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DEVELOPING A MEASURING SYSTEM ABLE TO DETERMINE THE

MECHANICAL STRESS ON A RECTANGULAR CROSS-SECTION BAR

Article · October 2019

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Daniela Voicu Laszlo Barothi

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 DEVELOPING A MEASURING SYSTEM ABLE TO
DETERMINE THE MECHANICAL STRESS ON A
RECTANGULAR CROSS-SECTION BAR

Laszlo Barothi1, Daniela Voicu2

Abstract: This paper aims at developing a measuring system able to record the
mechanical stress within the cross-section of a rectangular bar. The tested
rectangular bar works as cantilever. It was instrumented with strain gauges, allowing
to measuring the normal stress, then computing the deforming weight with the help of
a transfer function.
The experimental data were further validated with a FEM analyzing, modeling
and simulating software.

Keyword: measuring system, mechanical stress, microcontroller,

Wheatstone bridge

1. Introduction
The main task of the developed measuring system is to simplify the
methodology to determine the mechanical stress of a rectangular bar. It could be
very useful within the laboratory works of material resilience, mainly for the
bending efforts. The rectangular bar was embedded at one end while the other
one was loaded with different weights (as depicted in fig. 1).

Figure 1. Loading diagram of the rectangular bar

1
Military Technical Academy, Department of Automotive Engineering and Transportation,
Bucharest, ROMANIA, [email protected]
2
Military Technical Academy, Department of Automotive Engineering and Transportation,
Bucharest, ROMANIA, [email protected]
1
 A 4 strain gauge, Wheatstone bridge mounted transducer (fig. 2) was
placed on the bar [8, 9].

Figure 2. Wheatstone bridge strain-gauge transducer

The transducer was placed as close as possible to the embedded end of

the bar, since this is the place the highest stress occurs when the other end is
loaded. The output signal of the transducer is an analogical one (actually, the
output tension of the Wheatstone bridge)[5, 6 , 7].
The signal was achieved using a measuring structure having the layout
depicted in fig. 3. It consists of the following components:

Figure 3. Measuring system’s components

1. Test bed;
2. Weights;
3. Rectangular cross-section bar;
4. Wheatstone bridge mounted strain gauges;
5. Digital display with RCM1602IICV1 micro-controller;
6. Arduino Uno R3 micro-controller;
 7. Voltage amplifier;
8. B25 voltage sensor:
 Measuring range: 0 to 25 V, DC;
 Resolution: 5/1024= 4,89 mV;
 Powering voltage: 5V.
- DG35090020, 9V-DC powering adapter for Arduino Uno R3 board;
- FC-16110, 12V-DC powering adapter for the voltage amplifier.

1.1 Working steps

The first step was to develop a code in the Arduino programming
language, then subsequently uploading it to the Arduino Uno R3 micro-
controller. It works for determining the wanted parameter: the output voltage of
the Wheatstone bridge. Fig. 4 depicts the interface of this program.

Figure 4. Arduino interface

The second step was to make the connection between the measuring
system’s components, as follows:
- The Wheatstone bridge was connected to the voltage amplifier, feeding
it with the output signal of the bridge;
- The voltage amplifier was connected to the voltage sensor that converts
the voltage into analogical signal;
- The voltage sensor was connected to one of the analogical ports of the
Arduino Uno R3 micro-controller;
 - The digital display, with its micro-controller, was connected to two
digital ports of the data acquisition board, allowing the read of the
recorded stress;
- The Arduino Uno R3 board was powered by the 9V-DC adapter;
- The voltage amplifier was powered by the 12V-DC adapter.

2. Reading the recorded stress and computing the

load

To reading the recorded stress values within the rectangular bar, we

developed a code in the Arduino programming language, which consists of the
following transfer functions:

2  E  a3
mk U i (1)
12  l  g

  E    E  k1 Ui (2)

Where:
 m [kg]: the deforming load;
 k, k1: transfer constants
o k  2  3.771981104 ,
o k1  1.7040982 107 ;
The values for the transfer constants were determined during the
calibration procedure, with the help of relation (1) and (2), for the pre-set values
of the load (1 kg) and voltage Ui.
 E [MPa]: Young’s modulus ( E  2.10 105 MPa )
 a [mm]: side size of the bar’s cross section ( a  9.5mm );
 Ui [mV]: the voltage measured by the voltage sensor;
 l [mm]: the cantilever’s length between the applied weight and
the Wheatstone bridge ( l  275mm );
 g  9.81m / s 2 ;
  [MPa]: normal stress;
  [-]: relative elongation.
We used different masses to load the free end of the bar: 1 kg, 2 kg, 3 kg
and 4 kg. Table 1 provides the experimental results.
 Table 1.
Experimental Results
m U i [mV] 
[kg] [MPa]
1.08 512.695 18.35
2.1 1000.977 35.82
3.07 1464.84 52.42
4.15 1977.539 70.07

Errors might have been caused by some of the following reasons:

- the value of the transfer constant k could not be accurately determined.
- the voltage sensor has a low resolution, of 4.89 mV
- the mass of the weight’s loading table can not be entirely neglected (75 g)
- every weight has a deviation of ±15 g
- the amplifier is influenced by the temperature variation
- the display rounds up or down the value to two digits after decimal point

To computing the deforming mass we will use equation (1).

3. Validating the experimental data

To validating the experimental data, the bar was modeled in a FEM

program. It was embedded at one end and loaded at the other one with forces
ranging between 10 and 40 N with a step of 10 N. Fig. 5 and fig. 6 depict the
variation of the normal stress along the cantilever according to the deforming
load.

Figure 5. Normal stress along the bar for a 1 kg load

 Figure 6. Normal stress along the bar for a 3 kg load

Figure 7. Normal stress along the bar for a 4 kg load

4. Conclusions
Analyzing the mechanical stresses that have been got with the help of the
FEM simulation program, we could notice that they are sensitively closed to the
ones we have got from tests. This was a good way to validate the proper design
of the measuring system.
Some errors of the analyzed parameters can occur due to the non-linear
amplification of the amplifier, since it is temperature-sensitive. The measuring
system’s layout can be further improved by using an inductive sensor that
would allow measuring the vertical displacement of the bar’s loaded end.
Using the same measuring system but changing the sensor, the whole
assembly could be treated as an electronic weighing scale (quite usual in
commodity shops). Nevertheless the transfer constants should be changed to the
ones corresponding to the used sensitive element.
 References
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GmBH,Weinheim, 1998
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