KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY

OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY,

KUMASI.

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING.
EXPERIMENT: CIRCULAR
BENDING.

DATE; 26:02:2019
LECTURER;
DR. Y. FIAGBE
 Group H;

Names Index no.

1. Okoh- Appiah Jeffery 5980016
2. Adasi Samuel 5966316
3. Benson Leslie Nana Yahans 5971716
4. Mahmoud Mahama Dimmie 5977516
5. Yeboah Frederick 5983716
6. Appiah Kubi Emmanuel 5969916
7. Sai Daniel Nii Annan 5981716
8. Agyei-Marfo Benjamin 5967916
9. Danso Enoch Nanor 5973816
10. Danso Aboagye Kwasi 5973916
Introduction;
The strength of materials and structures is extremely important in our everyday

lives because almost everywhere we go or look we see many things that are built

with strong materials in order to maximize efficiency. Cars, buildings, planes, and

bridges are just a few of the things that we see every day that rely completely on

the strength of their materials. Since the strength of the materials used to build

these things is known, the safety of these structures is maximized.

Engineers use a great deal of factors in order to design safe structures. They make

sure that the material being used can easily withstand forces that would happen to

certain structures. For example, a building or structure would be built to withstand

the greatest possible wind gust that would take place. Materials being used are

always tested beforehand and the strongest/safest ones are always chosen

according to the specific thing being built. Engineers are always extremely careful

when they design structures because they do not want any error in their design,

which could potentially lead to a defect in the future. In all, engineers always test

every structure before it is built to make sure the correct materials are being used

and that the materials are strong enough to withstand any force.
Summary;

The overall purpose of this lab was to explore the basic concepts that

engineers use to design economical and safe structures. In order to do this, students

used the beam bending apparatus shown below (Figure 1) to test the deflection of

various materials. The first step of this lab included assembling the beam bending

apparatus. During the building process, it was extremely important to make sure

everything was aligned and tightened properly. The next step of the lab was to

begin taking measurement on the five different beams. All the measurements were

recorded in the table provided. Students started by measuring and recording the

width and thickness of each beam using the vernier caliper. After, students

measured the minimum and maximum values with no weight on the weight holder.

Lastly, students continued to repeat measuring the deflections for each of the 100g

added to the weight holder and recorded all the values in the table provided. The

first beam measured was a steel simply supported beam. The second beam

measured was the aluminium beam followed by the brass beam. After the lab was

completed and the data was analyzed, the strongest beam was found to be the steel

beam and the weakest was found to be aluminium.

Principal notation Concept
E Young modulus
M Applied moment
y Distance
I Second moment area
E Young modulus of elasticity
R Radius of curvature
N.A Neutral axis
h Deflection
A Area of the beam
b Breadth
d Depth
C Chord
Objectives:
1. To determine the deflection of various mechanical materials under
loading.
2. To determine the theoretical Young modulus to the actual modulus of
steel, aluminium and brass.
3. To induce a moment and circular bending by applying a varying load.

Materials;
Vernier calliper

Steel, brass and aluminium beams

Digital dial

Load

Load hunger
Experimental setup;
Dial

Test beam

Load

Knife edge

100 400 100 w

Circular bending schematic fig 1

Procedure;
1. Using a vernier caliper, measure the width and depth of the aluminium, brass
and steel test beams.
2. Remove any clamps from the backboard and set up the test beam.
3. Slide the digital dial test indicator into position on the beam and lock it using
the thumbnut at the rear.
4. Slide a knife – edge hanger on to each end of the beam as shown in fig. 1.
5. Tap the frame lightly and zero the digital dial test indicator using the origin
button.
6. Tap the frame each lightly each time and apply masses to the knife edge
hangers in increments of 100 from 0 to 500g.
7. Record the digital dial test indicator reading for each increment of mass.
8. Repeat the process for the other two specimens, aluminium and brass.
Theory;
h

C
Fig 2.

