Strain gauges is the most common device for measuring strain. Since the electric resistance of strain gauge changes only a little, strain gauges are almost always used in a bridge configuration with a excitation source. In this study, a strain measuring method, which calculate strain by reading a resistance of strain gauge, are investigated and verified.

It is very important to measure and monitor hull stress which is caused by a buoyant force and a weight of cargo for safety of ship. However, an exact measurement of hul stress, using the traditional strain gage which is made of metal or semiconductor, is very difficult, because a ship would be exposed by the severe temperature environment of -20 ℃ to 80 ℃. This paper propose a new concept strain gage which can improve accuracy and compensage effectively affects due to temperature. The strain gage is consists of two parts. One is the Hull Deformation Amplifier which introuce several lever and link system, and another is a transducer converting distance into voltage signal. The HDA measure the amount of deformation and amplify it. And a lever and link system of the HDA is introduced for compensating temperature deformation by installing in perpendicular direction without stress. This paper also reports on the results of the experiments to verify linearity of the strain gage.