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Danial J. Neebel, Joseph R. Blandino, and David J. Lawrence,
College of Integrated Science and Technology
James Madison University
Instructor’s Portion
Summary
This lab illustrates the use of a strain gage. The gage is bonded near the
clamped end of a cantilever beam. Weights are applied to the free end of
the beam. The strain gage measures the axial elongation of the beam. The
students plot a force vs. strain curve using LabVIEW. They then analyze
the data and plot a stress vs. strain curve. From this curve, the students
determine the modulus of elasticity of the beam. The students must
determine the material used to fabricate the beam.
Uses
This exercise applies to mechanical engineering, physics, or a general
instrumentation course.
Equipment List
Computer running Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Sun, or HPUX
(visit http://www.ni.com/labview/lv_sysreq.htm for
requirements specific to your operating system)
SCXI Bundle from National Instruments (part number 77744837)
LabVIEW Full Development System
PCI6024E Data Acquisition Board
SCXI 1000 chassis
SCXI 1349 cable
SCXI 1180 feedthrough panel (not used in this experiment)
SCXI Module from National Instruments
SCXI 1121 – 4 Channel Isolation Amplifier
(part number 77657221)
SCXI Terminal Block from National Instruments
SCXI 1321 – For use with the SCXI 1121
(part number 77768721)
Strain Gage
Cantilever beam
Metal plate
Clamp
Mass hanger and variety of masses
Balance for accurately measuring the masses
Websites
Omega — www.omega.com
National Instruments — www.ni.com
Setup
Computerbased measurement systems are used in a wide variety of
applications. In laboratories, in field services and on manufacturing plant
floors, these systems act as generalpurpose measurement tools wellsuited
for measuring voltage signals. However, many realworld sensors and
transducers require signal conditioning before a computerbased
measurement system can effectively and accurately acquire the signal. The
frontend signal conditioning system can include functions such as signal
amplification, attenuation, filtering, electrical isolation, simultaneous
sampling, and multiplexing. In addition, many transducers require
excitation currents or voltages, bridge completion, linearization, or high
amplification for proper and accurate operation. Therefore, most
computerbased measurement systems include some form of signal
conditioning in addition to plugin data acquisition (DAQ) devices. For
more information on signal conditioning for computerbased data
Stress and Strain 2
acquisition systems you can find National Instruments Application
Note 48 online at www.ni.com.
The LabVIEW VI is the Strain VI. Students input the beam dimensions
and the applied load. The students must be careful to use consistent units.
The bridge circuit is balanced using the offset potentiometer on the VI
front panel. Using the offset potentiometer is preferable to having the
students adjust the offset on the SCXI1321 terminal block.
Figure 1. Basic Setup for a Beam Under a Stress Load
Follow the steps listed to prepare the workstations for this experiment. The
instructions assume you are using the equipment list shown previously.
Note: Most of the manuals that are referred to ship with National
Instruments hardware and software. If you can’t find your hardcopy of the
manuals, you can get them online at http://www.ni.com/manuals. If
you encounter problems during setup, contact technical support at
http://www.ni.com/support.
Stress and Strain 3
a. The beam is made of 6061 aluminum, but other materials can be
used. The beam dimensions are 12.5 1.0 0.125 inches.
b. The weight is applied 0.25 in. from the free end.
c. Attach the strain gage 10.188 in. from the free end.
d. The beam is clamped 11.0 in. from the free end.
e. The beam is clamped to the edge of a table.
f. A metal plate is used between the beam and the clamp.
2. Install LabVIEW (see the LabVIEW Release Notes for your
version of LabVIEW).
3. Install your PCI6024E board (see the 6023E/6024E/6025E User
Manual).
4. Configure the SCXI 1121 (see the SCXI 1121 User Manual).
a. Enable shunt calibration for channel 0.
b. The SCXI 1121 has jumper settings that need to be made
for this experiment.
i. Set the gain to an appropriate value for your sensor.
Think of the gain as a scaling factor that makes the sensor
voltage fit well within the measurement system range. First,
determine the maximum voltage output of the sensor for the
temperature range it will experience. Then determine the
maximum voltage the system can measure. The gain is found
by dividing the system voltage by the sensor voltage. For
example, if your sensor outputs a maximum of 0.01 volts and
the measurement system has a range of 0 – 10 volts, you
would set the gain to 1000.
ii. Set the jumpers for a halfbridge completion
network for channel 0.
iii. Leave the rest of the jumpers in their factory
settings.
c. Install the SCXI 1121 into slot 0 of the SCXI 1000 chassis.
Stress and Strain 4
d. Connect the strain gage to channel 0 of the SCXI 1321
terminal block.
e. Connect the SCXI 1321 terminal block to the SCXI 1121
module.
5. Cable the PCI6024E to the SCXI 1121 module with the SCXI
1349 (see the SCXI 1349 Shielded Installation Guide).
6. Configure the PCI6024E board and the SCXI 1121 module (see
the NI DAQ Release Notes for your version of NIDAQ).
When configuring the SCXI 1121 make sure the software settings
match the jumper settings on the physical module.
