Long-stroke vibrating wire extensometers, commonly called crackmeters, are used to measure the surface movements of structural cracks and joints, rock movements and ground deformations.
They consist of a cylindrical body in stainless steel that houses the vibrating wire transducer and a sliding rod connected to the transducer itself through a spring.
The two final parts of the instrument are equipped with anchoring devices with self-aligning spherical joints, for fixing over the slot or joint whose movements you want to measure. Optional accessories are available for correct installation even in particular applications, such as cracks at corners or edges, where normal fixtures cannot be used.
The long stroke vibrating wire extensometers, developed by Pizzi-Instruments, are produced with measuring ranges from 5mm up to 100mm, greater ranges are available upon request. Models with IP67 protection and IP68 protection with pressure resistance up to 100 meters of water column or higher are available.
Long-stroke strain gauges can be applied to mechanical, biaxial or triaxial devices and supports, to control deformations in two or three orthogonal directions (2D or 3D control). These vibrating wire instruments are compatible and usable with most of the vibrating wire data loggers available on the market.
However, we suggest, for manual readings, our portable datalogger DEC 3000 and DEC5 and, for automatic readings and systems, our datalogger CUM3000, VW-Brick 2, VW-Brick 8.
Our joint meters can be integrated into automatic monitoring systems and manage phenomena and alarms locally and remotely in real time.
For specific needs and requests, we are able to develop and manufacture customized products different from standard.