New Mexico State University

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department

Summer 2016
Mechanical Design ME 326 (M20)

Instructor: Mohamed Ibrahim Shaat

Lab Assignment #2 (SW-Tutorial #1)
Due date: Thursday June 9th (06/09/2016) 3:00 pm
Figure 1 shows an alloy steel beam subjected to distributed and concentrated loads. The
beam is supported with Hinged and Rolling Supports at its two ends.
You are required to perform a Beam Element-Finite Element Analysis (FEA) using
SolidWorks-Simulation showing the shear force and bending diagrams of the beam. The
followings should be represented in your FEM and your Lab Report.
1. Built up your own 3D beam model (Take screenshots).
2. Define the material for the beam element (Alloy Steel) (Take screenshots).
3. Define the fixtures (Use Hinged and Rolling supports) (Take screenshots).
4. Define the loading set (Take screenshots).
5. Create a mesh.
6. Run.
7. Define a Shear Force diagram (Take screenshots and include the group members
names [See the attached figure]).
8. Define a Bending Moment diagram (Take screenshots and include the group
members names).
9. Define a Bending Stress plot.
10. Change the Chart Settings of the bending stress plot (in step 9) to show the min.
and the max. values of the stress (Take screenshots and include the group members
names).
11. Do some hand calculations as follows:
-

Draw the SFD and the BMD of the beam.

Define the critical section on the beam (Note that the critical section is the one
that has the maximum bending moment).

Calculate the maximum tensile and compressive bending stresses (calculate at

the critical section).

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New Mexico State University

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department
Summer 2016
Mechanical Design ME 326 (M20)

Compare (by calculating the diff. %) the calculated bending stresses with the
max. and min. values shown in the bending stress diagram in steps (9 and 10).
%

.=

100

Figure 1

Notes:
1. A tutorial on a similar beam element is already uploaded on Canvas; you can use it
to help you.
2. Form a group of 4 to 5 student to work on one lab report.
3. The last names of the group members should be shown on the screenshots obtained
from the SolidWorks screen. You can add the names when defining a stress (or any
other) plot using Property Include title text, as shown.

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New Mexico State University

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department
Summer 2016
Mechanical Design ME 326 (M20)

Add names here

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