SUNGKYUNKWAN UNIV.

Strain Measurement

Chapter - 7
Introduction to Measurements and Instrumentation
By
Arun K. Ghosh

Course Code: EE- 383

Instructors: Dr. Farid Gul
Office: A-120, Ground floor, SEECS
E-mail: farid.gul@seecs.edu.pk 1
 SUNGKYUNKWAN UNIV.
Strain Measurement
Strain
 applied force mechanically deforms a solid to a certain
extent

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Strain Measurement
Strain
 for a tensile force, the length of the solid increases

 for a compressive force, the length decreases

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Strain Measurement
Longitudinal (axial) strain:
 When a body of length L is elongated by ∆L owing to
the application of a force F
 Ratio of the change in length ∆L to its original length L

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Strain Measurement
Lateral strain
 When a body of length L is elongated by ∆L owing to the
application of a force F, its perpendicular dimension D
contracts by ∆D
 The strain generated in the perpendicular direction is
called the lateral strain

∆𝐷
𝐿𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛=
𝐷

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Strain Measurement
Poisson ratio:
Poisson showed that the ratio between lateral strain and longitudinal
strain is constant for a material

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Strain Measurement
Poisson ratio:
Poisson showed that the ratio between lateral strain and
longitudinal strain is constant for a material

 Poisson’s ratio for all solids lie between 0 and 0.5:

i.e. 0 < ν < 0.5
 For most of the materials,ν ≈ 0.3

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Strain Measurement
 Stress

 What is stress?
 What is its origin?

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Strain Measurement
Stress
 Interatomic forces – interatomic distances or bond lengths
 Applied force increase or decrease the bond length
 Forces of restitution come into play to restore the atoms to their
original positions
 Forces of restitution per unit area constitute the stress of the
solid
 Newton’s third law of motion: the stress, which is a reaction, is
equated to the applied force per unit area, which is the action.
 Longitudinal stress σ,

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Strain Measurement
Stress-strain relations
 Within the elastic limit, the stress-strain relation is given by
Hooke’s law

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Strain Measurement
Strain measurement considerations
 Strain gauge to measure strain

 Microstrain is a unit,
frequently used in strain
measurements

 Strains are likely to vary from point to point

 This necessitates that the strain gauge should be as
small as possible in size. Usually, the gauge length is
around 5 mm
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Strain Measurement

Various methods

1. Mechanical

2. Electrical

3. Optical

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Strain Measurement
 Various methods
1. Mechanical
 ∆L is measured, after magnification with the help of levers
and gears, and compared to the original length of the object.
2. Electrical
3. Optical

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Strain Measurement
Various methods
1. Mechanical
2. Electrical
 Changes in resistance (simple or piezo) or inductance
or capacitance
 Capacitance- and inductance-based strain gauges:
their sensitivity to vibration, mounting requirements,
and circuit complexity limit their application
3. Optical

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Strain Measurement
 Various methods

1. Mechanical

2. Electrical

3. Optical
 The phenomena of interference, diffraction and scattering of
light waves are utilized to measure strain

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 SUNGKYUNKWAN UNIV.
Strain Measurement
Various methods
1. Mechanical
 ∆L is measured, after magnification with the help of levers
and gears, and comparing to the original length of the object.
2. Electrical
 Changes in resistance (simple or piezo) or inductance or
capacitance
 Capacitance- and inductance-based strain gauges: their
sensitivity to vibration, mounting requirements, and circuit
complexity limit their application
3. Optical
 The phenomena of interference, diffraction and scattering of
light waves are utilized to measure strain
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Resistance Strain Gauges
Principles
 Change in resistance due to strain
 If a conducting wire is held under tension, its length
increases slightly with a consequent reduction of its
area of cross-section.

Consider a conductor of length L,

cross-sectional area A and
resistivity ρ. Its resistance R is
given by

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Resistance Strain Gauges
Principles

Logarithmic differentiation technique

If D is the cross-sectional dimension

and C is a constant, area A can be
written as
2
𝐴=𝐶 𝐷 18
 SUNGKYUNKWAN UNIV.
Resistance Strain Gauges
2
𝐴=𝐶 𝐷
Applying Log and
differentiation
Poisson ratio

ln 𝐴=ln 𝐶 +2 ln 𝐷
𝑑𝐴 𝑑𝐷
=2
𝐴 𝐷
𝑑𝐷
=−𝜈𝜀
𝐷
𝑑𝐴 𝑑𝐿
=− 2𝜈𝜀 =−2 𝜈
𝐴 𝐿
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Resistance Strain Gauges

