for a wide range of
applications and environments

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History of the Metal Foil Strain gauge
•1856: Lord Kelvin
•first to discover that metallic materials
exhibited a change in resistance due to a
mechanical load
• 1938: Edward E. Simmons Jr.
•invented the first strain gauge using a
tiny wire at the California Institute of
Technology
• 1938: Arthur Claude Ruge
•Concurrently developed the SR-4 device
using four Tungsten filaments

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Strain and Resistance Change
L
R
A
resistivity
A A
A
L L
2 L 2

L L L A A A
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The Strain gauge
gauge backing (non-conducting) Test specimen

Force Force

Foil conductor Special Adhesive Leads

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 Gauge Factor
R/R R/R
GF
L/L
• The gauge Factor (GF) of a foil strain gauge is a
property of the metal used to pattern the gauge and
not the geometry of the gauge
• Typical foil gauge factors are 2-3.6, though
semiconductor gauges can be 50x larger

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 Selecting the Right Foil Strain Gauge
• Strain Sensing Alloys
• Gauge Length
• Gauge Pattern

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 Strain Sensing Alloys
Alloy Constantan Isoelastic Karma
Composition 55% Cu, 45% Ni Fe 55.5%, Ni 36% Ni 74%, Cr 20%, Al
Cr 8%, Mn 0.5% 3%, Fe 3%
Gauge Factor 2.1 3.6 2.0
Fatigue Life Good Best Good
Static Strain Better Good Best
Stability
Self temperature Yes No Yes
Compensation
Other Notes Resistance drifts Magnetoresistive, Difficult solder,
continuously Thermally -269°C to 260°C
above 65°C sensitive operating range

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 Gauge Length

Rule of thumb says that 0.1

Peak ε
the critical dimension is a
good gauge size
indicated
ε
ε
Note: gauges < 0.125 inches
have degraded
X performance

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 Gauge Pattern
• Solder tabs
• Grid width
• Gauge resistance
• Pattern (2 or 3 element
rosette)
• Stacked or single plane

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 Basic Strain Gauge Measurement
The Wheatstone Bridge
Ignoring Rlead (for now):
R3 R2
Vout Vex
( R4 R3 ) ( R1 R2 )

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Quarter Bridge Strain Gauge
• One active gauge element
• R3 is called the quarter bridge completion resistor
• Temperature compensation
Substrate

Grid R1

RR44 + VIN -

R3 R2
R3

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Half Bridge Strain Gauge
• Two (mechanically) active gauges
• Always provide thermal compensation
• R1 and R2 are fixed “half-bridge completion” resistors
• Configured for either transverse sensitivity or rejection of axial strain
• Approximately 1-2x the sensitivity of a quarter bridge configuration

Substrate
Substrate
R1
Grid
Grid
+ VIN -

R2

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Full Bridge Strain Gauge
• Four (mechanically) active gauges
• Always thermally compensated
• Best sensitivity (2-4x a quarter bridge)
• Isolate either axial or bending strain
• Two elements on top, two on bottom
Substrate VEX +

+ VIN -

VEX -
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 Bridge Configurations
Measurement Type Quarter Bridge Half-Bridge Full-Bridge
Type I Type II Type I Type II Type I Type II Type III
Axial Strain Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes
Bending Strain Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Compensation
Temperature No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Transverse Sensitivity No No Yes No No Yes Yes
Sensitivity ß
Sensitivity at 1000 ue ~0.5 mV/V ~0.5 mV/V ~0.65 mV/V ~1.0 mV/V ~2.0 mV/V ~1.3 mV/V ~1.3 mV/V
Installation
Number of Bonded
1 1* 2 2 4 4 4
gauges
Opposite Opposite Opposite Opposite
Mounting Location Single Side Single Side Single Side
Sides Sides Sides Sides
Number of Wires 2 or 3 3 3 3 4 4 4
Bridge completion
3 2 2 2 0 0 0
resistors
* A second strain gauge is placed in close thermal contact with the
structure, but not bonded.

