Experimental Stress Analysis

Prof .K. Ramesh

Department of Applied Mechanics
Indian Institute of Applied Mechanics, Madras

Module No # 05
Lecture No # 35
Temperature Compensation, Two Wire and Three Wire Circuits

The advantage of a strain gauge technique is, after I paste the strain gauge and connect it
to the strain meter, it is possible for you to read the strain directly from the strain meter.
On the other hand, if you look at optical methods, you need to know how to interpret the
fringe patterns. So that makes a difference; that makes strain gauge technique is very
popular, and I said though it is very popular, I have said it is a very well used and abused
technique, mainly because we have seen so many subtle things have an influence on the
final measurement.
We have seen choice of the alloy material, choice of the carrier, choice of the adhesive
and also on which specimen material we have to make measurement - they all have
influence in different ways. So if you do not take care of these subtle issues, the
measurement you make from strain gauges could be erroneous; could be way off. We
saw, if you do not take care of the stability issues, a zero drift can be of the order of 270
micro strain. Then we brought it down to 30 micro strain by the selection of appropriate
alloy material, appropriate carrier and also the bonding.
Though on one hand you say strain gauge technology has very well developed, you can
measure even 0.5 micro strain; if you do not adopt the various procedures mentioned in
selecting a strain gauge and also in installing the strain gauge, your measurement could
be way off; this you have to keep in mind. And we have been looking at various lectures,
how do you handle the thermal influence. Because one of the most disturbing aspect in
strain gauge instrumentation is, how do you take care of the temperature changes. We
will have a formal look at it in this class.
(Refer Slide Time: 02:30)

And what we have is, we have to compensate for any effect due to temperature and what
we have is, what is temperature compensation, what kind of methodologies that I can
employ to compensate for change in temperature.
And when I look at what happens to the strain gauge for a change in temperature, the
delta R by R as a function of temperature change Delta T, is related to S g into alpha s
minus alpha g into Delta T.
So, the first term comes from differential thermal expansion of the specimen and the
gauge. So, this causes a strain to be introduced. That is why I have S g here, and
whatever the strain introduced is a function of change in temperature; and you also have
another term which is purely a function of temperature. Because of change in
temperature, the resistance of the strain gauge changes and that is given by another factor
called S T.
So a change in temperature causes change in resistance; has two terms one because of
thermally introduced strain and another one where the resistance changes as a function of
temperature. When I go for compensating for temperature effects, I have two broad
approaches. One approach is adjust the gauge parameters so that equation 1 is 0; so
whatever the equation that you have here, if I have a method to change what is alpha g, I
have a way of handling this; so that whatever the term 1 and term 2, they compensate for
each other. And I get what are known as self temperature compensated gauges. See, in
strain gauge instrumentation, if I say you paste one strain gauge, you paste another strain
gauge on ordinary material, keep it at the same temperature, connect it as a half bridge
and cancel it this is one methodology.
On the other hand, I take a strain gauge and then paste it, and forget about usual
temperature change which occur in a simple experiment, then that is good enough. But in
this case, what will happen is, whatever the methodology I adopt, whatever the strain
gauge that I develop, it is tailor made for the specific base material. So from an
instrumentation point of view, it makes your life simple. You just paste the strain gauge,
automatically the temperature effects are cancelled; so that you get by adjusting the
parameters of the foil, so that you have appropriate modification in alpha g and S T so
that equation goes to 0.
The other effect which I have mentioned at several classes cancel the temperature effects
using the signal conditioner. And this comes in very handy when you are using a wheat
stone bridge; you have the adjacent arms cancel each other, so that is the way that we
will use the signal conditioner for cancelling the effect due to temperature.
(Refer Slide Time: 06:13)

