S.

No.
1

Sensor
Carlson strain meters

Description
Embedded in concrete to reveal the internal
deformations. It responds to any change in
dimension of the concrete, due to stress,
creep, temperature change, moisture change
or chemical growth. The standard strain
meter may be embedded in concrete or
attached to a surface with saddle mounts.
The strain meter is furnished in three
different lengths, from 8 cm to 51 cm, but all
with the identical sensing element. The end
away from the cable has a tapped hole ( 28 UNF) to permit attachment to a spider for
mass concrete embedment, or to incorporate
an extender thereby increasing the length
and sensitivity. The body is covered with PVC
sleeving to break the bond with the concrete.
The miniature strain meter is for embedment
in concrete applications where small size is
essential. The miniature strain meter is
furnished in three different lengths, from 10
cm to 20 cm, but all with the identical
sensing element. The end away from the
cable has a tapped hole (6 32 UNF), which
allows an extender to be added, thereby
increasing the length and sensitivity. The
body is covered with PVC sleeving to break
the bond with the concrete.

vibrating-wire strain gauges

The standard strain meters are intended for

use in service structures, and the miniature
strain meters are mainly for laboratory
testing.
Vibrating Wire Strain Gauges are designed to
be welded to or embedded in various
structures for monitoring strain. RST
vibrating wire strain gauges are available in
3 models: VWSG-A, for arc welding to steel
structures; VWSG-S, for spot welding to steel
structures; VWSG-E and VWSG-EL, for
embedment in concrete.
Each strain gauge consists of two end blocks
(designed specifically for each application)

with a tensioned steel wire between them.

As the steel or concrete surface that
encompasses the strain gauge undergoes
strain, the end blocks will move relative to
each other. The tension in the wire between
the blocks will change accordingly, thus
altering the resonant frequency of the wire.
A vibrating wire readout is utilized to
generate voltage pulses in the magnet/coil
assembly located at the center of the strain
gauge. The magnet/coil assembly plucks the
wire and measures the resulting resonant
frequency of vibration.
The advantages of vibrating wire strain
gauges are that the frequency output is
immune to electrical noise, able to tolerate
wet
wiring
common
to
geotechnical
applications,
and
capable
of
signal
transmission of several kilometers without
loss of signal.
QUICK SPECS:
Pre tensioned for ease of installation.
Accurate to 1 microstrain.
Integral
thermistor
for
temperature
compensation.
Remote monitoring capability.

foil strain gauges

APPLICATIONS:
Measuring strain in steel members and
concrete structures including bridges, piles,
dams, tunnels, and buildings
They consist of a pattern of resistive foil
which is mounted on a backing material.
They operate on the principle that as the foil
is subjected to stress, the resistance of the
foil changes in a defined way. The strain
gauge is connected into a Wheatstone
Bridge circuit with a combination of four
active gauges (full bridge), two gauges (half
bridge),
or, less commonly, a single gauge (quarter
bridge). In the half and quarter circuits, the
bridge is completed with precision resistors.
The complete Wheatstone Bridge is excited
with a stabilised DC supply and with

Inclinometers

additional conditioning electronics, can be

zeroed at the null point of measurement. As
stress is applied to the bonded strain gauge,
a resistive changes takes place and
unbalances the Wheatstone Bridge. This
results in a signal output, related to the
stress value. As the signal value is small,
(typically a few millivolts) the signal
conditioning
electronics
provides
amplification to increase the signal level to 5
to 10 volts, a suitable level for application to
external data collection systems such as
recorders or PC Data Acquistion and Analysis
Systems.
Tilt sensors and inclinometers generate an
artificial horizon and measure angular tilt
with respect to this horizon. They are used in
cameras, aircraft flight controls, automobile
security systems, and speciality switches
and are also used for platform leveling,
boom angle indication, and in other
applications requiring measurement of tilt.
Important specifications to consider when
searching for tilt sensors and inclinometers
are the tilt angle range and number of axes
(which are usually, but not always,
orthogonal). The tilt angle range is the range
of desired linear output.
Common implementations of tilt sensors and
inclinometers are accelerometer, Liquid
Capacitive, electrolytic, gas bubble in liquid,
and pendulum.
Tilt sensor technology has also been
implemented in video games. Yoshi's
Universal Gravitation and Kirby Tilt 'n'
Tumble are both built around a tilt sensor
mechanism, which is built into the cartridge.
The PlayStation 3 and Wii game controllers
also use tilt as a means to play video games.
Inclinometers are also used in civil
engineering, for example to measure the
inclination of land to be built upon.