𝑑𝐴 𝑑𝐿
=− 2𝜈𝜀 =−2 𝜈
𝐴 𝐿

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Resistance Strain Gauges

1. Piezoresistive change: change in resistivity of the material

2. Change in length

3. Change in cross-sectional area of the gauge

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Resistance Strain Gauges
Gauge Factor
 The sensitivity factor of the gauge.
 defined as the change in resistance of the
gauge per unit strain

For and knowing that

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Resistance Strain Gauges
 Gauge Factor

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Resistance Strain Gauges
Gauge Factor

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Resistance Strain Gauges

Types

1. Wire-wound

2. Foil

3. Semiconductor

Wire-wound gauges

1. Bonded

2. Unbonded

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Resistance Strain Gauges
Bonded wire-wound gauges
 bonded to the surface of the specimen being tested
 wire diameter ~ 25 𝜇m
 adhesive cement transmits the strain and acts as an
insulator

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Resistance Strain Gauges
 Bonded wire-wound gauges

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Resistance Strain Gauges
Unbonded metal wire gauge
 The resistance wires are connected in the form of a
Wheatstone bridge

 A small motion increases tension in two wires while

decreasing it in two others
 bridge unbalance because of resistance changes
 output voltage is proportional to the input displacement
which can be calibrated in terms of strain
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Resistance Strain Gauges
Foil type Gauges

of less than 5 𝜇m
 resistor/sensor comprises a thin sheet or foil with thickness

 fabrication: photo-etching or masked vacuum deposition

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Resistance Strain Gauges
Semiconductor Type Gauges
 Measure change in resistance with stress (Piezo-
resistivity)
 The resistivity of doped silicon and germanium changes
when stressed
 Gauge factor is around 100

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Resistance Strain Gauges
Semiconductor Type Gauges: Improvements

 adhesive is not required

 much more stable and the resistance values experience
less drift
 the specimen can either be a thin diaphragm or a thick
beam

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Resistance Strain Gauges
Semiconductor Type Gauges: Improvements

 By eliminating bonding agents, errors due to creep and

hysteresis are eliminated
 limited to moderate-temperature applications. Requires
temperature compensation.
 small, inexpensive, accurate and generate a strong output
signal
 used as sensing elements in pressure transducers
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Strain Measurement: Resistance Strain Gauges

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Strain Measurement

Axial strain =
Poisson’s ratio =
∆𝐷
𝐿𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛=
𝐷 Gauge factor Gf

dR d  dL dA R G f  R
  
R  L A R

dR d  dL dL Gf R
   2ν
R  L L 34
 SUNGKYUNKWAN UNIV.
Strain Measurement Method
Strain measurement: challenging
 The displacements associated with strains are very small
( 2 to 10000 microstrain) and therefore, corresponding
changes in resistance are small (1%)

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Strain Measurement Method
Strain measurement: challenging
Example 7.1
A strain gauge, having Gf = 2.0 and R = 120Ω, is used to measure
strains generated by pressures of 50 psi and 50000 psi in aluminium.
The corresponding strains are 5 and 5000 microstrains. Calculate
the per cent changes of resistance of the strain gauge.

Solution
For 5 microstrain For 5000 microstrain

%
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 SUNGKYUNKWAN UNIV.
Strain Measurement Method

Conventional methods

1. Current injection

2. Ballast circuit

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Strain Measurement Method
Conventional methods:

1. Current injection
 The resistance can be calculated from the Ohm’s law.

 Drawbacks
 a very low current is injected to avoid Joule heating of the
resistor
 Since the resistance change is very small, the change in
voltage is often on the order of the thermal noise
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Strain Measurement Method
Conventional methods:

2. Ballast Circuit

Sensitivity

Rb for max sensitivity

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Strain Measurement Method
Conventional methods:

2. Ballast Circuit

 the change in voltage is very small.

o considering a typical case of Gf = 2, and ε = 5 mi-
crostrain
o voltage change dEo = 0.0000025Ei V
 requires measurement by a digital voltmeter of 6
decades of precision! 40
 SUNGKYUNKWAN UNIV.
Strain Measurement Method
Conventional methods

1. Current injection

2. Ballast circuit

 Conclusion
both the conventional current injection and ballast circuit
methods are not suitable for strain measurements

