Stress sensors

[e j]

Hello e.body,

Just trying to source reliable stress sensors here and would appreciate any suggestions as to which makes work best??

Cheers http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_eek.gif

[e j]

Hello e.body,

Just trying to source reliable stress sensors here and would appreciate any suggestions as to which makes work best??

Cheers http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_eek.gif

[D J Yates]

Hmm, didn't know there was such a thing.

Since you can't measure stress directly i'd suggest you look into strain guages, of which there are many arrangements and sensitivities. As to which kind you'll require, it depends on what stresses your trying to measure and in what component.

What are you trying to measure?

[e j]

yes, I could measure the surface strain of the suspension struts and perhaps also certain parts of the the carbon fibre body. What make of gauges have you found reliable.

cheers

[D J Yates]

Unfortunately, i can't really help you with a retailer because no one here has ever tried this. However, i do remember whilst doing a lab last year that generally that those we were using in the lab were discounted because of their educational use. I suggest that you ask some of the teaching staff and get the guages through them, it'll probably save you some money and time.

More importantly though, don't waste your time worrying about what kind of guages to use until you know exactly what your going to measure, how your going to interpret it and why your doing it. To put it into perspective, one student here at Newcastle will be doing their final year project on strain guaging the space frame chassis to analyse the stresses. This is a big job and will dominate his/her work this year. My advice would be only consider this if there is a good reason for doing so and if you've got the time to do it in.

[jonno]

we are currently doing a strain gauge lab as part of our coursework (comparing actual to fea and photoelasticity) and i can tell you strain gauging is a fiddly, time consuming job. Although you will get quality data out of it when it is complete. One of the final year projects at brunel is playing round with a tvr tuscan chassis with a strain gauge. As a result of student work, tvr have put some extra metal in their chassis, so it is beneficial. as i said though, and D J Yates said it's real time consuming!