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Experiment 1

This experiment investigates beam deflections and verifies theoretical calculations. Simply supported and cantilever beams were loaded and deflections measured. Results showed a linear relationship between load and deflection, with 3-20% error between experimental and theoretical values. Maximum stresses were calculated and followed flexure formulas. The neutral axis was determined to be 12mm from the beam bottom based on experimental bending stresses.

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Timmy Trinh
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236 views

Experiment 1

This experiment investigates beam deflections and verifies theoretical calculations. Simply supported and cantilever beams were loaded and deflections measured. Results showed a linear relationship between load and deflection, with 3-20% error between experimental and theoretical values. Maximum stresses were calculated and followed flexure formulas. The neutral axis was determined to be 12mm from the beam bottom based on experimental bending stresses.

Uploaded by

Timmy Trinh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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AM 317

MECHANICS LAB

EXPERIMENT 1
BEAM DEFLECTIONS

TEST PERFORMED: 03/02/2017


REPORT SUBMITTED: 03/09/2017
BY
THUAN TRINH
GROUP 2

1. ABSTRACT
Beams are used in many structural engineering applications. There are several types of
beams such as rectangular beam, I-beam, T-beam. Different geometries of beams are
designed for different purposes; a beam is designed to use minimum material and
withstand maximum stress. This experiment is conducted to reinforce skills in calculating
the modulus of elasticity of the beam to determine the material the beam is made of. In
addition, the experiment is to evaluate the load-deflection relationship of simply
supported beam and cantilever beam. Moreover, this experiment is also to verify the
principle of superposition and Maxwells Reciprocity Theorem. Simply-supported and
Cantilever rectangular beams were provided in this experiment. Loads were applied at
different locations on both beams, and deflections were measured for each load case.
Results indicates a linear relationship between the applied load and the deflection of the
beam. Percent errors are about 3-20% between experimental and theoretical results.
2. INTRODUCTION
The deflections of a beam are engineering concerns as they can create an unstable
structure if they are large. A building in which the floor beams deflect an excessive
amount is not a desired result, even though it may be in no danger of failing.
Consequently, limits are often placed upon the allowable deflections of a beam, as well as
upon the stresses.

3. THEORY

When loads are applied to a beam their originally straight axes become curved.
Displacements from the initial axes are called bending or flexural deflections. The
amount of flexural deflection in a beam is related to the beams cross sectional area
moment of inertia (I), the single applied concentrated load (P), length of the beam (L), the
modulus of elasticity (E), and the position of the applied load on the beam. The amount
of deflection due to a single concentrated load P, is given by:
3
PL
=
kEI

where k is a constant based on the position of the load, and on the end conditions of the
beam.
The bending stress at any location of a beam section is determined by the flexure
formula:
My
=
I

Where:
M internal moment at the section
y distance from the neutral axis to the point of interest
I moment of inertia of the cross-sectional area about the neutral axis
The largest stress at the same section:
Mc
max =
I

Where c is the distance from the neutral axis to the extreme fiber.
4. PROCEDURE

Using a caliper to measure dimensions of the beams (simply-supported and Cantilever


beams) and calculate the area moment of inertia
Calculate the maximum permissible loads for both beams with different positions of load
Load the simply-supported beam in 5-lb increments, until the maximum load limit is
reached. Record the deflection at the point of loading at each incremental load. Small
divisions on the dial gauge are 0.001 inch. One full revolution of the dial is 0.1 inch
Load the Cantilever beam in 2-lb increments, until the maximum load limit is reached.
Record the deflection at the point of loading at each incremental load
Choose the reference point to measure reflection to be at the middle of the simply-
supported beam
Apply loads at location 18 inches and 27 inches from one end of the simply-supported
beam
Choose the middle point of the simply-supported beam and one-fourth of the beam to
apply load and measure reflection to verify Maxwells Theorem

5. RESULTS
Table I. and II. below shows the beam specifications and gauge positions from bottom of
the beam respectively.
Table I. Beam Specifications

Table II. Strain Gauge Locations


Table I. and II. contain raw data, but they are put in the Result Section for comprehensive
purpose and easier references.
Figure 1. below will show the graph of experimental bending stress versus the gauge
position of all five load cases.

Figure 1. Bending Stress vs. Gauge Position


Five trend lines in Figure 1. intersect each other at a point having zero stress; that is the
neutral axis passing the centroid of the beam. The neutral axis is approximately 12 mm from the
bottom of the beam as indicated in the figure above.
Data used to plot the graph will be given later in the Appendix.

Figure 2. Experimental and Theoretical Stress versus Gauge Position for 100 N - Load
6. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
Trusses are widely used in many engineering applications to minimize the amount of
material over a large distance covered. This experiment is conducted to investigate truss structure
and confirm linear relationship between member internal force and applied load.
In this experiment, I was able to learn how to use the provided equipment and reinforce
my skill in finding forces in truss members.
Theoretically, BC is a zero-member. However, strain gage indicates that there is strain in
BC. The result is shown in Table II. This error may be caused by wear of the equipment.
The direction (tension or compression) of forces obtained from experiment is in agree
with that from theoretical calculation. A linear relationship between members internal force and
applied load is obtained as expected. The result is shown in Figure 3.
Strain gages showed values even though there was no applied load. It can be said that the
experiment was done well since the theoretical and experimental values are very close. Errors
may be from measurement readings since we used the caliper to measure members dimensions.
The wear of equipment can also cause the fluctuation of data.

7. APPENDIX
Original data is shown in Tables below

Table III. Truss Data

Table IV. Theoretical Truss Member Forces and Strains for 100 N-Load Case

Table V. Measured and Zero Adjusted Strain

8. REFERENCES
Hibbeler, Russell C. Engineering Mechanics: Statics. Harlow: Pearson Education, 2017. Print.
R. Ehrgott and T. Hao. Mechanics Lab Manual Exp 2. For in A Truss Member. Accessed 15
Feb. 2017.

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