First, we will take up how do we get self temperature compensated gauges. And you
know in the literature it will be abbreviated as STC. And fortunately, you find the factors
alpha g, that is coefficient of expansion of the gauge material and sensitivity of the strain
gauge material for temperature change are sensitive to impurities in strain gauge alloy.
See, normally you do not want to have any impurities. When you are making an alloy,
you want that to be free of impurities so that it gives you the desirable material properties
that you look for. But in this case you find impurities play a role; so by modifying the
impurities it is possible for you to control alpha g and S T.
And another aspect is while making a strain gauge foil, you also do a cold work and
degree of cold work used in manufacture. So in essence what happens, the values of
alpha g and S T vary between each melt and each roll of foil; so what you do is you go
through the metallurgical process, create the foil, then estimate what is the value of alpha
g and S T for that particular batch; and use it for making strain gauges for a particular
base material - this is the physics behind it.
So, in essence it is possible to select foils of advance and karma to suit any type of base
material. We have excluded isoelastic; we have seen isoelastic is hyper sensitive to
temperature change, so you do not even talk of self temperature compensated gauges
made of isoelastic alloy. You talk only when you use the advance or karma alloy, and
there also we saw a subtle difference: karma alloy comes for larger temperature change
whereas in the case of advance alloy, the temperature limit is slightly less than what you
can do in karma alloy.
So, what you will have to do is when you are going for self temperature compensated
gauges, you look at from the metallurgy point of view; and look at what is the property
of each melt and each roll of foil.
(Refer Slide Time: 09:13)

And they also have numbers associated with the gauges. I said, when I say self
temperature compensated gauges, they are selected for a given specimen material.
The coefficient of expansion is given in terms of per degree centigrade and per degree
Fahrenheit for various base materials. And if you look at the self temperature
compensating number, it is given for advance alloy as well as karma alloy. And if you
look at this, this matches with the coefficient of expansion in terms of per degree
Fahrenheit. For alumina it is 3 into 10 power minus 6 per degree Fahrenheit. You have
the number associated as 03.
And when it is 5, you have this as 05; 5.8, you make it as 6 here. 9, 13, 15, 40, 50 and
whatever that STC number for a particular specimen material, it is given the same
number when you make it out of advance alloy or karma alloy.
So, what you will have to keep in mind is, when you say self temperature compensated
gauge, it is meant for a particular specimen material; if there is a normal temperature
change, whatever the changes on the temperature, it will get compensated because of the
specific property of the metal foil.
Suppose I have a self temperature compensated gauge meant for steel, I should not use it
on Aluminium. Then, I will have no control on how to interpret the signal at all. But later
in special applications, there is also a recommendation to use this kind of gauges. See,
when you bring in a new feature, it is advantageous as well as disadvantageous. So you
will have to know for which application, how to use it. And another aspect is, can the
self temperature compensated gauges be used for a range of temperatures - that is
another question, but the answer is no.
(Refer Slide Time: 11:54)

So they are not perfectly compensated over a wide range of temperatures. For small
temperature variation, self temperature compensation is alright and that is good enough.
For most of the applications, we want only like this; we have already seen, because when
current passes through the conductor, you have I square R loss. At least the heat
generated because of that can be compensated by a self temperature compensation; and
this is not meant for a wide range of temperature, so that you will have to keep in mind.
So when you are doing a strain gauge instrumentation, it is not that you go pick out some
strain gauge, paste it on the specimen material, and connect it, and find out what is the
strain. Reading the strain meter is still give you some numbers, but those numbers could
be way off, that is what you have to keep in mind.
And what you find is these parameters vary non-linearly with temperature; that is the
reason why we are unable to handle a wide range of temperatures. One of the remedy is
measure the test temperature at the gauge site using a thermo couple. If I am unable to
use a self temperature compensated gauges for a particular application, measure the
temperature by using a thermocouple. Once you find out the temperature, what you do is,
the manufacturer supplies for each lot of gauges a calibration curve indicating the
thermally induced apparent strain; that we have already seen in the earlier classes, we
will again have a look at it.
(Refer Slide Time: 13:54)

