Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Strain measurement
Carlos Sousa
September 2017
Summary
• Definition of strain
1
Definition of strain
• Strain
– Is the quotient between the length variation in a structural element
divided by its initial length, L0
L L0
Lo
– NOTES:
• In reality, the strain is not constant
along such reference length
• The base length of the strain gage, L0,
must be judiciously chosen
Acoustical
Mechanical Electrical resistance Optical fibre
(vibrating wire)
2
General characteristics of strain gages
• Resolution
– Smallest strain value which can be measured with the transducer
– Desirable value: 1 = 1 microstrain = 10-6
for a measurement range of ±10%
– NOTE:
• The resolution and the measurement range are interconnected:
strain gages with high resolution typically have a small
measurement range
• Base length
– Distance L0 between the fixing points through which the transducer is
connected to the observed element
– It is the distance along which the strains are averaged
3
General characteristics of strain gages
• Base length
Short base length: Long base length:
Electrical resistance strain Vibrating wire strain gauges to measure
gages to measure steel strains average strains in reinforced concrete
4
Mechanical strain gages
Mechanical or digital deformeter (alongâmetro)
• Strain gages suitable for manual readings at the structure surface
• The average deformation is measured between metallic inserts bonded to the
structure surface
• The base length is, typically, 100, 200, 250 or 300mm
• An invar bar provides the zero value before each manual reading
• Typical applications: concrete creep and shrinkage tests, measurement of long-
term deformations, measurement of temperature effects, laboratorial tests