7. Create the following directory in your LabVIEW folder:
\\LabVIEW\Experiments\Stress and Strain.
8. Copy Stress and Strain.llb into the Stress and Strain folder
you just created.
9. Conduct a runthrough of the lab procedure the students will
perform.
2. Make sure the students have enough masses at their workstations.
References
John A. Allocca, Transducers: Theory and Applications,
Reston Pub. Co.
Wheeler, Anthony J. and Ganji, Ahmad R. (1996), Introduction
to Engineering Experimentation, PrenticeHall Inc. Englewood
Cliffs, NJ.
Stress and Strain 5
Student’s Portion
Introduction
Strain gages are important to any device under stress or strain. Strain
gages provide solutions to many real world systems and testing. In this
lab, you will apply various loads to the cantilever beam and measure the
strain using a prewritten LabVIEW program.
Objective
To use strain gages for measurement of strain.
To determine the modulus of elasticity of a cantilever beam.
To use Hooke’s Law to determine the modulus of elasticity of an
unknown material.
Theory
Design of Strain Gages
Strain gages are used as sensing elements in displacement or load
measurement systems. They can be used to measure extremely small
deformations. Strain gages are made of fine wire with a certain cross
sectional area (A), initial length (L), and resistivity (). The resistance of
the wire changes when the wire is displaced due to stress. The stress is an
applied load acting over the crosssectional area of the wire. The following
equation defines the resistance (R) of the strain gage wire:
L
R
A
It is common to use a gage factor (G) to describe the changes in resistance
(R) of the strain gage due to changes in length (L) of the wire. The gage
factor is also used to compare various straingage materials:
R / R L
gage factor = G = where = is defined as strain
L / L L
So, strain is the change in length over the original length. The units are
typically mm/mm or in/in. Sometimes the term strain (microstrain) is
used, meaning 106 in/in.
Stress and Strain 6
Stress and Modulus of Elasticity (Young’s Modulus)
By mounting strain gages to the surface (top and/or bottom) of a cantilever
beam, you can measure the axial deformation of the beam (the
deformation along the length of the beam) when a transverse load is
applied to the end of the beam. The amount of deformation can be related
to the strain using the previous gage factor equation. Figure 2 shows a
strain gage bonded to the top surface of the cantilever beam.
Figure 2. Cantilever Beam with a Strain Gage Mounted on the Top
When a load (P) is applied at the end of the beam, the tensile stress ()
along the xaxis at the top surface is given as:
Mc
I
where:
M = bending moment (units of Nm). M is the product of the
effective beam length and the force (P) applied at the end of the beam.
c = distance from neutral axis of beam (m), Typically c = t/2,
where t is the beam thickness.
I = moment of inertia for a cross section of the beam (units are m4).
bt 3
The moment of inertia is I = .
12
P = load (N).
L = effective beam length = distance between the point where the
load is applied and the center of the strain gage (m).
b = beam width (m).
t = beam thickness (m).
Stress and Strain 7
You can find the stress from the applied force and beam geometry, as
given by equation 1, and measure the strain with a strain gage.
Conveniently, a relationship exists between the two. The modulus of
elasticity (E) is an index of the stiffness of the material. When a load (that
is, force) is applied to metal such as an aluminum alloy or steel, the strain
of the material changes linearly as a function of the stress over a certain,
usually small, range. Within this range, the beam exhibits elastic
deformation (that is, elastic or reversible strain). When the deformation is
not permanent, it is called elastic deformation. That is, when a force is
applied, the beam will bend downward and elongate. When the force is
removed, the beam will return to its original shape. The modulus of
elasticity (E) is the ratio of stress to elastic strain and has units of N/m2:
E = (2)
For this lab, strain will be measured by a strain gage bonded to the top
surface of a beam. By applying a known load, the stress is calculated using
Equation 1. After applying several different loads and measuring the strain
directly using a strain gage, you can plot the stressstrain graph. The slope
of this graph is the modulus of elasticity as predicted by Equation 2.
Note: The location and position of the strain gage is critical. You must
know if the position of the gage will result in axial, shear, torsional, or
bending strains, or any combination.
Bridge Circuits
Usually, strain gages are connected in a Wheatstone bridge circuit as
shown in Figure 3. The change in resistance of the strain gage due to an
applied force can be measured as the output voltage of the Wheatstone
bridge circuit. The bridge circuit shown has a single strain gage and three
fixed resistors and is called a quarterbridge circuit.
Stress and Strain 8
Figure 3. Wheatstone Bridge with Strain Gage, R3
R3 is the strain gage resistance. Therefore,
R3 R4
V0 = Vs
R2 R3 R1 R4
When V0 = 0, the bridge is said to be balanced. The only way to balance
the bridge is to set:
R3 R4
= 0
R2 R3 R1 R4
or
R1R3 = R2R4
R4 is typically a variable resistor used to balance the bridge. In this
experiment, the offset potentiometer on the front panel of the LabVIEW
VI is used to balance the bridge. Assuming the bridge is initially balanced,
then when the strain gage is strained, R3 R3 R . The output of the
bridge circuit becomes:
R1 R
V
V0 = R2 R3 R R1 R4 s
Because R is usually small compared to R3, it can be neglected from the
denominator of the equation. Then, V0 becomes:
R1 R
V
V0 = R2 R3 R1 R4 s
Stress and Strain 9
Note that V0 is a linear function of R. Now you can relate strain with the
output voltage based on the following derivation.