crack and joint sensors

Crackmeter:

Jointmeter:

Some inclinometers provide an electronic

interface based on CAN (Controller Area
Network). In addition, those inclinometers
may support the standardized CANopen
profile (CiA 410). In this case, these
inclinometers are compatible and partly
interchangeable.
VWCM-4000 crack meters are used to
measure movement across surface cracks
and joints in concrete, rock, soil and
structures.
They consist of a sensor outer body tube and
an inner free-sliding rod which is connected
at the internal end to a vibrating wire sensor
by a spring. At the sensor end of the outer
body and the external end of the rod anchors
are attached which can be fixed either side
of a crack to be monitored.
A change in distance between the anchors
caused by the crack opening or closing
causes the inner free-sliding rod to move
within the outer body which changes the
tension on the spring and the vibrating wire
thus altering the resonant frequency of the
wire.
VWCM-4000 crack meters are installed by
grouting,
bolting,
bonding
or
fixing
expandable anchors to the structure to be
monitored.
The Vibrating Wire Jointmeter is used to
monitor joints of mass concrete structures.
The instrument consists of two parts, a
socket and the main body with a waterproof
vibrating
wire-sensing
gauge.
During
construction of the structure, the socket is
secured to the form and embedded into a lift
of the block to be constructed. After removal
of the form, and prior to concreting of
adjacent block, the gauge is screwed into the
socket, set at the desired range and then
embedded

6
7

tilt sensors
piezoelectric accelerometers

piezoresistive accelerometers

capacitive accelerometers

Same as inclinometer
Piezoelectric accelerometers employ either
natural quartz crystals or man-made
polycrystalline ceramics as their sensing
elements. A proof mass is mated with the
crystal and output is generated when a force
is imposed upon the crystal during
acceleration. This force causes stress in the
crystal, which then generates an electrical
charge that is relative to the applied force the piezoelectric effect. The amount of force
is proportional to applied acceleration as
governed by Newton's law of motion F=ma.
Piezoelectric accelerometers cannot measure
constant acceleration because they are
inherently AC coupled, however, they are
typically the most versatile and economic
choice for measuring fast transient and
periodic acceleration.
Piezoresistive
accelerometers
may
be
fabricated from metal strain gauges,
piezoresistive silicon, or as a MEMS (MicroElectro-Mechanical Systems), device. In such
designs resistive material is typically bonded
to a cantilever beam that undergoes bending
under the influence of acceleration. This
bending causes deformation of the resistor,
leading to a change in its resistance. The
resistors are normally configured into a
Wheatstone bridge circuit, which provides a
change in output voltage that is proportional
to
acceleration.
Piezoresistive
accelerometers are capable of measuring
constant,
transient,
and
periodic
acceleration.
Capacitive
accelerometers
utilize
the
properties of an opposed plate capacitor for
which the distance between the plates varies
proportionally to applied acceleration thus
altering capacitance. This variable is used in
a circuit to ultimately deliver a voltage signal
that
is
proportional
to
acceleration.
Capacitive accelerometers are capable of
measuring constant as well as slow transient
and periodic acceleration.

10

borehole accelerometers

11

servo
force
accelerometers

balance

techpapers_forcebalance.pdf

References:
http://www.sensorland.com/
https://www.campbellsci.com/structural-health-monitoring
http://www.geosense.co.uk/