And the suggestion is, I have temperature and I have thermally induced apparent strain.
So I measure from this graph for a given temperature, what is the thermally induced
apparent strain and subtract it from my measurement. Whatever the measurement I
make, I subtract it; but this is cumbersome. See, what you will have to look at is, if I
have a single gauge which is self temperature compensated I can directly reach from the
strain meter, the job is handled very comfortably from measurement point of view. On
the other hand, if I have to do any of this you have to look at the graph, subtract it, and
with modern computerization, you have such database available along with the software
that manufacturer supplies. So all these also now easy to handle with system 5000,
system 7000 and so on. But the methodology is this. You should not take a wrong view
that STC gauges can be used for a wide range of temperature, it is not so. But if you
work beyond the range of temperature possible, the via media is measure the
temperature, use the graphs available and subtract the information. That makes your life
lot more simpler.
(Refer Slide Time: 15:22)

Now we go and look at what are the measurement techniques. I am showing a typical
strain gauge meter and I would like you to draw your attention to few finer aspects. First
issue is, if you look at very carefully, this is for 120 ohms, this is for 350 ohms; it may
not be clear on the screen, but you know there are provisions available for selecting
internal resistors of 120 ohms or 350 ohms.
See, in one of the earlier classes we have looked at when you are using a wheat stone
bridge, if I have to maximize the signal from the wheat stone bridge, I should use R 1, R
2, R 3, R 4 having same values and we have seen strain gauges are available at 120 ohms
and 350 ohms very commonly. And you can use 120 or 350 for various applications.
And depending on the strain gauge that you select, you must also have the other resistors
selected in the wheat stone bridge. It is not that you take a strain gauge, connect it to the
strain meter, you measure the strain; it is not as simple as that. You have to make certain
settings; so one of the first step that you will have to do is, have you selected the correct
completion resistors of the wheat stone bridge?
The second aspect is, you have a knob available for setting the gauge factor; and you all
know the delta R by R equal to S g into epsilon, and S g is like a multiplication factor;
and I said, S g is determined experimentally and supplied by the manufacturer. It is
available with a percentage value of error; so from batch to batch, the S g can change; so
you have to put in the appropriate value of S g. Not only this, later we will take up
certain discussion on how to account for transverse sensitivity effects. Some of these
effects also can be easily cancel by modifying your gauge factor appropriately; so you
have a knob specifically available in this strain gauge meter to set the gauge factor.
And you also have another set of knobs for you to adjust the initial balance. See, when
you start with, the bridge has to be balanced and you will have some provision in the
strain gauge meter to account for this imbalance. Beyond a point, it cannot balance. If the
imbalance is more, we will see how the imbalance can be more. You cannot adjust it.
Then the only way you have to take a recourse is, measure the initial value and also find
out the final value; then final minus initial, that kind of a subtraction you may have to do.
And what you see here is you see this as 5000 micro strain and you know periodically
you need to keep calibrating the equipment, so what you have is you have a standard
shunt resistance available in the equipment itself. That can be connected and that is rated
for 5000 micro strain. So that is how you keep calibrating the equipment. You also have
a provision to select the gauge factor and you also have a provision to adjust for initial
balance. And particularly you have to ensure that you have selected the correct set of
completion resistors. Now these are all very simple steps which you should not forget.
(Refer Slide Time: 19:26)

And suppose somebody gives you a strain gauge, what will you do. You just connect the
strain gauge to the wheat stone bridge. I have two points, and I take a wire and then
connect it to the whichever arm that I want to do it. I connect it appropriately and that is
how you would normally connect a strain gauge - by connecting two wires. What is a
influence of the lead wire?
See, the lead wire is not a super conducting material. It has some resistance; If the
resistance is low, what you find: For an initially balanced bridge if one of the arm is
replaced with the strain gauge of precisely the same resistance, we have already seen the
reason for it. If I want to have high bridge sensitivity, each of the resistance connected in
each of the arms should have the same value. When you connect with two lead wires
having negligible resistance, the bridge remains at balance. You need to make a neat
sketch of this. We will first look at what is the kind of problem that this can pose and
once we see what is a kind of problem, we will also look at what is the remedy. See,
before we look at the remedy, we should know what is the problem it creates. And in
most of the strain gauge applications, it is convenient to use only a quarter bridge
because you need to paste only one strain gauge; soldering also you have to do for only
one strain gauge and connect it to the quarter bridge. Only when you are working on
transducer applications, you look for having a full bridge configuration. Otherwise, to
make your life simple in terms of instrumentation, a quarter bridge is convenient. But
this has certain inherent problems. These inherent problems can be solved in a very
simple manner by going in for what is known as a three wire circuit.
But even with that, if your problems are not sorted out, it is desirable that you go for a
half bridge, where you are able to take care of all these influences of temperature, and
then lead wire resistance, and so on and so forth. So, what you will have to look at is,
when somebody gives you a strain gauge, you will naturally connect it like this. You
may normally ignore what is the role of this lead wire resistance.
(Refer Slide Time: 22:31)

