UNIVERSITY OF BAGHDAD
COLLAGE OF ENGINEERING
AERONAUTICAL DEPARTMENT
Aircraft structure laboratory
Beam Bending
Bending test
introduction
Strain gauges are used to measure changes in stress and
strain that occur in structures or bodies these gauges rely
on the change in electrical resistance when exposed to
expansion or compression, caused by changes in length
and cross-sectional area. The resulting change in electrical
charge flow inside the strain gauge causes a change in
electrical resistance. Gauge factor is a measure of the
sensitivity of the strain gauge to stress or strain, and is
defined as the ratio of fractional change in resistance to
the fractional change in length.
The gauge factor is the relation of the fractional variation
of electric resistance and the fractional variation of the bar
length when subjected to elongation. The main application
of the gauge factor study is the determination of the
sensitivity to expansion of strain gauges. Deformation is
measured with a dial gauge and, at the same time, strain is
measured with the aid of a strain gauge full bridge
configuration.
As fundamental characteristic, the unknown k factor can
be calculated from the measurements. The Unit for
Determining the Gauge Factor of Strain Gauges,
"MFGE", allows to determine experimentally the gauge
factor of strain gauges in function of the strain generated
on the bar when it is subjected to pure bending
Determining the gauge factor of strain gauges
OBJECTIVE:-
To study the behavior of mild steel rod subjected to
gradual increasing equal loads at 1/3rd span and to
determine its mechanical properties
EXERCISES AND PRACTICAL POSSIBILITIES
1. Fundamentals of measuring with strain gauges.
2. Displacement measurement with a dial gauge.
3. Determination of the K factor of strain gauges.
4. Comparison of the experimental values obtained by
strain gauges with theoretical values.
5. Determination of the reactions generated when the bar is
subjected to a load.
6. Determination of the bending moments generated when
the bar is subjected to a load.
7. Determination of the angle of rotation generated when
the bar is subjected to a load.
1- base frame, 2- hand wheel, 3- connection to measuring
amplifier, 4- bending bar, 5- strain gauge measuring point,
6- spindle, 7- dial gauge, 8- fixture for dial gauge, 9-
cross-arm
Theory:
Bending strength is defined as a material's ability to resist
deformation under load, it represents the highest stress
experienced within the material at its moment of rupture. There
are two types of bending tests. Three point bending test and four
point bending test. In a three point bending test the area of
uniform stress is quite small and concentrated under the center
loading point. In a four point bending test, the area of uniform
stress exists between the inner span loading points (typically half
the outer span length).When a specimen is bent, it experiences a
range of stresses across its depth. At the edge of the concave
face the stress will be at its maximum compressive value. At the
convex face of the specimen the stress will be at its maximum
tensile value. Most materials fail under tensile stress before they
fail under compressive stress, so the maximum tensile stress
value that can be sustained before the specimen fails is its
flexural strength. The flexural strength would be the same as the
tensile strength if the material were homogeneous. Therefore the
flexural properties of a specimen are the result of the combined
effect of all three stresses as well as (though to a lesser extent)
the geometry of the specimen and the rate the load applied. Bend
testing provides insight into the modulus of elasticity and the
bending strength of a material.
Strain Gauge Measurement
In practice, the strain measurements rarely involve quantities
larger than a few millistrain (ε × 10–3). Therefore, to measure
the strain requires accurate measurement of very small changes
in resistance. For example, suppose a test specimen undergoes a
substantial strain of 500 µε. A strain gauge with a gauge factor
GF = 2 will exhibit a change in electrical resistance of only
2•(500 × 10–6) = 0.1%. For a 120 Ω gauge, this is a change of
only 0.12 Ω. To measure such small changes in resistance, and
compensate for the temperature sensitivity discussed in the
previous section, strain gauges are almost always used in a
bridge configuration with a voltage or current excitation source.
The general Wheatstone bridge, illustrated below, consists of
four resistive arms with an excitation voltage, VEX, that is
applied across the bridge
From this equation, it is apparent that when R1/R2 = RG1/RG2,
the voltage output VO will be zero. Under these conditions, the
bridge is said to be balanced. Any change in resistance in any
arm of the bridge will result in a nonzero output voltage.
Therefore, if we replace R4 in Figure 3 with an active strain
gauge, any changes in the strain gauge resistance will unbalance
the bridge and produce a nonzero output voltage. If the nominal
resistance of the strain gauge is designated as RG, then the
strain-induced change in resistance, ∆R, can be expressed as ∆R
= RG•GF•ε. Assuming that R1 = R2 and R3 = RG, the bridge
equation above can be rewritten to express VO/VEX as a
function of Note the presence of the 1/(1+GF•ε/2) term that
indicates the nonlinearity of the quarter-bridge output with
respect to strain.
By using two strain gauges in the bridge, the effect of
temperature can be avoided. For example, Figure 5
illustrates a strain gauge configuration where one gauge is
active (RG + ∆R), and a second gauge is placed transverse
to the applied strain. Therefore, the strain has little effect
on the second gauge, called the dummy gauge. However,
any changes in temperature will affect both gauges in the
same way. Because the temperature changes are identical
in the two gauges, the ratio of their resistance does not
change, the voltage VO does not change, and the effects
of the temperature change are minimized.
Conclusion
The direct tension method is an effective way to
determine the gauge factor of strain gauges. In our
experiment, we found that the gauge factor of the strain
gauge was close to the nominal value, indicating that the
strain gauge performed well. Accurate determination of
gauge factor is important for ensuring accurate
measurements of stress and strain in structures and bodies
Calculations
volt central load volt central load average
3.83 0.00 0.00 4.00 0.00 0.00 0
3.92 10 0.09 4.08 10 0.08 0.085
4.07 20 0.24 4.20 20 0.20 0.22
4.20 30 0.37 4.45 30 0.45 0.41
4.33 40 0.50 4.53 40 0.53 0.515
4.50 50 0.67 4.65 50 0.65 0.66
4.66 60 0.83 4.73 60 0.73 0.78
4.75 70 0.92 4.88 70 0.88 0.9
4.86 80 1.03 5.00 80 1.00 1.015
5.00 90 1.17 5.14 90 1.14 1.155
5.12 100 1.29 5.19 100 1.19 1.24
5.25 110 1.42 5.24 110 1.24 1.33
5.37 120 1.54 5.28 120 1.28 1.41
5.48 130 1.65 5.46 130 1.46 1.555
5.53 140 1.70 5.50 140 1.50 1.6
5.54 150 1.71 5.54 150 1.54 1.625
strain *10^6 strain Reader micro strain equation micro
0 0.00E+00 0
8.5 2.55E+00 3.634069
22 6.60E+00 7.268139
41 1.23E+01 10.90221
51.5 1.55E+01 14.53628
66 1.98E+01 18.17035
78 2.34E+01 21.80442
90 2.70E+01 25.43849
101.5 3.05E+01 29.07256
115.5 3.47E+01 32.70662
124 3.72E+01 36.34069
133 3.99E+01 39.97476
141 4.23E+01 43.60883
155.5 4.67E+01 47.2429
160 4.80E+01 50.87697
162.5 4.88E+01 54.51104
