The bending stress structures product provides students with a beam with 4 strain gauges attached to it. These strain gauges are then connected into the back panel allowing simple 4mm banana plug socket connections to conduct the experiment.

The experiment explores the bending stress in a beam with applied loads. Using equations for bending deflection and stress, the theoretical value can be compared to the output of the experiment. The strain gauges can be connected up using the 4mm banana cables into 3 different Wheatstone bridge configurations. Student can then explore the behaviour of a quarter bridge, half bridge and full bridge configuration. High precision resistors are used to make up the Wheatstone bridge in the absence of a strain gauge.

The LCD display shows the millivolt change of the output from the Wheatstone bridge. With a zero button to reset the experiment.

The experiment is powered by a USB cable to PC or wall plug. If the USB is connected via a PC port, data acquisition can be output directly into excel or further experimental analysis and simulation.

Learning Objectives

• Stress and strain relationship
• Strain gauges as instruments
• Finding the neutral axis by experiment and calculation
• Quarter, half and full Wheatstone bridge applications, with advantages and disadvantages