Technical Committee on Strain Gages

Since its invention in 1936, the ubiquitous bonded electrical resistance strain gage has been used in an almost limitless variety of applications from the determination of strain, force, torque, displacement and other engineering variables, to weighing and process control systems; and, used in a variety of disciplines, such as biomedical, space exploration, satellite technology and military. Strain gages are small, lightweight, usable over a wide temperature range and in hostile environments, have well-defined and consistent operating characteristics, and are relatively insensitive to temperature, electrical noise and other normally undesirable signals.

This broad usefulness made necessary a forum for strain gage technology transfer between interested disciplines that continues to be as important today as during the formative years of strain gage technology.

Working within the framework of a technical division of the Society for Experimental Mechanics (SEM), the Technical Committee on Strain Gages (TCSG) provides a forum for exchange of technical information among practitioners using strain gages and other strain measurement devices, and between those practitioners and manufacturers of strain measurement devices and equipment.

Since its formation in the mid-1960s, TCSG has conducted tutorials, workshops and technical paper sessions in strain measurement technology. The tutorials are designed to teach fundamentals of strain measurement, including basic strain gage characteristics and performance criteria, installation techniques and fundamentals of strain measurement instrumentation. The workshop sessions provide for open discussion of attendees' strain measurement problems and solutions. Technical paper discussions are designed to disseminate information on current applications of strain measurement technology.

The needs of the Society for Experimental Mechanics and TCSG members have changed over the years. In response to those needs, the primary focus of TCSG in the next 3-5 years will be to concentrate primarily on "basic education" through increased emphasis on tutorials and workshop sessions.

Bylaws

Free Article downloads from EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES

Strain Gages-Back to Basics
This completed series, thanks to veteran SEM member, Peter K. Stein, is intended for both the novice, and as a refresher for all others. Each article in the series addresses a specific topic. The series covers: "... resistance strain gages, the transducers based on them, and the signal conditioning required and desired for them."

Dynamic Strain Measurement
This series is dedicated to Prof. Peter K. Stein for his tireless devotion to the application and education of the strain gage user community over the past 40 years. The seven articles in this series describe the use of foil and wire strain gages for the measurement of dynamic strains and form a logical continuation of the "Back To Basics" columns of Prof. Stein. Topics covered in the series include: dynamic strain measurement system transfer functions and linearity, design rules for spectral and waveshape reproduction, gage and installation method choice selection criteria, and general transducer model and noise.

2012 Annual Report - Updated May 2013

The Technical Committee on Strain Gages did not meet in 2012.  No meeting notes are being submitted this year.