ME3481 Mechanical Engineering Lab III

EXPERIMENT# 11

Measurement of Stress Intensity Factor using

Strain Gauge

Lab Report

DEPARTMENT OD MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY MADRAS
CHENNAI-600036, INDIA.
July-Nov, 2021
Contents
1 Introduction 3

2 Aim of the experiment 3

3 Apparatus 3

4 Stress intensity factor 3

5 Strain gauge 5

6 Half bridge circuit 6

7 Longitudinal and lateral strain 7

8 Procedure 7

9 Experimental data 9

10 Calculation 9

11 Report 9

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1 Introduction
The stress intensity factor (K) is used in the field of fracture mechanics. It predicts
stress intensity near the tip of a crack caused by a remote load or residual stresses.The
magnitude of K depends on:
1. Sample geometry

2. Size and location of the crack

3. Magnitude of load

4. Distribution of load
The stress intensity factor is a single-parameter characterization of the crack tip stress
field.

2 Aim of the experiment

Using strain gauges, find the stress intensity factor of a v-notched specimen when sub-
jected to tensile loading.

3 Apparatus
Strain gauges, V-notched specimen, strain indicator, multimeter, dead weights.

4 Stress intensity factor

The stress state near the tip of a crack or
notch caused by a remote load or residual
stresses is known as stress intensity factor.
It is applied to homogeneous linear elastic
material for providing failure criterion and
discipline of damage tolerance.
The stress intensity factor for the three dif-
ferent modes are shown in the figure 2.
Theoretical stress intensity factor
√
K1theo = Y σ πa (1)

where,

σ = far field stress

a = length of the crack
Figure 1: V-notched specimen.
Y = correction factor

Correction factor (Y):

Empirical formulas:

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 Figure 2: Mode I, Mode II, and Mode III crack loading.

1. The expression of correction factor is

a  a 2  a 3  a 4
Y = 1.122 − 0.231 + 10.550 − 21.710 + 30.382 (2)
b b b b

2. The expression of correction factor is

 a 4 0.857 + 0.265(a/b)
Y = 0.265 1 − +
3 (3)
b 1 − ab

Using least square fitting (Gross, 1964; Brown 1966): Accuracy 0.5% for a/b ≤ 0.6

3. The expression of correction factor is

r
3
2b πa 0.752 + 0.02(a/b) + 0.37 1 − sin πa
2b
Y = tan (4)
πa 2b cos πa
2b

(Tada 1973): Accuracy better than 1% for a/b ≤ 0.2, 0.5% for a/b ≥ 0.2

Experimental stress intensity factor

Here the object develops stress intensity near v-notch due to mode-I crack loading. So,
the formula for the stress intensity factor can be expresses as
√
K1expt = a1 2π (5)

where,
√
a1 = σyy r, σyy is the experimental stress data
r = distance of gauge from the crack

Note: The dimensions of the aluminium plate specimen (figure 3) used in the experiment
is given in the following table 1.
Assumption: Poisson’s ration and temperature effects are neglected.

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 Table 1: Dimension of the aluminium plate specimen.

a = b/2 28.5 mm
h 150 mm
t( plate thickness) 1 mm
r( near) 1 mm
r( far) 90 mm

Figure 3: Placement of strain gauge on the plate specimen.

5 Strain gauge
Resistance strain gauge is based on the phenomenon that the electrical resistance in a
piece of wire is directly proportional to the length and inversely to the area of the cross
section. If a resistance strain gauge is properly attached onto the surface of a structure
whose strain is to be measured, the strain gauge wire/film will also elongate or contract
with the structure, and as mentioned above, due to change inn length and/or cross section,
the resistance of the strain gauge changes accordingly. This change is measured using
a strain indicator(with the wheatstone bridge circuitry), and the strain is displayed by
properly converting the change in resistance to strain. Every strain gauge, by design,
has a sensitivity factor called the gauge factor which correlates strain and resistance as
follows
∆R/R
Gauge factor(SG ) =
ε

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Where R is resistance of undeformed strain gauge. ∆R is change in resistance of strain
gauge due to strain, and ε is strain.

Measuring strain on s surface through a resistance strain gauge

A resistance strain gauge is bonded to the surface of a component so well that it becomes
an integral part of the component. Note that a strain gauge is capable of measuring only
the normal strain(tensile or compressive along the axis of the gauge). Strain is supposed to
be measured at a point but experimentally a strain gauge measures an average strain over
an area. Bridge excitation, gauge resistance, gauge length, gauge backing etc. influence
the strain measurement. Wheatstone bridge is the most commonly used circuit for strain
measurement.

