Experimental evaluation of thermal strains and stresses

This investigation is the study of a method for the experimental measurement of thermal strains. Using four electric strain gages (two of one type and two of another) the method will yield the normal and shear strains as well as the temperature change in any biaxial stress field. The gage types must be chosen for the range of temperature in which it is desired to measure the thermal stresses. The method described eliminates the need for extra resistors, thermocouples, unrestrained dummy gages at the same temperature as the active gages, special alloy gages for each type of metal and special dual element gages as are required by the various temperature compensating techniques. An analytical solution to the test problem has been obtained for comparison with fair agreement considering the assumptions that are necessary for the solution --Abstract, page 2