Course leader: Adam Beagles | Student: Ioan-Iulian Vizireanu

MEC1
33

TORSION OF RODS

Contents
1.

Nomenclature...................................................................................................... 2

2.

Introduction........................................................................................................ 2

3.

Applications........................................................................................................ 2

4.

Equipment used in experiment..................................................................................3

5.

Procedure........................................................................................................... 4

6.

Results............................................................................................................... 5

7.

Discussions...................................................................................................... 6

8.

Sources of errors................................................................................................... 6

9.

Conclusions........................................................................................................ 7

10. References............................................................................................................ 8
Appendix................................................................................................................ 9

1. Abstract
This experiment is meant to identify the effects of the torsion on four beams made of aluminium,
brass and steel. These results may offer essential information about the structure of the samples, such
as: shear stress, shear strain, shear modulus and the other mechanical properties. In this respect, the
experiment is important in application field, being an essential part which may help the engineers to
figure out the consequences of torsion applied on different beams and help them to choose the best
solution in situations such as: pillows in buildings, wings from airplanes and springs from cars.

2. Nomenclature
Symbol

Meaning

SI Unit

Torsion moment
Angle of twist
Shear stress
Polar moment of area

Nm
rad
N

Shear strain
Shear modulus

rad
Pa

m4

3. Introduction
Torque represents the moment of twist applied on a structure. It can be calculated by multiplying the
tangential force which acts on the structure with the distance from the middle of the sample to the
point where the force acts.
The main objective of this experiment is to determine the behaviour of the beams made of different
materials: aluminium, steel and brass while torque is applied. Furthermore, the objective is to compare
the performance of beams made of steel, but of different lengths and see how each of them behaves
during the experiment. Introducing the data received from experiment into equation (1), (2), (3), (4) or
(5) from the Results will provide the shear properties of the beam: shear modulus, shear strength and
shear strain.

4. Applications
The torsion experiment is useful in reality to domains, such as mechanical engineering and aerospace:
springs, torsion box from boats and wings.
1) For example, springs are usually made of metals with high yield strength because the springs
would deform elastically. while a force is applied on them,

Figure 1. Torsion on springs [1]

2) Another example represents boats which have torsion boxes for minimising the bending of the
ship caused by waves or undistributed weights.

Figure 2. Torsion on boats [2]

3) Wings have also beams which resist torsion due to wind. This is important especially in
aerospace engineering where wings have to be aerodynamic but at the same time resistant to
twisting.

Figure 3. Torsion on wings [3]

As can be seen from above, the torsion test may give information of how structures would behave in
reality and what properties should the structures have in order to serve the purpose of a specific
project.

4) Equipment used in experiment

In this experiment, the WP 500 Torsion testers (Figure 4) was connected to a measuring amplifier
(Figure 5) and both have been used to see how different structures behaved while torque was applied..

Figure 4. WP 500 Torsion tester

Figure 5. Measuring amplifier

For the experiment samples were twisted into the torsion tester to find the shear properties of the
structures until they reached the breaking point. The measuring amplifier being connected to the
torsion tester displayed the torsion in Nm and the angle of twist in degrees.

Figure 6. Torsion tester components [4]

For a full understanding of how the torsion tester is constructed, the components of the device were
presented in Figure 6 as follows [4]:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Base frame- It is the support of the hole assembly

Worm gear- It fix the specimen
Revolution counter- It counts how many rotations where done
Protractor
Hand wheel for test torque- It is used to apply torque on the specimen
Test bar- It is the specimen used in the experiment
Measuring device- It can be slide along the frame, with strain gauge measuring shaft and
compensation unit
8. Measuring amplifier with display- It will display the torsion and the angle of twist
4

5) Procedure
Materials
There were four beams tested in the Torsion tester of different materials and lengths: aluminium, brass
and steel with 75mm and 175mm.

Torsion test
There were two main parts which needed to be covered for conducting the experiment in a proper
manner, as follows:
A. Preparing the apparatus
As in any experiment, safety comes first and so safety glasses had to be worn while the
experiment was preceded. Before starting the experiment, we had to be sure that there was no
specimen in the torsion tester and that there was no twisting moment applied on the device by
checking the values from Amplifier: 0 deg. and 0 Nm.
After the device was checked, the specimen was introduced into the torsion tester. Next the
clamping levers were released and the other part of the specimen was introduced in to the driver
unit. In order to do that, the specimen and the driver unit had to be aligned by rotating the hand
wheel until the specimen was fitted in.
After the specimen was fixed the clamping levers had to be tied. Next the hand wheel had to be
rotated until it started to show a value for torque on the amplifier.
At this moment, the T button from the screen on the amplifier had to be pressed in order to set the
origin for the experiment.
Once the apparatus was calibrated and the specimen was fixed into the machine, the second part
had to be proceeded.
B. Performing the testing
The hand wheel had to be turned clockwise and the angle of twist controlled as follows:
The rate at which the twist angles were incremented increased through 1 ,5 , 10 , 20 , 50 ,
100 , 200 , 500 until the thresholds of 5 , 50 , 100 , 200 , 500 , 1000 , 2000 , and then
continued incrementing with 500 rate until the specimen broke. While the hand wheel was
turned, the adjustment wheel had also to be rotated in order to equilibrate the drive unit. This
calibration was done until the value of the twist angle was 200 . After this value was reached, the
protective glass was set to prevent chips of the specimen endangering the experimenters. Also, at
the time when the twist angles were incremented, the values for torque were recorded on an xls.
file which helped the experimenters to compare the data. When the specimen broke, the
experiment was over and the parts of the beam were taken off the machine. Next, the experiment

