ENGD1005

Mechanical Principles

Deflection of Beams

Student Name: Nizamuddin Patel

P Number: 15219444
Year: 1
Course of Study: Mechanical Engineering

Lab Tutor: Dr. Seng Chong

Date experiment conducted: 15/02/2016

Date submitted: 09/03/2016
Nizamuddin Patel P15219444

ENGD1005 - Deflection of Beams

Objective:
 To verify the relationship between load and deflection for a simply supported beam with a
single concentrated central load
 To understand how the depth of a beam can affect its deflection rate when a load is applied.
 To understand the relationship between the depth of a beam and its deflection in real life
situations.

Apparatus:
Knife edge supports, dial gauge, weights and weight carrier.

 1 Mild steel bar 25.4mm × 4.76mm

 1 Brass bar 25.4mm × 6.35mm

Figure 1. Set up of the experiment conducted

Method:
 Set up each beam in turn centrally on knife edge supports near the ends of the beam. Locate the
dial gauge centrally between supports and set to zero.
 Apply loads in 200 gram increments to 1600 grams, noting deflections.
 Repeat while removing loads.

2
Nizamuddin Patel P15219444

Results:

Dial Gauge Readings (mm)

Load/(grams) Mild Steel Beam Brass Beam

Remove Remove
Add Load Average Add Load Average
Load Load
0 0 0.02 0.01 0 0 0

200 0.64 0.66 0.65 0.52 0.52 0.52

400 1.28 1.30 1.29 1.05 1.05 1.05

600 1.90 1.92 1.91 1.56 1.56 1.56

800 2.56 2.58 2.57 2.08 2.08 2.08

1000 3.21 3.22 3.215 2.60 2.60 2.60

1200 3.84 3.85 3.845 3.09 3.12 3.105

1400 4.50 4.50 4.50 3.64 3.64 3.64

1600 5.15 5.15 5.15 4.15 4.15 4.15

Calculations:
The equation for the deflection at the centre of the beam, for a simply supported beam with
a single concentrated central load, is as follows:
𝑾𝑳𝟑
𝒚=
𝟒𝟖𝑬𝑰
Where
y - Deflection (m) W - Load (N)
L - Length (m) E - Young’s Modulus (N/m2)
I - Second moment of Area [about the Neutral Axis] (m4)

Given: b

d
E for Mild Steel Beam: 207GPa
E for Brass Beam: 110GPa Cross section of the beam

3
Nizamuddin Patel P15219444

Units Mild Steel Brass

b (breadth of the
m 0.0254 0.0254
beam)
d (depth of the
m 0.00476 0.00635
beam)
0.0254 × (0.00476)3 0.0254 × (0.00635)3
𝒃𝒅 𝟑 𝑰𝑺 = 𝑰𝑩 =
m4 12 12
𝑰=
𝟏𝟐
𝑰𝑺 = 𝟐. 𝟐𝟖𝟑 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟏𝟎 𝑰𝑩 = 𝟓. 𝟒𝟐𝟎 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟏𝟎
L m 0.9 0.9

E N/m2 207×109 110×109

𝑾𝑳𝟑 9.81×0.93 9.81×0.93
𝒚= 𝒚𝑺 = 𝒚𝑩 = 48×(110×109 )×(5.420×10−10 )
48×(207×109 )×(2.283×10−10 )
𝟒𝟖𝑬𝑰
m
(Calculated at 1kg 𝒚𝑺 = 𝟑. 𝟏𝟓𝟑 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟑 𝒚𝑩 = 𝟐. 𝟒𝟗𝟗 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟑
load)
y
(Measured at 1kg m 3.215×10-3 2.60×10-3
load)
Error % = (3.215 × 10−3 ) − (3.153 × 10−3 ) (2.60 × 10−3 ) − (2.499 × 10−3 )
𝐴𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙−𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙
× % (3.153 × 10−3 ) (2.499 × 10−3 )
𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙
100% = 1.97% = 4.04%
𝒚𝑺 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑰𝑩 = 𝒚𝑩 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑰𝑺 =
𝒚 if the beam has 9.81×0.93 9.81×0.93
the dimension of 48×(207×109 )×(5.420×10−10 ) 48×(110×109 )×(2.283×10−10 )
the other beam m
(Calculated at 1kg 𝒚𝑺 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑰𝑩 = 𝟏. 𝟑𝟐𝟖 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟑 𝒚𝑩 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑰𝑺 = 𝟓. 𝟗𝟑𝟑 × 𝟏𝟎−𝟑
load)

