Applications of strain gauges on industrial structures

Abstract

The principal aim of this work is to show the importance of foil strain gauges in engineering and at the same time to show how these work and what additional equipment they require. Another aim of the thesis is to find out how many different types of strain gauges are available for the engineer. This section of the thesis explains also how all these strain gauges work, why they are usually used, under what environmental conditions they should be used and also where and to what materials they are normally applied. The thesis also shows which gauges have gained popularity with engineers and why. Actually, it is shown that the most popular type of strain gauge is the resistance foil strain gauge. In another part of the thesis, information is given about the type of instrumentation which is normally used to transform the changes sensed by the foil gauges in the material being tested into numbers which can be understood and interpreted as a measure or strain. Even the wiring and the compensating techniques of strain gauges are explained. Besides all this in this thesis, there are included two experiments. The first one is rather simple but its aim is to show the technique which should be used to install properly a strain gauge. The second experiment is a more complicated one and its aim is to show the capabilities of this type of strain gauge. Proof of this is the comparison of the experimental results with the theoretical results. Finally, comments and suggestions were made to the Government which is my sponsoring body.