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C. The
results obtained showed that strain measurement is affected by an error
always less than 2 m m
1
for the whole range of simulated strains, while
the error in temperature evaluation is always less than 0.6
C. The effect of
cross-talk between the two signals was determined to be insignicant.
Keywords: temperature and strain measurements, simultaneous temperature
and strain measurements, temperature and strain sensors
Nomenclature
T
m
mean value of the measured temperatures
T
s
temperature simulated electrically by means of a
digital thermocouple calibrator, i.e. a voltage source
unit controlled by a digital voltmeter
V
s
thermocouple output as a function of the simulated
temperature
|| absolute difference between simulated and measured
values of strain
|T | absolute difference between simulated and measured
values of temperature
m
mean value of the measured strains
s
strainsimulatedelectricallybymeans of a Wheatstone
bridge calibration unit
T
standard deviation of the measured temperatures
1. Introduction
Techniques for temperature compensation of the electrical
resistance strain gauge outputs in static and dynamic
measurements are more than established in various elds
of experimental mechanics and are commonly based on
the utilization of a Wheatstone bridge circuit (Wheatstone
1843) and properly connected dummy gauges or self-
temperature-compensated gauges (Hannah and Reed 1993).
However, when the experimentalist is not entirely sure of
the unnoticeability of temperature gradients in the area of
the test piece equipped with strain gauges, he or she is
forced to include temperature channels in the experimental set-
up. Otherwise, some experimental methods to overcome the
limitation due to the utilization of two independent sensors
and related signal-conditioning equipment for each desired
location have been proposed. Among these experimental
methods, some are particularly adequate when combinations
of supercial temperature and strain measurements have to
be conducted simultaneously by means of systems devoted
solely to the acquisition of strain gauge output. Among these
methods, for example, one is commercially available and
based on the utilization of bondable resistance temperature
sensors (Anonymous 1984), whereas another involves the use
of the duplex gauge (Cappa et al 1992, 1993, 1996). More
specically, the rst method for determining both temperature
and strain values (i.e. the one based on bondable resistance
temperature sensors) mentioned simply requires an interface
0957-0233/01/040502+05$30.00 2001 IOP Publishing Ltd Printed in the UK 502
Simultaneous measurement of temperature and strain
signal conditioning network to present a readout numerically
equal to the measured supercial temperature, whereas the
latter (i.e. that based on the duplex gauge) requires a plain
post-processing of the rawdata measured by two strain gauges,
one self-temperature compensated for the specimen material
and the latter highly mismatched.
Another methodology, instead, tries to combine the strain
gauge and the thermocouple to form one sensor and, by use of
an appropriate conditioning unit, to separate the two signals
that exist concurrently on the same wires. In fact, in a
recent paper Anderson (1992) proposed the adaptation of the
four-terminal resistance measurement based on the constant
current loop circuit. The method implies (i) utilization of two
thermocouple wires as the lead wires that sense the voltage
drop across the gauge resistance; (ii) reversing the constant
current excitation via a multiplexer unit so that the strain gauge
is powered in couples of successive half cycles identical in
duration; and, nally, (iii) use of a signal manipulation unit
that elaborates the voltage drops measured in two successive
half cycles to determine the strain gauge resistance and the
EMF due to thermoelectric effects. The scheme described
previously was further improved by Parker (1994) by using
four thermocouple wires to connect the strain gauge to signal
conditioning and the so-obtained transducer was called a
thermostrain gauge. The experimental verication conducted
in the range 20 000 m m
1
, by means of a resistor decade
box, and from 0 to 1260
C and equal to
0.03
C from 0 to 400
C.
After a warm-up period of about 30 minutes, the measure-
ments take place. All the data detected by the data acquisition
control unit (measured strain and temperature) and by the dig-
ital multimeter (temperature of the test area) are passed via a
standard IEEE-488 interface to a computer, that acts as a bus
controller, and stored together with the simulated strain,
s
, and
temperature, T
s
, the acquisition time and other descriptive data.
Duringthe tests, the ambient temperature always remained
inthe range from20.1to24.8
and
T
, were
evaluated. The hypothesis on the limiting distribution was
veried by means of a
2
test with a 5% boundary.
505
P Cappa et al
The obtained values || = |
m
s
| and |T | =
|T
m
T
s
| are represented in gures 3 and 4, respectively. From
an analysis of gure 3, in which the maximum|| values for
any set of the collected data for the whole range of T
s
are
represented as a function of
s
, it emerges that the error in
strain evaluation is always less than 2 m m
1
for the whole
range of simulated strains and comparable to the overall global
error of the strain measuring set-up. In particular, sudden saw-
tooth variations seem to be due to the change in thousand
range of the Wheatstone bridge calibration unit.
The uncertainty interval relative to the measured temper-
ature is summarized in gure 4, in which the maximum |T |
values for any set of the collected data for the whole range of
s
are represented as a function of T
s
. Froma global examination
of the graph, the unnoticeability of |T | emerges. In fact, the
maximum observed value, which is always less than 0.6
C,
can be assumed satisfactory given the consideration that T-
type thermocouples exhibit error limits in the range from59
to 93
and
T
, were
always less than 0.4 m m
1
and 0.7
C, respectively. The
difference between the observed values seems to be due to
the already noticed metrological performances of the digital
strain meter conditioning unit and to the rough temperature
ltering method chosen. In fact, the standard deviation for
high temperatures strongly depends on the inaccuracy in the
mismatch between the set number of power line cycles for
the integrating voltmeter, that ought to be an exact multiple
of the period of the supplying carrier, and the actual value
affected by random uctuation. However, if the main aim
of conducting temperature measurements is correction of
the strain gauge output for temperature-induced effects, the
previously indicated inaccuracies in temperature evaluation are
denitely more than satisfactory.
Finally, from a comparative examination of the whole
results, it was observed that the two signals are sensed without
appreciable mutual effects and, therefore, the cross-talk could
be neglected.
4. Conclusions
An innovative method for simultaneous measurement of
temperature and strain has been proposed. It was
experimentally demonstrated that the strain gauge and
thermocouple signals can be measured simultaneously by
using thermocouple wires to connect ac-powered electrical
resistance strain gauges to a signal conditioning unit.
The proposed system is able to evaluate strain and
temperature with more than satisfactory accuracy for the usual
applications. Furthermore, the inaccuracy of temperature
measurement becomes unnoticeable if the temperature
measurement is conducted with the main aim of correcting the
strain gauge output for temperature-induced effects. Finally,
the cross-talk between the two signals was found to be
unremarkable.
References
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the resistance signal conditioning NASA Technical
Memorandum 104260 pp 122
Anonymous 1984 Bondable resistance temperature sensors and
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