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Sources of Error
• Gauge self heating
 gauge type, excitation level, structure
• High frequency noise
 Filtering, excitation level, improved cabling
• Lead wire resistances and offsets
 Remote sensing, offset nulling, shunt calibration
• Excitation source stability
 Compensation, ratiometric architecture

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Problem: Gauge Self Heating
2
(Vex 2)
Pg1 ...
•Loss of self temperature Rg1
compensation Vex
•Adhesive hysteresis and creep Rg1
Rg4
are magnified
•May change substrate strain
properties
Rg2
•Static stability strongly affected Rg3
(dynamic not so much)

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Solutions to Gauge Self Heating
Gauge Selection:
 Higher resistance, larger gauge area
Substrate Material:
 Better heat sinks allow for larger Vex
Optimizing Vex:
 Look up tables or experimentally
 Start with a low Vex and increase until self-heating
issues are seen
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Problem: High Frequency Noise

• Power line noise

• High frequency electromagnetic noise
• Magnetic noise from rotating machinery

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Solutions to High Frequency Noise
Noise Reduction:
 Twisted pair lead wires, shielding, lead routing
Increasing Signal to Noise Ratio:
 Maximizing Vex
Filtering:
 Hardware or software options
Low-pass
Filter

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Problem: Offsets

• Caused by resistor
imbalance
• Gauge deformation
• Results in an offset
• Can be caused by
Rlead in qtr. bridge

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Solution to Offsets

• Offset Nulling
 Hardware adjustment
 Software
 3-wire quarter bridge

 But… this causes a

reduced sensitivity…

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 Problem: Lead Wire Resistances and
Offsets
• Voltage drop between
Vex and gauge
• Reduces sensitivity
Vactual Rg
Vactual Vex
( Rg 2 R lead )

2RL RL
errfull ; errhalf / Quarter Rg
RG
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Shunt Calibration

•Typical Rs values are 33 kΩ, 50 kΩ, and 100 kΩ

•Induce 2-5 mV/V offset depending on Rg

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Solutions to Lead Wire Resistance
and Bridge Offsets
Uncalibrated • Offset nulling corrects for
Offset error Null calibrated initial offsets
Shunt and null • Shunt Calibration does a
calibrated
Gain error 2 point gain correction
• Performed before
measurements
V • But what about while
you’re measuring?
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Remote Sense
• Create a negative feedback loop • Measure the excitation voltage at
with your excitation source the bridge
V+ through a Thevenin
•Hardware regulation of the connection V+
voltage at the bridge •RS ± are high impedance => no
• (Again, the op amp input I*R
impedance is high so no I*R) •Use that value for your scaling
•Results in proper measurements,
V-
but a lower
V- apparent excitation
voltage

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Problem: Excitation Stability

• Voltage Ratio is used in all equations to compute

strain
(Vstrained – Vunstrained) / Vexcitation
• Unstable excitation will cause errors in reading

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Solution: Ratiometric Bridge
Measurements
Traditional Approach Ratiometric Approach

Advantages
 High accuracy and low susceptibility to excitation temperature drift
 Reduced regulation design requirements allowing for increased channel count

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 Force, Load Cell, Torque Sensors
• Based on strain technology
Force, Load
• Different packaging
• Typically full bridge, 350 Ohm
• Common excitation is 10 V
• Offered for specific physical ranges
Beam Load

Torque
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For More Information

• Strain gauge Configuration Types

 http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/4172
• Top 5 Considerations for Taking the Stress Out
of Strain Measurements
 http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/11488

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Related Sessions
• Strain Gage Measurement Techniques
 Wednesday, 8/4 (3:30PM-4:30PM)
• Synchronizing Scalable Sensor Measurements Systems
 Wednesday, 8/4 (4:45PM-5:45PM)
• Introduction to Optical Sensing
 Wednesday, 8/4 (4:45PM-5:45PM)
• Hands-On: Structural Test
 Wednesday, 8/4 (4:45PM-5:45PM)
• Inside the SC Express Modules: Analog Designs and Technologies
 Thursday, 8/5 (2:15PM-3:15PM)
• Introducing the NI PXIe-4844 Optical Sensor Interrogator
 Thursday, 8/5 (10:30AM-11:30AM)
• Perform Any Test on Any Structure
 Thursday, 8/5 (2:15PM-3:15PM)

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