Instrumented Bolt Measures Bending Moments Within Itself

The direction as well as the magnitude of bending can be determined.

The Ultrabend bolt is a specially designed bolt instrumented with strain gauges (see figure) that are connected into twin Wheatstone-bridge circuits. The geometric arrangement of the strain gauges is such that by suitable electrical switching of the Wheatstonebridge circuits, these circuits can be made to either (1) suppress responses to bending and torsional stresses while putting out signals indicative of axial preload or (2) suppress responses to axial and torsional stresses while putting out signals indicative of the magnitude and direction of the bending moment in the bolt. Switching between these two measurement modes is accomplished by use of field-effect transistors controlled by a logic circuit.