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Strain Measurement Method
Bridge circuit method
 Static measurement: null-type
 no current flows through the measuring instrument which is
equivalent to having a measuring instrument of infinite input
impedance.
 Thus no loading of the measured medium
 Dynamic measurement:
 Voltage sensitive or current sensitive
 very small current flows through measuring instrument thus
loading the measured medium minimally
Advantage
 It is easy to eliminate stray inputs, like temperature
effects, by incorporating compensatory devices in
suitable arms of the bridge 42
 SUNGKYUNKWAN UNIV.
Strain Measurement Method
Bridge circuit method: Static measurement
No current through the galvanometer
under balanced condition

If R1 changes to R1 +ΔR1 due to strain, R2 has

to change to R2 +ΔR2 to balance the bridge

 Change in resistance R2 is a direct measure of the strain 43

 SUNGKYUNKWAN UNIV.
Strain Measurement Method
Bridge circuit method: Dynamic measurements
 Voltage sensitive bridge

 Current sensitive bridge

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Strain Measurement Method
Voltage Sensitive Bridge: Quarter bridge
For equal initial resistance of all the arms
output voltage caused by a change in
resistance in the strain gauge

Eo EB  ED

Sensitivity

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Strain Measurement Method
Voltage Sensitive Bridge: Half bridge
 strain gauges are bonded on top and bottom of the stressed
member

output voltage

Sensitivity

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Strain Measurement Method
 Voltage Sensitive Bridge: Half bridge

Advantages of a half-bridge over a quarter-bridge

1. The sensitivity is doubled
2. Unlike quarter-bridge it is not susceptible to errors arising
out of change in the ambient temperature

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Strain Measurement Method
Voltage Sensitive Bridge: Full bridge

Advantages
 Higher sensitivity than Quarter and Half bridges
 Immune to temperature effects

Drawback
 gauges occupy a considerable space in this arrangement
 the measurement is an average strain value over a rather
large area
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Strain Measurement Method
Current Sensitive Bridge: output current is measured by an ammeter

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Strain Measurement Method
Current Sensitive Bridge: output current is measured by an ammeter
Thevenin Equivalent

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Strain Measurement Method
 Current Sensitive Bridge: output current is measured by an ammeter

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Strain Measurement Method
Example 7.3
A bridge circuit has two fixed resistors and two strain gauges all of which
have a value of 120Ω. The gauge factor is 2.04 and the strain applied to
twin strain gauges, one in tension and the other in compression, is
0.000165. If the battery current in the initial balanced condition of the
bridge is 50 mA, determine

(a) The voltage output of the bridge

(b) The sensitivity in volt per unit strain
If the galvanometer connected to output ter-
minals reads 100 μV per scale division and if
1/10th of a division can be read, determine
the resolution.

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R 120 
Eo ?
G f 2.04
Eo
 0.000165 S ?


(a) The voltage output of the bridge

Gf 
Eo  Ei
2
Ei 50 10 3 120 6 V Determine the resolution
2.04 0.000165 6
Eo  1.01 mV
2
(b) The sensitivity in volt per unit strain

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Strain Measurement Method
Example 7.4
The resistance of a strain gauge is 120 Ω and its gauge factor is 2. It
is connected to a current sensitive Wheatstone bridge in which all
resistances are 120 Ω. If the input voltage is 4 V and the resistance
of the galvanometer is 100 Ω, calculate the detector current in μA
for 1 μ-strain. Also calculate the voltage output if 1 μ-strain is
applied to the gauge and the voltmeter has an infinite input
impedance.
Solution
R 1
im  Ei
R 4( R  Rm )
1
G f  Ei
4( R  Rm )

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Strain Measurement Method
Example 7.5
Figure 7.13 shows a Wheatstone bridge circuit for strain measurement.
All the arms of the bridge are strain gauges with identical no-strain
resistances of value 120 ohms and identical gauge factors of value 2.

(a) Find an expression for the bridge output ed

in terms of the four strains ε1, ε2, ε3, and ε4.
(b) Assume that all the gauges experience the
same magnitudes of strain. Gauge R1 is in
tension. Which of the remaining three gauges
should be in tension and which in compres-
sion for maximum sensitivity of the bridge?
(c) If the gain of the instrumentation amplifier Av = 1000, excitation voltage
E = 1 V, strain magnitude | ε | = 10-4 for all four arms, find the output voltage eo.

