Professor Aleksander Czekanski

York University
21 September 2016

MECH3502: Solid Mechanics and

Materials Laboratory
Lab 2: Bending in a Beam

Matei Illiescu 213082763

Syyed Fatmi 213348156
Arslan Javed 213058409

Contents

List of Figures.................................................................................................................2
List of Tables...................................................................................................................2
Abstract..........................................................................................................................2
1. Introduction.................................................................................................................3
2. Objective.....................................................................................................................3
3. Equipment and Materials............................................................................................3
4. Methodology...............................................................................................................4
5. Observation and Calculation......................................................................................5
5.1 Experiment 1.........................................................................................................5
5.2 Experiment 2.........................................................................................................6
6. Results........................................................................................................................7
7. Discussion..................................................................................................................8
Experiment 1...............................................................................................................8
Experiment 2...............................................................................................................9
8. Conclusion................................................................................................................10
10. Appendix: Case Study............................................................................................10

List of Figures
Figure 1: Experimental Setup ... 4
Figure 2: Digital Force Display . 4

Figure 3: Experiment 1 Force Diagram .. 5

Figure 4: Experiment 2a Force Diagram 6
Figure 5: Experiment 2b Force Diagram 6
Figure 6: Experiment 2c Force Diagram 6
Figure 7: Graph - Experimental and Theoretical Moments .... 8
Figure 8: Graph - Experimental and Theoretical Moments .... 9
Figure 9: Gear box lay shaft ... 10
Figure 10: Shear and Bending Moments . 11
Figure 11: Free Body Diagram for Case Study11

List of Tables
Table 1: Experiment 1 Results . 7
Table 2: Experiment 2 Results . 7

Abstract
This lab focuses on bending moments in a loaded beam. A beam was loaded with
varying masses and configurations, each time the force measured by the force sensor
was recorded and the experimental moment was calculated. Afterwards the theoretical
moment of the system was solved and the two moments were compared to each other.
In this experiment the results show that the theoretical calculations accurately predict
the actual moments for a single loading but have a small error when predicting more
loads.

1. Introduction
When a beam is loaded it experiences mainly two types of stress, normal and shear
stress. The moment in a loaded beam contributes to this stress. It is important to know
2

how to predict the internal reactions that a material will experienced when a force is
applied. This is a crucial aspect in design and manufacturing. An optimal design can be
achieved if it is known how the materials will react to forces. This helps to meet safety
standards and save on prototyping and other costs. In this experiment we will be
determine whether theoretical calculations accurately represent the actual moment in a
beam.

2. Objective
The objective of the experiment is to measure the experimental bending moment in a
beam (using the load cell sensor and force display) and compare it to the calculated
theoretical bending moment.

3. Equipment and Materials

Equipment
1. Digital Force Display
2. Beam
3. Moment arm
4. Force sensor
5. Grooved hangers
6. Pivot support
7. Rolling pivot
8. Aluminum test frame
Materials
1. Forty-nine 10g weights
2. Two hooks (10g each)

4. Methodology

1. Begin with zeroing the force sensor. To do this remove all loads from the beam.
Adjust the dial on the display to 0. Apply a brief load on the sensor and remove it.
Ensure the force sensor reads 0 once the load is removed.
2. For experiment 1, hang 100g mass on the grooved hangars on the cut of the
beam. Record the reading from the digital display. Repeat this step for masses of
200g, 300g, 400g and 500g.
3. For experiment 2A, hang 400g, 140mm to the left of the rolling pivot record the
force on the digital display.
4. Experiment 2B, hang the 400g weight 260mm to the right of the rolling pivot. Add
another weight, with a mass of 200g, 220mm to the right of the rolling pivot.
Record the force displayed.
5. Experiment 2C, hang the 500g mass 60mm to the left of the cut and the 400g
mass 100mm to the right of the cut. Record the force displayed.

5. Observation and Calculation

5.1 Experiment 1
The Force (in Newton) was recorded from the digital force display. This force was
multiplied by 0.125m (the length of the moment arm) in order to obtain the experimental
moment. The theoretical moment was calculated using the free body diagram shown
below.

Figure 1 and 2: Experimental Setup (left) and digital force display (right)

Figure 3: Experiment
4 1 Force Diagram

RA + R B = W

(1)

MA = W.a RB.L = 0
RB = (W.a)/L
MC RB.(L-a) = 0

(2)
(3)

Substituting equation (2) in to equation (3) we get the following equation which is used
to calculate the theoretical moment

5.2 Experiment 2
As in experiment 1 the force was recorded from the digital force display and multiplied
by 0.125m (the length of the moment arm) to acquire the experimental moment. The
theoretical moment was calculated from the free body diagrams using force and
moment equations.

