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We’ve had a good look around YouTube and dug up a great collection of educational mechanical engineering videos. There’s a wide range of information here from simple maths tutorial to explanations of the inner workings of the internal combustion engine. We hope you enjoy watching and if you have any favorites of your own please drop a comment in the box at the bottom of the page. 1. Gas Turbine AnimationNice animation and explanation of the workings of a gas turbine The V7.0 release of DATS, the long-established signal analysis software from Prosig, contains a comprehensive fatigue analysis package for stress-life, strain-life and weld-life prediction. Prosig also design and manufacture a range of P8000 data acquisition systems for gathering strain data, which means that they are able to supply a total solution from [...]
Strain gauges are used not just for metals; they have been connected to the retina of the human eye, insects, plastics, concrete and indeed any material where strain is under investigation. Modern composite materials like carbon fibre when under development are often constructed with strain gauges between the layers of the material.
The following application note describes the test and measurement process for the fatigue testing and development cycle of a component. Strain gauges were used to monitor the strain levels in a particular suspension component. The component had been known to fail at various intervals. A predicted life for the component was required to analyze the feasibility of the its continued use or to see if a design change was required. The component under test (Figure 1) was an automotive suspension component, specifically a tie rod. The testing was carried out by a major automotive manufacturer. |
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A strain gauge is an electrical sensor which is used to accurately measure strain in a test piece. Strain gauges are usually based on a metallic foil pattern. The gauge is attached to the test piece with a special adhesive. As the test piece is deformed, so the adhesive deforms equally and thus the strain gauge deforms at the same rate and amount as the test piece. It’s for this reason that the adhesive must be carefully chosen. If the adhesive cracks or becomes detached from the test piece any test results will be useless.
In this note the different types of transducers that can be used with the 