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Article: Fundamentals of pressure sensing: brush up on the physics of pressure and the operating principles of pressure sensors. (Sensor Technology and Design).
- Article from:
- Sensors Magazine
- Article date:
- July 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Questex Media Group, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Pressure is an operating parameter that is relevant in many applications. But before you can effectively sense and measure this property, you need to understand the fundamentals. First of all, pressure is defined as force per unit area. It's a type of stress (also defined as force per unit area, but usually applied to solids) exhibited in a fluid medium. This article covers the measurement of fluid pressure in both gaseous and liquid media.
Force Per Unit Area
In a fluid, the pressure at a given point is independent of direction. It can be considered a compression stress. Without flow, shearing stresses cannot exist. As such, no component of stress can ...