
Chapter 4
Theory of Operation
4-8
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To convert voltage readings to strain units, use the following equation:
where
•
R
g
is the nominal gauge resistance.
•
R
L
is the lead resistance.
•
GF
is the gauge factor.
To simulate the effect on strain of applying a shunt resistor across R
3
,
use the following equation:
The dummy gauge element must always be unstrained and mounted to the
same type of material as the active gauge, but not strained. The dummy
gauge temperature must closely track the temperature of the active gauge.
The nominal value of R
3
is equal to
R
g
.
Gauges need not have a STC number corresponding to the material type of
the test specimen.
As shown in Figure 2-4,
Quarter-Bridge II Circuit Diagram
, for greatest
calibration accuracy, use separate wires between the bridge and the shunt
calibration pins SCA (pin 4) and SCCOM (pin 5). Do not directly short
SCA (pin 4) or SCCOM (pin 5) inside your connector unless the
strain-gauge leads are short and have minimal lead resistance.
You can neglect lead resistance (
R
L
) of the wiring if shunt calibration is
performed or if lead length is very short (
∼
<10 ft), depending on the wire
gauge. For example, 10 ft of 24-AWG copper wire has a lead resistance of
0.25
Ω
.
strain
ε
( )
4
–
V
r
GF
1 2
V
r
+
(
)
-------------------------------
1
R
L
Rg
-------
+
×
=
ε
s
4
U
–
GF
1 4
U
+
(
)
------------------------------
=