Strain measuring bridge

Figure 4 shows a Wheatstone Bridge circuit. Initially E is adjusted to be zero by arranging
the resistances such that R1R3=R2R4. If, after this initial adjustment there are small
changes in the values of the resistances, then the voltage output ∆E of the bridge can
be obtained as;
 
R1R2 ∆R1 ∆R2 ∆R3 ∆R4
∆E = V − + − (6)
(R1 + R2)2 R1 R2 R3 R4
For optimum sensitivity it is recommended to have R1 = R2 = R3 = R4.
R1,R2,R3 and R4 can either be active strain gauges or dummy strain gauges. The
equation 6 can be interpreted as like strains in adjacent arms cancel but in opposite arms
add. This aspect is judiciously used in strain measurement for temperature compensation
or for doubling or quadrapling signal in transducer applications.

Figure 4: Wheatstone bridge circuit.

Strain gauge consist of a metallic sensing element (3 − 5 µm thick) and a carrier of

insulating material (30−50 µm thickness). The dimensional change of the surface changes
the resistance as mechanical strain is directly proportional to change in resistance.

6 Half bridge circuit

A Wheatstone bridge that has two similar gauges in place of R1 and R2, while R3
and R4 built into the strain indicator. If both the gauges are in similar temperature
environments, then the measurement is atomically compensated for temperature effects.
In strain measurements it is always recommended to use at least a half bridge circuit.

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 Figure 5: Strain gauge.

The strain sensitivity can be increased to two-fold if choice of strain gauge locations is so
selected such that ∆R1 and ∆R2 experience opposite but equal strains.

Figure 6: Half bridge circuit.

7 Longitudinal and lateral strain

Strain acting on same direction to the load direction is known as longitudinal strain
and the strain acting normal to the load direction is known as lateral strain. For our
experiment following is the strain condition observed,

8 Procedure
The experiment procedures are explained below,
1. Hang the specimen(with preinstalled strain gauges) vertically. Measure the impor-
tant dimensions such as breadth b, crack length a, thickness t.

2. Measure the resistance of the strain gauges using the multimeter and note it down.

3. Choose dummy strain gauge having same resistance as that of the active strain
gauge for bridge connection.

4. Form a Half bridge by connecting active and dummy strain gauge as shown in 9 .

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 Figure 7: Longitudinal and lateral strain.

5. Switch on the strain indicator and by rotating the BAL knob set the display to
+/-0000.

6. Set the Bridge knob to half bridge and the other knob to the strain gauge resistance.

7. Apply load in steps and take the strain readings.

8. Repeat the experiment with another strain gauge(pasted transversely).

Figure 8: Strain indicator (front side).

Figure 9: General setup of the experiment

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9 Experimental data
The experimental data is given in the following table 2.

Table 2: Stress intensity factor experimental data.

Longitudinal strain (µ) Lateral strain (µ)

Sl no. Load (N)
Near (r) Far (r) Near (r) Far (r)
1 9.8 25 4 7 3
2 19.6 36 6 10 7
3 29.4 47 8 11 9
4 39.2 58 11 14 12
5 49.0 63 13 15 16

10 Calculation
For calculation use data given in the table 2. This table consists several strain values
for different loading. All strains are given in µm unit. The column labeled as “Near”
contains the values of strains near the notch and the column labeled as“Far” contains the
values of strains far from the notch. The steps for the calculation is given below.

Step-1 First find the correction factor Y using equations 2.

Step-2 Next calculate the stress generated at minimum cross section area of the specimen.
P
σ=
A
where P = applied load, and A = area of the cross section.

Step-3 Next find theoretical stress intensity factor using equation 1.

Step-4 Next consider both longitudinal and lateral strains near the notch (near or far
from the notch), and find the average strain.
q
ε = ε2x + ε2y

Step-5 Find σyy using Young’s modulus (E) of the material of the specimen. For, alu-
minium the value of the Young’s modulus is 68 GPa.

σyy = Eε

Step-6 Next calculate experimental stress intensity factor using equation 5.

Step-7 Next calculate between K1theo and K1expt using equations (1) and (5) respectively.

11 Report

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 Table 3: Table of Results

Sl no. Load (N) K1theo K1expt (far) K1theo K1expt (far) % of % of

(near) (near) error error
(near) (far)
1
2
3
4
5

Data for calculation:

a = b/2 = 28.5 mm, h = 150 mm; t = 1 mm, r (near) = 1mm, r (far) = 90 mm, E = 70
GPa.
Using procedure outlined in last section and taking values from table 2, complete table
3. Show all calculations neatly.
In which case among near and far fields (from crack tip) the % error between K1theo and
K1expt is higher? What do you think are possible sources of such errors?

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