Experiment no.

Aim: To study performance characteristics of a strain gauge.

Equipments Required: Strain gauge trainer kit, Connecting leads, Power supply.

Theory:
If a metal conductor is stretched or compressed , its resistance changes on account of the fact
that both length and diameter of conductor change. Also there is a change in the value of
resistivity of the conductor when it is strained and this property is called piezo-resistive effect.
If a conductor of elastic material is positively strained, its longitudinal dimensions will increase
while there will be a reduction in the lateral dimensions. So,when a gauge is subjected to a
positive strain, its length increases while its area of cross section decreases. Since the resistance
of conductor is proportional to its length and inversely proportional to its area of cross section,
the resistance of the gauge increases with positive strain.

The resistance of unstrained gauge is:

R=ρL/A

Where , L=length,A= cross section area,ρ= resistivity of wire

The gauge factor is defined as ratio of per unit change in resistance to per unit change in length,

GF=(ΔR/R)/(ΔL/L)

Diagram:
Procedure:
1. Make the connections accordingly.

2. Vary the load weight and note down the values of resistance and stress correspondingly.

3. Tabulate the readings in observation table.

Observation Table:

S.no. Weight Resistance Strain

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19

Result:
The strain gauge acts as a transducer giving us the strain and resistance values corresponding to
the variation in the load applied.