ME 363—Instrumentation
Lab Challenge #4—Soda Can Pressure
The intent of this lab challenge is to become more familiar with strain gauges and their applications.
Using a single strain gauge applied horizontally to a can of soda, measure the change in pressure when
the can is opened. When the pressure inside the can is released the strain gauge will measure the strain
resulting from a decrease in hoop stress. Using this strain and some analysis the pressure can be
calculated.
Create a LabVIEW VI to find the strain of the soda can. You will need to build a Wheatstone bridge to
read in the voltage to channel 1 or 2 in the DAQ. Each leg of the bridge is to have a resistance of 120
ohms. Set it up according to figure 11.10 in the Figliola text.
The write-up will be one per group. It will consist of a few items necessary for a full report (not a full
report though). Include: title page, abstract, figures of data. These are all to be on their own pages. For
the figures include captions that describe what the figure shows. Make it look professional!
Hints:
Necessary equations—11.11; 11.14; 11.15;
(
)(
)
E = Young’s Modulus = 10e6 psi for aluminum
t = can thickness = 0.005 inches
D = can diameter = ~2.6 inches
ν = Poisson’s ratio = 0.3