We will look at what is its role and what way it modifies your measurement of strain.
You will have to note that lead wires are parasitic resistances in the gauge arm; you do
not want them. You want to have a magic material which has no resistance and strain
gauge is connected. See, I also said if you have a magic material, a single spec of it can
have 120 ohms or 350 ohms. I paste it at the point of interest and connect it and make
measurement; then I have no problem about strain variation or gauge length influence
etcetera. And we saw it is just not possible; you need to have only a wire and you need to
have a minimum of 36 millimeter, we saw. And you need to make it as a loop; it forms a
grid. The moment you forms a grid, it is sensitive to axial strain as well as transverse
strain. So far, we have not looked at the transverse strain effect; we will take it up later,
but we had an specific alloy which would give you very high resistance in a small length
of wire. That is what we use it as a strain gauge foil alloy.
But the lead wire resistance we will take a high quality copper wire which has the least
resistance. Ideally I want to have no resistance for the lead wire, but in practice you will
have some resistance for the lead wire. And lead wire resistance is considered as a
parasitic resistance and what happens, it effectively reduces or desensitize the gauge
factor of the strain gauge. Because of this lead wire resistance, the total resistance in that
arm goes to strain gauge plus lead wire resistance. So the balance of the bridge is also
affected. Not only this, you will have a reduced signal output when the test part is
subjected to test loads. And there is also a sort of an estimation people do for modest
values of lead wire resistance. The percentage of loss in signal is approximately equal to
the ratio of lead wire resistance to strain gauge resistance. You know these are all subtle
issues. You know you have to bond a strain gauge; and from the place where you have
bonded the strain gauge, you need to take a lead wire and then connect it to your strain
gauge meter. You cannot avoid that, but the issue is, it has a very important influence
and we will have to look what way it can modify, and how to reduce its influence - that
is very important.
(Refer Slide Time: 25:51)

And as I mentioned earlier, the resistance in that arm increases to R G plus 2R L. And let
us look at a simple practical example. Suppose I take installation which is at a distance of
6 meter from the instrument, and you have to connect this strain gauge to instrument, and
you take a good set of copper lead wires, the specification is also given. This is AWG26
of 0.4 millimeter dia. For a 6 meter length, the total resistance in series with the strain
gauge is 1.7 ohms, this is at room temperature. So what you find is, when I connect a
strain gauge by a lead wire, you cannot ignore the resistance of the lead wire; and what it
appears, it is reasonable to think - when I have a 6 meter length, I have used a good
quality copper lead wire, which has given you only 1.7 ohms extra.
If you have not been introduced to strain gauge technology, you will consider 1.7 ohms
as small. I have a 120 ohms gauge; I only modified it slightly with a lead wire resistance
of 1.7 ohms. What way this affects the balance of the bridge, we will look at. See, small
or big is a relative term and you have to look at the context in which you are looking at
this.
We have already looked at, in the case of a strain gauge meter, there are knobs available
for adjusting the initial balance; and we have also seen all the four arm should have
identical resistance. Because of the lead wire, I have some extra resistance. So this needs
to be balanced; because what I want to do is, I want to measure change in resistance
because of load applied. The lead wire has to be accommodated in the initial balance.
(Refer Slide Time: 28:26)