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Strain Measurement Method
Example 7.5
Figure 7.13 shows a Wheatstone bridge circuit for strain measurement.
All the arms of the bridge are strain gauges with identical no-strain
resistances of value 120 ohms and identical gauge factors of value 2.

(a) Find an expression for the bridge

output ed in terms of the four strains ε1,
ε2, ε3, and ε4.
G f (4 )
Eo VB  VD ed  Ei
4
G f (1   2   3   4 )
ed  Ei
4
G f (1   4   2   3 )
Eo VB  VD ed  Ei
4
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Strain Measurement Method
Example 7.5
Figure 7.13 shows a Wheatstone bridge circuit for strain measurement.
All the arms of the bridge are strain gauges with identical no-strain
resistances of value 120 ohms and identical gauge factors of value 2.
(b) Assume that all the gauges experience the
same magnitudes of strain. Gauge R1 is in
tension. Which of the remaining three gauges
should be in tension and which in compres-
sion for maximum sensitivity of the bridge?

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Strain Measurement Method
Example 7.5
Figure 7.13 shows a Wheatstone bridge circuit for strain measurement.
All the arms of the bridge are strain gauges with identical no-strain
resistances of value 120 ohms and identical gauge factors of value 2.
(c) If the gain of the instrumentation
amplifier Av = 1000, excitation voltage
E = 1 V, strain magnitude | ε | = 10-4 for all
four arms, find the output voltage eo.
G f (1   2   3   4 ) Gf 4 
ed  Ei  Ei
4 4

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Strain Measurement Method
Temperature Effects and Compensation
Variations in the ambient temperatures affect the strain measurements
by Wheatstone bridges in the following three ways:
1. Change in the gauge factor of the strain gauge
2. Temperature-induced strain in the gauge element
3. Temperature-induced resistance changes in long lead wires.

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Strain Measurement Method
Temperature Effects

Change in the Gauge Factor

 Advance: copper-nickel alloys Most popular choice for strain

gauge, due to low sensitivity
to operating temperature

Variation in gauge factors of the various strain gauge

materials as a function of operating temperature 60
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Strain Measurement Method
Temperature Effects
Change in the Gauge Factor

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Strain Measurement Method
Temperature Effects
Example 7.7
A gauge, made of a material having a temperature coefficient of resistance of 12x10 -4
per °C, has a resistance of 120 Ω and a gauge factor of 2. It is connected to a bridge
having resistances of 120 Ω each. The bridge is balanced at ambient temperature. If
the temperature changes by 20°C, find:
(a) the output voltage of the bridge if the input voltage is 10 V,
(b) the equivalent strain represented by the change in temperature.
Solution
(a) Change in resistance of the gauge due to the
change in temperature is:

1/4 bridge

(b) The strain due to change in temperature

R R 2.88 120
  0.012 12000 microstrain 62
Gf 2
 SUNGKYUNKWAN UNIV.
Strain Measurement Method
Temperature Effects
• Temperature-induced strain in the gauge element
• A difference in the coefficients of thermal expansion
between the gauge and the substrate material may
also generate spurious strain readings

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Strain Measurement Method
Temperature Effects
 Temperature-induced resistance changes in the lead wires
 Strain gauges are sometimes mounted at a distance from the
measuring equipment
 Any change in the lead wire resistance (Rl) cannot be distinguished
from the changes in the resistance Rg of the strain gauge

sensitivity of the bridge circuit is reduced by reducing the gauge factor 64

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Strain Measurement Method
Temperature Compensation
 half-bridge and full-bridge configurations for measurement of strain
are automatically compensated for temperature effects
 For the quarter-bridge arrangement, the temperature compensation
can be made by incorporating a dummy gauge in one of the arms of
the bridge

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Strain Measurement Method
Temperature Compensation
 An additional third lead can be incorporated for correction
 The third wire is merely a sense lead with almost no current flowing
through it
 Theoretically, if the lead wires to the strain gauge have the same
nominal resistance, the same TCR, and are maintained at the same
temperature, full compensation is obtained.

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Strain Measurement Method
Bridge Excitation Voltage
 Joule heating, i2R, can produce temperature change
 Temperature change is also influenced by heat dissipation
 Heat dissipation depend upon the thermal conductivity and
thickness of the substrate
 What should be the power density?

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Strain Measurement Method
Bridge Excitation Voltage
 In a Wheatstone bridge with excitation voltage Ei, power
generated in the strain gauge is

The power density is given by

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Home work: Example 7.11

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???
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