MA = 3.92(0.14) + RB (0.44) = 0
RB = -1.247 N
RA = 5.167 N
MC = MC + 3.92(0.14+0.3) 5.167(0.3) = 0
MC = -0.1747 Nm

Figure 4: Experiment 2a Force Diagram

MA = RB (0.44) - 3.92(0.26) 1.96(0.22)

RB = 3.296 N
RA = 2.584 N
MC = MC 2.584(0.3) + 1.96(0.08) + 3.92(0.04) = 0
Figure 5: Experiment 2b Force Diagram

MC = -0.1747 Nm

MA = RB (0.44) 4.91(0.24) 3.92(0.4)

RB = 6.2418 N
RA = 2.588 N
MC = MC 2.584(0.3) + 4.91(0.06) = 0
Figure 6: Experiment 2c Force Diagram

MC = -0.481 Nm

6. Results
Experiment 1
Mass (g)

Load (N)

Force (N)

Experimental
Moment (Nm)

Theoretical
Moment (Nm)

Percentage
Error

100

0.98

0.8

0.100

0.094

6.00

200

1.96

1.5

0.188

0.187

0.53

300

2.94

2.2

0.275

0.280

1.82

400

3.92

3.0

0.375

0.374

0.27

500

4.90

3.7

0.463

0.468

0.01

* Mass (g) is multiplied by

9.8 m/ s 2
1000 g/kg

to obtain Load (N)

Force was recorded from the digital display and multiplied by the moment arm 0.125m to
obtain the experimental moment (Nm)
Refer to section 5 for calculation of theoretical moments

Experiment 2
Figure

W1 (N)

W2 (N)

Force
(N)

RA (N)

RB (N)

Experimental
Theoretical
Percentage
Moment (Nm) Moment (Nm)
Error

3.92

-1.4

5.167

-1.247

-0.175

-0.1747

0.17

1.96

3.92

3.6

2.584

3.296

0.450

0.4616

2.58

4.91

3.92

3.8

2.588

6.2418

0.475

0.4818

1.43

* Force was recorded from the digital display and multiplied by the moment arm 0.125m to
obtain the experimental moment (Nm)
Refer to section 5 for calculation of Reaction forces at A and B as well as the theoretical
moments

7. Discussion
Experiment 1
The graph below shows the relationship of the experimental moment in the beam to the
calculated theoretical moment in the beam for each of the masses used.

7
Figure 7

As seen from the graph above there is a linear relationship between the load on the
beam and the moment in the beam. The larger the load on the beam the more bending
the beam will experience. It is also seen that the plots for the experimental and
theoretical moments are very closely overlapping. This means that the equation we
used accurately predicts the bending moment that is experienced in the beam. The
percentage error is very small for this experiment besides for the 100g mass which is an
outlier is because the load is very small thus a small error amounts to a larger %.
The percentage error may be due to round off error in the theoretical calculations and
the accuracy of the force sensor. The weights are also not exactly 10.00g each there is
a very slight manufacturing tolerance which all adds to the experimental error.

Experiment 2

Figure 8

As seen in table 1 and 2, the experimental and theoretical moment from the setup with a
single load generally has a smaller percentage error compared to the latter
configurations with multiple loads where the error between the experimental and
theoretical moments is slightly larger.
This might be due to the fact there are more complicated internal reactions when there
are more loads. Again the round off error from calculations and the manufacturing
tolerances of the loads all amount to the small experimental error. But overall it can be
said that the calculations were reasonably accurate because the percentage error is
very small, the graph above provides evidence for this.

8. Conclusion
The purpose of this experiment was to compare theoretical versus actual bending
moment in a beam. We found that the both experiments gave us very accurate results,
with slight differences because of experimental error.
Since the results have a small percentage error (are within one decimal place), we can
conclude that the theoretical calculations are an accurate method of predicting the
bending in a beam and should be used when designing and manufacturing.

10. Appendix: Case Study

Figure 9: Gearbox lay shaft

To draw the diagrams, the reaction forces must first be determined.

Support Reactions FBD (a):
Moments counter clockwise are positive and forces in direction are positive.
MB = F1(86.0mm) - F2(111.5mm) + R2(187.0 mm) = 0

Figure 11

R2 = -71.1 N
Fy = -F1 + R1 - F2 + R2 = 0
R1 = 306.1 N
The values on the shear diagram are determined by adding
or subtracting the equilibrium forces sequentially from left to right.
The values on the Bending moment diagram are determined by calculating the area under the
shear diagram to get the value for the moments and adding them sequentially from left to right.

Area = 106.1* 0.1115 = 11.83

Area = 71.1* 0.0755 = 5.4

Area = -200* 0.0860 = -17.2

10
Figure 10: Shear and Moment Diagrams