When I have 1.7 ohms, I find the equivalents in terms of strain is 7000 micro strain; and
we have already seen, in the case of most engineering materials, 0.2 percent strain the
material ills; 0.2 percent is 2000 micro strain. So, we will never go to 7000 micro strain
unless I am looking at some plastic deformation and so on. So my measurement range
will be much smaller; so this is where you have to keep in mind - in strain gauge
instrumentation, you are measuring quantities of the order of 10 power minus 6. Though
1.7 ohms looks much smaller in comparison to 120 ohms, this is very significant from
strain gauge instrumentation point of view.
And when I have this, we have already seen what is the loss of sensitivity. It is given as
ratio of the lead wire resistance to the strain gauge resistance, which is something like
1.5 percent approximately. And what you will find is, because it is 7000 micro strain
initial imbalance is difficult to offset. See you may be able to offset if the strain gauge
meter is capable of accommodating 7000 micro strain. If you are unable to do it, you
have to note down the initial value and then final value; and find out what is the strain,
there is no other go.
So the point here is, see, we have taken a 6 meter length. 6 meter length means I have at
the end of this room the measurement application and I have strain gauge meter here.
And if you look at a real life structure like an aircraft, you may have length of lead wire
of the order of even 100 meters. It is not a simple length and you need to have a via
media to correct for these kind of problems. We have just looked at by connecting a long
lead wire, what is the problem. Now we will bring in all strain gauge instrumentation;
We always bring in change in temperature; and I also noted change in temperature is not
necessarily change in temperature of the specimen. J ust because current is flowing
through the strain gauge, the strain gauge gets heated; when strain gauge can get heated,
the lead wire also can get heated. So we will also have to look at temperature change. We
will see how the temperature change influences.
(Refer Slide Time: 31:19)

And it is noted that copper lead wire change its resistance to 22 percent of the room
temperature resistance for a 55 degree centigrade temperature change; so if there is a
change of 55 degree centigrade, the resistance will change by 22 percent. We will not
look at a change of 55 degree centigrade. We will just look at a change of 5.5 degree
centigrade change in temperature. If I consider it for a lead wire connected to a 120 ohm
gauge circuit, a 5.5 degree centigrade change would result in an error equivalent to
approximately 156 micro strain. It is not small; I had mentioned earlier, depending on the
specimen material and configuration, even simple changes if you do not consider, error
could be order of 20 percent. And what we are looking at is a small temperature change
on the lead wire can cross a strain value of 156 micro strain. It is very significant.
See on the one hand we say technology is well developed to measure 0.5 micro strain;
And I also gave a thumb rule: when you are designing an experiment, you design in
experiment in such a manner that you have at least 100 micro strain developed at the
point of interest for the given loading, so that you can have certain reliability on the
strain measurement.
And you cannot make any measurement without connecting a lead wire. If lead wire
itself poses this kind of problem, you have to address it. You know this not a problem
from somewhere, it is not that you have done a faulty design; what you will have to look
at is, even a routine strain gauge connection introduces these kind of errors. 156 micro
strain is not in significant; you have to account for it.
(Refer Slide Time: 33:52)

So, what you find is, the gauge factor desensitization or loss of sensitivity and
temperature effect increase in severity with increased lead wire resistance. So you have
to account for it in practical applications. So one way of looking at this is, go in for a 350
ohm strain gauge. This can reduce each of these effects, but cannot eliminate any one of
them completely.
See, we had already looked at a remedy. If I have to work on plastics, heat dissipation is
very poor. The recommendation is, do not use a 120 ohm strain gauge; use a high
resistance strain gauge you going for a 500 ohms, or 1000 ohms for composites. And
indirectly, if you take a higher resistance of the strain gauge, it also helps in issues
related to desensitization caused by the lead wire. And what you find finally is the two
wire circuit gives no intrinsic compensation. So before we find out a remedy, we should
understand what is the problem.
Now we have understood reasonably well what is the problem caused by a two wire
circuit.
(Refer Slide Time: 35:43)

