PART1AEXPERIMENTALENGINEERING

DIMENSIONALANALYSISLABORATORY

EXPERIMENTNo.1
STRUCTURES

Objectives
Themainobjectiveofthislaboratoryistoexplorethepowerofdimensionalanalysisinthecontext
ofstructuresandmechanicalsystems.

Morespecifically,thelabisdesignedtoconveytwoprimaryengineeringapplicationsfor
dimensionalanalysis:
1) Experimentaldeductionoftheoreticalresultsaboutphysicalbehaviour.
2) Physicalmodellingofcomplicatedproblemswhereanalyticalorcomputationalsolutionsare
notfeasible.

Introduction
Thelaboratoryisdividedintotwomainparts.Inthefirstpart,asmallscaleexperimentswillbe
conductedwhichexploretheuseofdimensionalanalysistoexplaintheoreticalconceptsusing
simplestructures(Application1).Duringthesecondpart,wewillexplorehowdimensionalanalysis
canbeusedtobuildanexperimentalmodeltosolveacomplicatedrealworldproblem(Application
2).

Dimensionalanalysisrequiresasetofbasicunitstoworkfrom.Inthislab,wewillusethefollowing
unitsystem(SIUnits):
Mass(M)=kilograms
Length(L)=metres
Time(T)=seconds

PARTI:SimpleModels
Inmedievaltimes,theMasterBuildersknewthatifasmallscalemodeloftheircathedralstoodup,
then the real thing would stand up also. This is a peculiarity of structures which are essentially
daringlybalancedpilesofeffectivelyrigidstones.

However,thingsarenotsosimplefordesignersofmodernstructuresandhere`structuresistaken
initswidestsensetoincludenotjustbuildingsbutalsoaerospaceandautomotivestructures,micro
and nanostructures and even biological structures. The first experiment considers one important
phenomenon that governs the design of many structures (as your IA Structural Design Course will
attest)thatofelasticbuckling.

Experiment1:TheElasticBucklingofThinStruts

or
HowDimensionalAnalysisallowsyoutogetmuchmoreoutofasingleexperiment
and Whytheanalysisofmodernstructurescannolongerbedonebygeometryalone.
__________________________________________________________________________________

When thin struts are loaded in axial compression, they buckle laterally. This can occur in a purely
elastic fashion (i.e. when the load is removed the strut returns to its original shape there is no
permanentplasticdeformation).

Unlikeforstonestructures,thebucklingbehaviourofthinmembersdependsonamaterialproperty
theYoungsModulusofElasticityE(otherwiseknownastheelasticmodulus).Thisisonereason
whygeometryaloneisnotsufficientinthedesignofmodernstructures.

Given that we are investigating elastic buckling, it should be no surprise that the key material
propertyistheelasticmodulus.

The elastic modulus is a measure of how stiff the material is. Stiff materials (like steel) have high
elasticmoduli;moreflexiblematerials(likepolycarbonate)havelowerelasticmoduli.

The elastic modulus of a material is typically determined by observing how much a specimen
stretcheswhenitisloadedintensionwithinitselasticrange.Itisdefinedastheratioofstressto
strain:

stress

strain

where stressistheforceperunitcrosssectionalarea=T/bt
and strainisthefractionalextension=extension/(originallength)=e/L

TheunitsofstressareN/m2,whereasstrainbeingaratiooflengthsisdimensionless.Itfollows
fromdimensionalconsistencythattheunitsofYoungsModulusareN/m2.

Yourtask:
By doing experiments on stainless steel struts of various lengths, predict the loads at which
aluminiumalloystrutsofdifferingthicknesseswillbuckle.

YoungsModuli:
9
2

Stainlesssteel:
E=193x10 N/m
9

Aluminiumalloy:
E=70x10 N/m

Youmayusethespacebelowtodevelopyourproposedsolution.

(Hinttheclueisinthetitleofthislabexercise.Approachtheproblemusingdimensionalanalysis.)