Development of a smart axial strain sensor for static load testing of foundation piles

摘要

Sensors of stress or strain currently used in geotechnical and civil engineering applications have the disadvantage that a large quantity of measuring points would result in large bundles of cables. Based on the principle of resistive strain gauge, a type of smart sensor that supports serial communication over RS-485 is developed for the measurement of strain or stress of foundation piles, which has the benefit of good noise tolerance. All the sensors installed along a pile could share a common cable for power supply and communication, and there is no actual limits to pile length. The installation in the field is simple, convenient and efficient. The sensor has a compact structure with reliable waterproof protection. The internal measurement circuit mainly consists of a Wheatstone bridge excitation module, a signal conditioning module, a microcontroller with ADC, a precision voltage reference, and a RS-485 communication module. A group of sensors were calibrated after being assembled, and the calibration results obtained have shown their functionality and reliability.