The via media to overcome this is a three wire circuit. I want you to make a decent
sketch of it and instead of two wires coming from the strain gauge, from one of the (( )),
I take two wires and intelligently connect them to the wheat stone bridge. This portion
does not change, but how do you connect the strain gauge to the strain meter in forming
the bridge is slightly modified and shown here.
And what is recommended is, this is the perfect circuit to use with the single strain
gauge. When I am using a quarter bridge, this is the best arrangement and this reduces
the loss in sensitivity. And what are the other features? It eliminates initial imbalance
problems. You have to intelligently look at; I have adjacent arms, the adjacent arms
cancel each other. So, what is done here is, for this arm I have one resistance R L and for
this arm I have another resistance R L.
So when I have three lead wires, you have one lead wire attached to one of the arms, you
have another lead wire attached to another arm; thus, it eliminates initial imbalance and
also reduces error due to temperature change in lead wires, because adjacent arms cancel
each other.
You need to have a decent sketch of it. You need to know what is the two wire circuit
that is simple and straight forward. You should know how to correct the three wires
intelligently to form the wheat stone bridge, and whatever the third wire that I use, this is
essentially used to connect the voltage.; that does not take part in your initial imbalance
problems.
(Refer Slide Time: 38:53)

And whatever I have said earlier is summarized as points: the first lead wire is in series
with the strain gauge, the second lead wire is in series with the dummy resistor R 4
between the negative input and output corners of the bridge; so I have lead wire on two
different arms.
And obviously, you are going to have these two lead wires are the same type and length,
and exposed to same temperature, their resistance will be equal. Because I have lead wire
connected to two arms, the two respective bridge arms will therefore be equal in
resistance. There is no imbalance. And if you look at the bridge, it is again resistively
symmetrical about a horizontal line through the bridge output corners; so what we have
achieved is, by connecting one more lead wire, we have intelligently reduce the
desensitization of the gauge factor. Because I have lead wires on two adjacent arms, even
the temperature will be cancelled. Whatever the temperature change happens in one lead
wire, it is cancelled by the temperature change in the other lead wire. The only
requirement is, I need three wires to be connected. That is very simple; considering the
kind of errors that you get in two wire lead wire system, a three lead wire system has
better performance.
So whenever you go for a quarter bridge and that is the most common usage, when you
are measuring strain at a point. You will only use a quarter bridge; even if you use a
strain (( )), each strain gauge need to be connected to a wheat stone bridge. So that means
each one will be a quarter bridge. So quarter bridge configuration is most common in
many of the strain gauge measurement scenario. So in such scenario, what we find is a
three lead wire system eliminates the problems that you come across in a two lead wire
system. Mind you, this is not because of temperature compensation usual sense; you may
still use a self temperature compensated gauge, but if you use a two lead wire system, the
lead wire resistance change because of temperature can be damaging. We saw that is 156
micro strain, so that you have to compensate for.
(Refer Slide Time: 42:11)

Whereas a three lead wire system definitely helps, but you know you will also have to
look at whatever the modification that you bring in, it is not sufficient that you can
always use this in any application; there is definite improvement by a three lead wire
system.
The bridge remains balanced regardless of lead wire temperature changes and lead wire
desensitization will reduce about 50 percent compared to two wire configuration. The
third wire is a voltage sensing wire, therefore it does not affect bridge balance or
temperature stability. Let us just summarizing the advantages of a three wire circuit. The
bridge remains balanced, that is a first advantage. Lead wire desensitization is reduced
by 50 percent, the temperature stability is unaffected.
(Refer Slide Time: 43:22)

See a three wire circuit definitely offers several advantages, but you cannot use this
always. There are reasons why we are unable to use it. The recommendation is, in some
special applications, combined use of these circuits may be desirable. See, you can take
one example. In the case of rotating components, if I have to make strain measurement I
have to attach a slip ring. The slip ring prevents twisting of the wires and you have
carbon bushes in this; but these slip rings comes with certain limited number of channels.
You cannot increase the number of channels easily and it will also have certain number
of tapping that you can do, two wire system. Then I need only two points. If I use a three
wire system, I need three points which luxury may not be possible.
So what is recommended is use of a two wire lead system between the strain gauge and
connector. And a three wire circuit between the connector and the measuring instrument
is recommended; by that you minimize the total length of the two wire system. So one
example is given. The idea is if you are unable to eliminate two lead wire system, at least
reduce its length. Wherever possible, use a three lead wire system to the extent you can
go; and the example given is, in a rotating component if I have to make strain
measurement, go up to the slip ring as a three lead wire system. From the slip ring to the
actual strain gauge, you go for a two lead wire system. That way you have a break even
in employing combination of two wire and three lead wire system. So you can bring
down the influence of two wire system in the final measurement; and what are the
benefits of three wire circuits?
(Refer Slide Time: 45:57)