was repeated three more times from the beginning, using each time another type of metal.
After the procedure was done properly, the data had to be compared in order to establish how the
beams reacted, depending on the material the samples were made of and on their lengths.

6) Results
In order to compare the data and conclude which are the effects on different samples when twisting
moment is applied, the relation between shear forces had to be found using the equations below [5]:
=

TR
J

(1)

J=

R 4
2

(2)

(3)

G=

(4)

where G could be found by replacing equation (4) with (1)-(3) as follows:

G=

2TL
4
R

(5)

The shear stress represents the force that makes a layer of the structure to slide on another one in
opposite directions. The second moment of area shows how much a structure can resist due to bending
caused by a load. The shear strain shows the deformation of the structure when shear forces acts due to
torque. Shear modulus represents the elastic modulus which shows how materials resist to deformation
in the elastic zone while torque is applied. This value can be calculated by finding the gradient between
the shear stress and shear strain on the elastic region [6].
Once the data was collected, the shear forces were plotted to see the effects of twisting on the samples.

12
10
8
Aluminium
Brass

Steel 75 mm
Steel 175mm

4
2
0
0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Figure 7. Torsion moment/ Twist angle

In order to find the shear strain, there were plotted the elastic regions: shear stress over shear strain for
each sample in Figure 15-18 from the Appendix and then the value of the gradient represented the
magnitude of shear modulus for the respective structure.
Also, Figure 8 shows the path of the elastic part in each sample tested by comparing the shear stress with
the shear strain.

Elastic region
0.14
0.12
0.1
Shear stress

Aluminium

0.08

Brass

0.06

Steel 0.075m

0.04

Steel 0.175m

0.02
0
0

Shear strain

Figure 8. Elastic region

After the relations between shear forces were plotted, all results had to be shown into a table as follows:
Specimen Description
Aluminium
Brass
Steel 0.075m
Steel 0.175m

Shear Modulus
19.778
28.601
46.886
71.525

Torsion Yield Stress

210
190
385
390

Torsional Strength
11.9
16.3
19.9
20.6

7) Discussions
As can be seen in Figure 7, assumptions can be made about the influences of the twisting moment of the
specimens.
Firstly, the aluminium specimen had the lowest value for torsion moment when it broke. Also, the
aluminium beam had a larger angle of twist than brass and steel (0.075 m length) specimens which
shows that aluminium sample is more ductile than the others.
Secondly, the brass specimen had a higher torsion moment than aluminium and smaller than steel which
shows that it is stiffer than aluminium. Also, the brass sample entered into the plastic deformation region
quicker than steel which means that the yield strength for brass is smaller than for steel beam.
Thirdly, the steel (0.075 m length) specimen had a higher torsion moment than the aluminium and brass
but approximately the same as steel (0.175 m length). So the steel beam is much stiffer than aluminium.
Furthermore, the difference in length between the 0.075 m steel beam and the 0.175 m steel beam did
not affect in a significant way the magnitude for the force needed to be applied to break the beam. Also,
the 0.175 m steel beam had a higher angle of twist of about 3.84 times than the 0.075 m length beam
which is because of the difference in length of 0.1 m.
Fourthly, Figures 11, 12, 13, 14 from Appendix shows the value of shear modulus calculated using
equation (5). As it can be seen aluminim has G= 19.778 GPa; brass has G= 28.601 GPa, steel with
0.075m length has G= 46.886 GPa and steel with 0.175m length has G= 71.525 GPa. Even if the
experiment was made in proper conditions by following the procedure, the shear modulus obtained for
the structures are not accurate because of the possible errors which may occur during the experiment.
The actual values are: for aluminium G= 24-28 GPa; for brass G= 40 GPa and for steel G= 77-79 GPa
[6].
The values for shear modulus obtained in the experiment shows how the samples resist to deformation
into the elastic zone. As can be seen, the most resistant one was the steel bar, followed by brass while the
aluminium sample deformed the most in the elastic zone.