Because the gage factor (G) is equal to (R/R))/(L/L), and strain ( is
equal to L/L=(R/R)/G, the conversion from strain to output voltage is:
R2 R3 R2 R4 V0
R1 R3G Vs
You must know the gage factor (G) to get meaningful results.
Pre-Lab Preparation
Read through the theory section from this experiment to understand
how strain gages are used to measure deformations.
Find a reference and read about the modulus of elasticity.
Find a table with the modulus of elasticity for common metals.
You will need this table to complete the lab.
Bring a ruler and a formatted virusfree disk to the lab.
Workstation Details
Your workstation should have the following items:
A computer with National Instruments LabVIEW software
National Instruments DAQ board (inside computer).
National Instruments SCXI chassis.
Cantilever beam with mounted strain gage connected to SCXI
input channel 0.
Masses for hanging on the cantilever beam.
Balance for weighing masses.
Lab Procedure
1. Set up the software:
a. Launch LabVIEW.
Stress and Strain 10
b. Open the Stress and Strain.llb. The file is under
\\LabVIEW\Experiments\Stress and Strain on your
computer.
c. On the front panel of Strain VI, under Output File, enter the
filename a:\strain.dat.
d. Put a formatted, virusfree disk into the drive.
e. On the front panel of the Strain VI, set:
– Scan rate = 512.
– Gage factor = The gage factor provided with the
manufacturer’s data for the gages used. Ask your instructor if
you do not know the proper gage factor.
– Gage resistance = the resistance provided with the
manufacturer’s specifications. This is not critical for this
experiment, but you should know this information.
– Applied weight = 0.
– Bridge circuit type = Quarter.
f. Measure the width, thickness, and effective beam length (distance
from the point where the mass is applied to the center of the strain
gage). Enter the values on your data sheet and on the Strain VI
front panel.
2. Balance the bridge:
a. Run the Strain VI and watch the strain output display beneath the
graph.
g. Use the offset potentiometer (use the dial as the coarse control and
the arrows next to the digital indicator as the fine control) to set
the strain output display to zero. Make sure the value is within
±0.000002.
h. Press the Keep Data button.
3. Take measurements with different loads or weights:
Stress and Strain 11
a. Choose a mass and weigh the entire mass and hanger on the
balance to get an accurate measurement.
i. Hook the mass and the holder on the end of the cantilever beam
and input the applied weight into the program. Be sure that the
units you use are consistent! Be sure the mass is not swinging.
j. When you are sure the mass is not moving and the strain
measurement is stable, press the Keep Data button.
k. Repeat steps a through c for at least five more weights. Make sure
you get values across the range of 0 to 400 g. DO NOT EXCEED
450 g TOTAL!
l. Take one last data point with no weight on the beam. The strain
reading again should be within ±0.000002. Press the Keep Data
button. If you followed the lab instructions carefully, you did not
exceed the elastic limit of the beam, so any change in the zero load
strain of the beam can be attributed to drift in the bridge circuit.
Any difference in the two noload readings should be noted in
your lab report.
m. When finished gathering data, press the Save and Quit button on
the front panel.
n. Clean up your area and place the weights back into the rack.
o. Exit LabVIEW.
p. Retrieve your floppy disk with the strain.dat file for later data
analysis.
Lab Report
You should submit an informal lab report. Your lab report should include
the following information:
Type all data into Excel and format it into tables.
Calculate the stress for each load applied and enter it into the Excel
table you create.
Stress and Strain 12
Graph the stress vs. strain and perform a linear regression on the
data.
Determine the modulus of elasticity from your graph and linear
regression.
From the value of the modulus of elasticity, determine the beam
material.
Make sure you label units for each variable. If the units are not
consistent, you will not get the right modulus of elasticity. Show all
your calculations, including conversion of units. Work in SI units
(that is, kg, m, sec, N).
Staple your data sheet to the back of your report.
Stress and Strain 13
Data Sheet
1. Record the beam dimensions:
Effective length:______________
Width:______________________
Thickness:___________________
4. Give two applications of strain gages.
5. Why do you need to set the offset potentiometer until output strain is
zero when there is no weight on the beam? What function does it
provide?
6. ____________ Demonstration of strain measurement.
(instructor’s initials)
7. Perform a sample calculation of the modulus of elasticity using one set
of your strain and load measurement values. Show units throughout
the calculation.
Stress and Strain 14
8. Choose at least six different masses to span a range of loads from 0 to
400 grams.
Load (g) Strain
9. Plot stress vs. strain.
10. From the plot of stress vs. strain, determine the modulus of elasticity.
11. Based on the modulus of elasticity and physical appearance of the
beam, what material is the beam?
Stress and Strain 15