Graph:

Relationship between the Load (N) and Deflection

(mm)
6

5 R² = 0.9995
DEFLECTION (MM)

4
R² = 0.9995
3

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
LOAD (N)

Brass Beam Mild Steel Beam Linear (Brass Beam) Linear (Mild Steel Beam)

4
Nizamuddin Patel P15219444

Discussions:

The R2 value shows the linear regression of the line; when the R2 value is ±1.0, this means that the line
is a straight line

R2 value for Brass Beam: 0.9995 Equation for Brass: y = 0.2641x + 0.0161
R2 value for Mild Steel Beam:0.9995 Equation for Mild Steel: y = 0.3271x + 0.0173

The R2 value allows you to determine if the line is straight, and how straight the line is. As you can you
see the R2 value for both the beams are the same, and is not completely straight (±1.0). However, it is
very close to 1 due to various errors commited during the experiment. As the R 2 values are almost
1.0, we can say that the Load (N) vs deflection (mm) for both beams is a straight line.

𝑾𝑳𝟑
𝒚=
𝟒𝟖𝑬𝑰

From the above equation, the relaitoinship between the deflection and the load is linear as y ∝ W.
This means if the load is increased then the deflection is increased as proven in the graph and
calculations.

There were a few errors that occurred during the experiment, the errors are:
 Parallax error- This type of error may have occurred during the experiment when reading the
guage. The exact values could have been slightly above or below the actual reading, as the
instrument we were using was analogue and was read by a person.
 Tolerance error- Free hanging mass was used during the experiment to cause the deflection
across the beams. But the weight could have weighed less than the manufactuers rating.
 Other errors that may have occurred during the conduction of the experiment could be the
fact that for the deflection to take maximum effect for the guage to read, the load has to be
applied directly in the middle of the beam. Also when acquiring the reading of the deflection,
the beam had to be tapped several times to adjust the gauge to output an accurate reading
(as it is an analogue instrument) yet this may have resulted in the reading being ± 1 division
and therefore the actual deflection reading may not have been recorded and used in the
calculations.

The equation used to calculate deflection, young’s modulus (E) is indirectly proportional to deflection
and therefore the higher the value for ‘E’ the smaller the deflection for the beam, 207 GPa for mild
steel beam compared to the 110 GPa for brass beam. However as seen in the results above the
deflection value for the mild steel beam is greater than of the brass beam and this is the result of the
‘I’ value being greater for the brass beam (5.42 x 10-10) than the mild steel beam (2.28 x 10-10). The
dimensions of the beams differ from each other, the brass beam being greater in depth (6.35 mm)
than the mild steel beam (4.76 mm) and when applied to the ‘Second Moment of Area’ equation, the
result is drastically greater for the brass beam even though there is a very little difference between
both dimensions because as I ∝ d3 there is a cubic link between them resulting in a greater value for
‘Second Moment of Area’ for the brass beam and therefore a smaller deflection.

5
Nizamuddin Patel P15219444

Conclusion:
Using the equation to find out deflection we can see that young’s modulus takes a great effect towards
this but from this experiment, the ‘I’ value also takes a great effect towards the deflection of a beam. To
prove this, the value for ‘I’ on both the brass beam and mild steel beam were swapped. When equated,
the deflection for brass beam this time was much greater than of the mild steel beam. As a result the
mild steel beam had a deflection value of 1.328 x 10-3 and the brass beam of value 5.933 x 10-3, a much
greater difference between the deflection values of the beams compared to the values with the actual
dimensions and ‘I’ values.

Deflections of beams are used in many real life situations; from building bridges for many cars to making
tall buildings with countless floors, all of which use beams to build the structure of the application. As
various factors take into effect to the deflection of a beam, the ‘E’ and ‘I’ value of a beam is taken into
careful consideration when choosing the material of the beam as well as its dimensions to be effective
towards the load as well as to reduce costs of maintenance and material. [1]

References

"Deflections Of Composite Beams | Tata Steel Construction". Tatasteelconstruction.com. N.p., 2016.

Web. 8 Mar. 2016.