8) Sources of errors
As in any experiment there are errors which affected the analysis of data and so they had to be found and
reduced as much as possible
Firstly, the calibration error affected data in the way that the experimenter would may not read correctly
the values of torsion moment and angle of twist from the beginning as can be seen in the figure below:

Figure 9 Error due to calibration

The red zone shows that the apparatus was not calibrated properly when the experiment was preceded
and that is why the plot did not started to increase as much on y-axis as it did on x-axis, such as in the
green zone.
To minimise this error, the experimenter should calibrate the device carefully and ask the demonstrators
for any assistance.
Secondly, material chosen for the experiment may differ of producer. In this respect the steel structure
from a producer might have a different chemical composition than the one from another producer. For
example, the steel bar with 0.175m length which was tested, it broke at 8444 degrees while the other the
bars from the other experimenters broke at 6000-6500 degrees. To minimise this error, all structures
needed for testing should be bought from the same producer and from the same series.
Thirdly, parallax error affected the data because while the experimenter twisted the specimen, he also
had to be sure that the compensation device showed zero every time. So, the experimenter could get the
results wrong if he did not look straight to the rotating scale.
This error could be minimised by looking straight at the
rotating scale to be sure that the value is zero. This error
was not significantly affected by the material chosen for
experiment, but it was affected by the magnitude of the
torsion applied to the beam. Also, at the moment when
the angle of twist was over 200 , the calibration was no
longer needed because this error is considered as being
negligible after 200 .
Figure 10. Compensation device

9) Conclusions
The results obtained from this experiment could be a useful tool in industry. Even if the procedure was
followed as well as possible, there will still exist errors which affect the data. But even if the possible
errors which may occur can affect the data, there are some statements which can be concluded as being
true.
A more ductile material will have a bigger twist angle than a another material if both samples would
have the same length. Also, the length of the same type of material does not affect the maximum value of
torsion needed to twist the material up to the breaking point. Furthermore, the length of the same type of
material affects the maximum value for twisting angle. A longer beam would have a bigger value than a
smaller one.
To sum up, the type of material and the length chosen for the specimen influenced the behavior of the
9

beam and its shear properties at twisting in different forms.

10. References
1) http://www.doitpoms.ac.uk/tlplib/beam_bending/printall.php, [n/d], Academic consultant:
Clyne (University of Cambridge), Content development: Sonya Pemberton, Photography and
video: Brian Barber and Carol Best, Web development: David Brook
2) http://www.maniobradebuques.com/articulosDeInteres/ainteres22.html, January 7, 2015;
Author: Tanumoy Sinha
3) http://astonishingengineering.com/transport/aviation/aircraft-structures-by-d-peery/1337torsion-of-closed-section-box-beams.html, 2015, Engineering and Technologies
4) http://www.gunt.de/static/s3115_1.php, 2005, G.U.N.T. Author: Gertebau GmbH
5) Mechanical Department, 2015, Second Semester Practicals- Mechanical Engineering, pages: 5051
6) http://www.britannica.com/science/shear-modulus, Encyclopedia Britannica, written by:
Editors of Encyclopdia Britannica, 2016
7) http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/modulus-rigidity-d_946.html, [n/d], The Engineering
ToolBox, email editor: editor.engineeringtoolbox@gmail.com

10

Appendix

Aluminium

15
10
Nm

5
0
0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

rad

Figure 11. Torsion moment/ Twist angle

11

Brass

15
10
Nm

5
0
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

rad

Figure 12. Torsion moment/ Twist angle

Steel with 0.075 m length

15
10
Nm

5
0
0

20

40

60

80

100

120

rad

Figure 13. Torsion moment/ Twist angle

Steel with 0.175 m length

25
20
15
Nm

10
5
0
0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

rad

Figure 14. Torsion moment/ Twist angle

12

Aluminium

0.08
0.06
Shear stress

f(x) = 19.78x - 0.01

R = 0.99

0.04
0.02
0
0

Shear strain

Figure 15. Shear modulus in GPa

Brass

0.1
0.08

f(x) = 28.6x - 0.01

R = 1

0.06
Shear stress

0.04
0.02
0
0

Shear Strain

Figure 16. Shear modulus in GPa

Steel with 0.075 m length

0.15
f(x) = 46.89x - 0.03
R = 0.98

0.1
Shear stress

0.05
0
0

Shear strain

Figure 17. Shear modulus in GPa

13

Steel with 0.175 m length

0.1
0.08

f(x) = 71.52x - 0.02

R = 0.99

0.06
Shear stress

0.04
0.02
0
0

Shear strain

Figure 18. Shear modulus in GPa

14