A three wire circuit has intrinsic bridge balance. It has the automatic compensation for
the effect of lead wire temperature changes on bridge balance and it also has increased
measurement sensitivity and definitely recommended for static measurements. Because
temperature effects are significant when you are measuring over a period of time, so you
need to compensate for temperature change; and for static measurements when you are
using a quarter bridge, go for a three wire system; and in also applications where you are
unable to use a three lead wire system for the entire length, at least use it to the length
that is possible. See, when you say three lead wire system is advantageous, two lead wire
system also has a role to play.
(Refer Slide Time: 47:18)

We will see in which class of problems the two wire circuit are applicable. Suppose I am
working only on dynamic strains, when only the peak to peak amplitude of a time
varying signal is of interest; and in such applications, the two wire system may be used
effectively by selecting a signal conditioning amplifier.
The conditioning amplifier need to provide for ac-coupling of the input signal to block
the effect of temperature induced changes in lead wire resistance on the strain signal; and
you know, you have also done experiment in the laboratory class using the strain gauge,
where you had specimen very close to the strain meter. You must have hardly use half a
meter of length of lead wire; so when the length of lead wire is very small and also use a
high quality copper wire conductor which has very less resistance, two lead wire is
alright.
Two lead wire is convenient. You know from routing the lead wire soldering, you make
less effort; but it has its own problems. And it can also be used in certain specific
applications comfortably; and mind you, you go back and verify your strain gauge
measurement. In most instances, people are not aware that there is something called a
three lead wire system. Many are not aware of it, that is why I have cautioned. I have
always mention strain gauge technology is widely used and abused technique; because if
you know the nuances, you will definitely recommend a three lead wire system from the
point of view of confidence in the measurements.
If you are not trained in strain gauge instrumentation, very common place to see people
use a two lead wire for measurement, even for very long distances of the specimen away
from the instrumentation. I would at least request the students not to use the two lead
wire system, when the lead wire length is very long. It is very simple, you will only ask a
strain gauge. Naturally, one will use only two wires; why should I use three wires? It is
very unconventional; and the way you connect to the wheat stone bridge, you are able to
eliminate some of these nuisance of a two lead wire system. That you will know only
when you go through a course on strain gauges; there are answers in instrumentation.
So in this class, what we will looked at was: what is temperature compensation, what are
the philosophies that you can think of. We also introduced the concept of self
temperature compensated gauges. I cautioned when you say self temperature
compensation, it is not that temperature compensation is available for a wide range of
temperature. For normal changes in temperature, they are good enough. And you should
also be very careful that you use the correct strain gauge for the specimen material.
When I have a STC number for a different material, I use it on a different material. Then
I will end up with a mess of strain gauge instrumentation.
So normal applications, you should use the STC number suitable for the base specimen
material. Why I say all this is, you know we will also have to look at selection of a strain
gauge. When I have to go for a selection of a strain gauge, one of the parameter in the
selection is the STC number. We will also look at a strain gauge designation system and
we will find out how to select a strain gauge for a given application. For that, I am
preparing all the background: what is the property of the alloy, what is the characteristics
of the carrier, what is the characteristics of the adhesive. Now, we looked at what are the
measurement options. We have looked at you can go for a two lead wire circuit or a three
lead wire circuit and finally we have seen three lead wire system has many advantages in
comparison to a two lead wire system. Not only this, implementation is very simple; it
does not really call for any grade difficulty in implementation. You need one more lead
wire and it takes your pressure on monitoring the accuracy of the strain gauge
instrumentation system.
Because otherwise we saw the errors are quite high; a temperature change in a 6 meter
wire can give 156 micro strain. It is very high. And we saw for the same distance, the
initial imbalance could be 7000 micro strains. These are not small quantities. So, it is
prudent to go for a three lead wire system when you are using a quarter bridge
configuration. thank you.