ANALYSIS OF A SIMPLY SUPPORTED BEAM.

EXPERIMENT REPORT.

AIM:

The determination of the reaction forces, and the

deformation of a simply supported beam, and to
compare the experimental results with the analytical
ones.

DESCRIPTION OF THE SETUP:

• Test Structure
• Dead weight
• Beam
• Load cells
• Dial gauges
• Multimeters
• Power supply

PROCEDURE:

Measure some dead weights and label them and then

measure the loading fixture.

Wire up the electrical resistance strain gages which

is bonded to the load cells and the two ends of the
test structure and on which the beam will be
balanced. Since the strain gage is just a single
conductor, there are only two connections to make,
one at each end. There are three wires coming from
each gage. The strain gages are connected into a
power supply which is adjusted to 10volts using the
array of electrical terminal, and connect a
multimeter to the S+ and S- terminals to read the
strain.
We mount the beam on the frame, then clamp two dial
gauges at location of our choice then we measure
their position. Set the ring of the gauges to
indicate zero deflection in this no-load case.
Add a dead weight to the beam and measure their
positions.
We then compile a list all outputs of load cells and
dial gauges.
CALIBRATION OF LOAD CELLS:
I calibrated the load cells before measuring my
values, and i noticed that the loads cells are set so
close to each other to get approximate results with
lesser errors.
Placing of the dial gage is an important factor in
analysing the deflection of beams correctly, they are
mounted on a gage stand on the surface plate the dial
is set to zero and the beam is inserted onto the
setup, then we take the dial gage reading. It is
important to check the smoothness of the beam surface
to get approximation with lesser error.
Calibration values and calculations:
Mass(kg) Measurement A (mV) Measurement B (mV)

0 0 -0.5
0.38 0.8 0.3
1.41 3.7 3.1
1.99 5.3 4.7
3.39 9.2 8.5
5.01 13.7 13

TEST AND RESULTS:

M1(kg) M2(kg) L1(cm) L2(cm) V1(v) V2(v) G1 G2
1.98 1.14 14.8 17.4 5.1 3.2 30.5 8.1
Diameter of beam (m): 0.006 [error: 0.1]

Length of beam (m): 0.46 [error: 0.1]

ANALYTICAL CALCULATIONS:

M1 M2

R1 R2

L1 L2 L3

M1 M2 F1 F2 V1 V2 B1 B3 X1 X2
11.18 19.42
1.14 1.98 34 38 3.8 4.2 17 18.5 2.6 3.46
13.93 19.42
1.42 1.98 02 38 3.3 4.2 17.5 9.4 2.46 3.26
13.93 19.42
1.42 1.98 02 38 4.5 3.3 13.5 16 2.23 3.03
19.42 11.18
1.98 1.14 38 34 5.1 3.2 14.8 17.4 3.05 8.01
13.93 11.18
1.42 1.14 02 34 4.6 3.5 16 16.5 2.06 1.91
13.93 19.42
1.42 1.98 02 38 4.5 4.5 16 9 2.63 5
13.93 19.42
1.42 1.98 02 38 4.3 3.2 20 16.2 3.17 4.445
11.18 13.93
1.14 1.42 34 02 2.5 4.3 20.6 7.4 2.83 1.34
13.93 11.18
1.42 1.14 02 34 4.3 3.2 5 8.5 2.55 3.51
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION:

I understood about the load cells and the measurement

techniques. In the experiment i analysed the
deflection of beams and understood how to adjust the
instruments. At the end of the experiment i derived
some data about the experiment and compared them with
the analytical results, and i noticed some
differences.

The reason for this differences that directly

affected our experiment are;

• Error in the instruments

• Approximation errors
• Variation in position distances and loads