Construction Observation and Monitoring

Strain measurement

Carlos Sousa
September 2017

Summary

• Definition of strain

• Types of strain gages

• General characteristics of strain gages

• Working principles and important properties for relevant types of

strain gages
– Mechanical strain gages
– Vibrating wire strain gages
– Electrical resistance strain gages

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 Definition of strain
• Strain
– Is the quotient between the length variation in a structural element
divided by its initial length, L0

L  L0
 
Lo

– The measured strain corresponds to the average value

along the reference length L0

– NOTES:
• In reality, the strain is not constant
along such reference length
• The base length of the strain gage, L0,
must be judiciously chosen

Types of strain gages

Most common types of strain gages for civil engineering applications:

HBM – FS 62 miniature polyimide strain sensor
Gage Technique VWSG

Acoustical
Mechanical Electrical resistance Optical fibre
(vibrating wire)

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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

General characteristics of strain gages

• Measurement range
– Maximum strain which can be measured with the transducer

• 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

– It must be chosen taking into account:

• the material characteristics (homogeneity or heterogeneity,
aggregate dimensions in the case of concrete, …)
• the strain gradient (the higher the gradient, the shorter should be
the base length)

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 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

SISGEO vibrating wire strain gauges

HBM – Strain gauges and accessories

Mechanical strain gages

Huggenberger extensometer

• Levers are employed to obtain a large

amplification of the measured strain

• Easy to use, but the results can not be

automatically recorded

• Can not be used for dynamic

measurements

• Typical measurement base length: 20mm

• Typical resolution: 2

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 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

Elongâmetro mecânico MATEST

Elongâmetro digital MATEST