Table of Contents

Introduction............................................................................................................................. 3
Equipment used....................................................................................................................... 3
Observation and Calculations...................................................................................................5
Discussion.................................................................................................................................6
Relationship between bending moment and strain.............................................................6
The material of the beam had a modulus of elasticity of one-third of that of aluminium.......6
Strain gauges on the opposite side of the sections;.................................................................7
Position of neutral axis of beam...............................................................................................7
Location of 2nd moment of area:.............................................................................................7
Conclusion:...............................................................................................................................7
References................................................................................................................................9
 LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Bending stress in an aluminium T beam....................................................................3
Figure 2: Digital Strain Displayer.............................................................................................. 4
Figure 3: Arrangement of gauges and loading configuration...................................................4
Figure 4: At each Strain Guage, the relationship between strain and bending moment..........6
Introduction
As a straight and collection of straight beams, many structures can be approximated.
Because of this reason, the analysis of stresses and deflection in a beam is important. The
more specific type of normal stress is “bending stress”. At the neutral axis of the beam, the
“bending stress” is zero which is equivalent with the centroid of the cross section of the
beam (Stresses & Deflections in Beams, n.d.). At the top and bottommost of the beam, until
the maximum values at extreme fibres, the bending stress is increased linearly away from
the neutral axis (Normal Stress, Bending Stress, & Shear Stress, 2007). The experiment was
performed to build an understanding of relationships between strain and bending moment
that will be produced in an aluminium T beam. The equipment used sill clarify the basic
principles used to conduct this experiment.

Equipment used
The below mentioned pictures illustrates the type of equipment used to conduct this
experiment. Figure 1 shows us the bending stress calculated in a frame structure while
figure 2 shows the arrangement of strain gauges that are being used to measure the strain
produced due to bending stress and the load setup and the orientation of beam used.

Figure 1: Bending stress in an aluminium T beam

 Figure 2: Digital Strain Displayer

Figure 3: Arrangement of gauges and loading configuration

Observation and Calculations
The results for the aforementioned setup were collected using the 9 strain gauges used in
the bending test. Table 1 depicts the readings collected by the strain gauges at different
loads and the values of bending stresses.

Table 1 Load, bending moment and strain values

Load Strain Strain Strain Strain Strain Strain Strain Strain Strain
(N) Gauge Gauge Gauge Gauge Gauge Gauge Gauge Gauge Gauge
1 (µε) 2 (µε) 3 (µε) 4 (µε) 5 (µε) 6 (µε) 7 (µε) 8 (µε) 9 (µε)

0 -2 -2 -2 -1 -2 -1 0 0 0
100 -104.9 -104.9 -76.4 -74.4 -18.3 18.7 18.7 0.1 44.1
200 -208.3 -208.3 -148.6 -139.5 -28.6 54.4 43.2 0.1 94.9
300 -312.6 -312.6 -220.7 -213.6 -42.0 71.6 68.3 -0.2 145.5
400 -419.6 -419.6 -296.6 -285.6 -55.9 99.0 90.9 -0.2 195.8

Table 2 Average of strain readings against bending moment in a beam

Gauge Nominal Bending Bending Bending Bending Bending

Number vertical Moment Moment Moment Moment Moment
position 0 (Nm) 100 (Nm) 200 (Nm) 300 (Nm) 400 (Nm)
(mm)
1 0 -2.6 -104.9 -208.3 -312.6 -419.6
2,3 8 -3.0 -90.7 -178.5 -266.6 -358.1
4,5 23 -2.8 -46.4 -84.1 -127.8 -170.7
6,7 31.7 -1.3 18.7 48.8 70 94.9
8,9 38.1 -0.3 22.1 47.4 72.7 97.8
 Relati onship between strain and bending
moment
Series1 1 2,3 4,5 6,7 8,9
200

100

0
0 (Nm ) 1 0 0 (Nm ) 2 0 0 (Nm ) 3 0 0 (Nm ) 4 0 0 (Nm )

-100

-200

-300

-400

-500

Figure 4: At each Strain Guage, the relationship between strain and bending moment

Discussion
Relationship between bending moment and strain
Relation ship between strain and bending moment exists and the equation relating these two is
written as:
MC
ε=
EI
Where ε = strain
M= Bending moment
C= distance from neutral axis
I = 2nd moment of area
E = Elasticity modulus
The graph plotted among the strain and bending moment shows a linear relation and as the bending
moment was increased the value of strain also increased linearly. The values of strain can be
categorized into positive and negative.

The material of the beam had a modulus of elasticity of one-third

of that of aluminium.
MC
ε=
EI
Where ε = strain
M= Bending moment
C= distance from neutral axis
I = 2nd moment of area
E = Elasticity modulus
If the modulus of elasticity was 1/3 of that of aluminium the strain vales for the same T
beam will be three times that of the aluminium used in the experiment.

Strain gauges on the opposite side of the sections;

Ideally as the strain gauges on each side is at same distance from neutral axis so the
readings should be identical that’s why the gauge value of 2,3 and 4,5 are identical
irrespective of the value of load. However, the results of gauge 6,7 and gauge 8,9 were quite
different when the load was increased. The major factor in variation of these results was
due to
A) a large distance between each gauge. Distance between 6,7 and 8,9 was high as
compared to gauge 2,3 and 4,5. If a twist occurs in t beam the gauges 6,7,8,9 will be
affected more than the rest.
B) Strain values can also alter due to deformations present in the beam due to
excessive use of that beam.

Position of neutral axis of beam

The position of neutral axis can be found with help of following formula:

y=
∑ yA
∑A
Putting the values of both areas included in T beam:
( 3.2 mm ) ( 38.1 mm ) ( 6.4 mm ) + ( 22.25 mm )( 6.4 mm ) ( 31.7 mm )
y= =11.85m A
( 38.1 mm ) ( 6.4 mm ) + ( 6.4 mm ) ( 31.7 mm )
The location of the neutral axis comes out to be 11.85mm from the bottom of T beam.
Measurements show that the neutral axis is in among gauges 4,5 and 6,7. It also tells us that
the values from gauges 4,5 should be negative and gauges 7,8 should be positive and the
experimental data validates that fact.

Location of 2nd moment of area:

Location of 2nd moment of area can be calculated as:

I =∑ (I x + Ad y )
2

1 −3
= (38.1∗10 m)¿
12
1 −3
+ (6.4∗10 m)¿
12
−8 4
¿ 5.801∗10 m
Conclusion:
The experiment was conducted to determine the relationship between bending moment
and strain, which was linear as concluded by the experiment and graphs. When the bending
stress was increased the value of strain also increased. The strain was divided into two
categories as positive and negative strains which were determined in relation to position of
neutral axis. The experimental data was graphed and plotted to better visualize the relation.
References
Normal Stress, Bending Stress, & Shear Stress. (2007, December 4th). Retrieved from
https://www.thevitruviusproject.com/resources/normal-stress-bending-stress-
shear-stress/#:~:text=Bending%20stress%20is%20a%20more,undergo%20a
%20normal%20tensile%20stress.
Stresses & Deflections in Beams. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://mechanicalc.com/reference/beam-analysis#:~:text=The%20bending
%20stress%20is%20zero,and%20bottom%20of%20the%20beam.