PIEZOELECTRIC STRAIN RATE GAUGES

Piezoelectric strain rate gages have been designed using linear piezoelectric theory and relatively simple circuitry that can be used to measure an average strain rate at a point of a structure. By combining the effective surface electrode, appropriate skew angle and the correct polarization profile, a uniaxial strain rate gage that measures only the strain rate along a specified direction and a pure shear strain rate gage that measures the in-plane shear strain rate are developed. Experimental as well as theoretical results are presented. Various types of generalized piezoelectric strain rate gages are also introduced and discussed.