For a simply supported beam subjected to point loads in fig 2., the applied loads
cause a deflection (h) which induces a radius of curvature (R). Also, for
a simply supported beam under purely bending,

In order to compute the value of bending stresses developed in a loaded beam,

considering the two cross-sections of a beam HE and GF, originally parallel as
shown in fig 1(a).when the beam is to bend it is assumed that these sections remain
parallel i.e. H'E' and G'F' , the final position of the sections, are still straight lines,
they then subtend some angle q.

Consider now fiber AB in the material, at a distance ‘y’ from the N.A, when the
beam bends this will stretch to A'B'

change in length
Therefore, Strain in beam AB =
original length

A′ B′ −AB
= but AB=CD and C ′ D′ refer fig 1 (a) and fig1(b)
AB

A′ B′ − C′ D′
strain =
C′ D′

Since CD and C ′ D′ are on the neutral axis and it is assumed that the stress on the
neutral axis zero. Therefore, there won’t be any strain on the neutral axis
(R+y)θ−Rθ Rθ+yθ−Rθ y
strain = = = -----1
Rθ Rθ R

stress
However, =𝐸
strain
𝜎
Strain= --------2
𝐸

Equating eqn 1 and 2 implies,

𝜎 𝑦 𝜎 𝐸
= or = ----------3
𝐸 𝑅 𝑦 𝑅

Consider any arbitrary cross section of the beam as shown below, the strain on the
beam at distance ‘y’ from the N.A is given by,
 𝐸
𝜎= y
𝑅

If the shaded strip is of area ‘dA’ then, the force on the strip is
𝐸
F= σ δA = y 𝛿A
𝑅

Moment about the neutral axis would be=

𝐸
Fxy = y2δA
𝑅

The total moment for the whole cross section is therefore equal to
𝐸
M=∑ y 2δA
𝑅

𝐸
M= ∑y 2δA
𝑅

Now the term ∑y 2δA is the second moment of area denoted by ‘I’. Therefore,
𝐸
M = I ------------4
𝑅

Combining eqn 3 and 4 gives,

𝜎 𝐸 𝑀
= =
𝑦 𝑅 𝐼

Therefore, pure bending theory equation is given by,

𝐸 𝑀
=
𝑅 𝐼

Tables;
Material; E value: Width: b: Depth, d: I:

Mass at each Deflection(mm) Applied moment Radius of 1/R M/I (x 109)

end (g) (Nm) curvature(m)
Useful calculations of sample data;
C=400mm I=? R=? M=?

Steel;

b= 19.89mm d= 2.04mm E=207N/m2 h1= 0mm

𝑏𝑑3 c2 +4h2
I= R=
12 8h

19.89 x 2.043 4002 +4(0)2

I= = 1.407x10 -11
m 4
R1= =∞
12 8(0)

Aluminium;

B=19.85mm d= 2.34mm E= 69N/m2 h2=0.65mm

bd3 2
c2 +4h
I= R=
12 8h
2
19.85 x 2.343 4002 +4(0.65)
I= = 2.12x10-11m4 R2= = 𝟑𝟎. 𝟕𝟕𝐦
12 8(0.65)

Brass;

b= 19.81mm d= 2.31mm E= 105N/m2 h3=0.73mm

bd3 c2 +4h2
I= R=
12 8h
2
19.81 x 2.313 -11 4 4002 +4(0.73)
I= = 2.03x10 m R3=
8(0.73)
=27.40m
12

Applied moment;
EI
M=
R
Tables;
Material; Steel E value: 207 N/m2 Width: b: 19.89mm Depth, d: 2.04mm I: 1.47x10-11m4

Mass at each Deflection(mm) Applied moment Radius of 1/R M/I (x 109)

end (g) (Nm) x 10-11 curvature(m)
0 0 0 ∞ 0 0
100 0.22 3.347 90.91 0.011 2.28
200 0.40 6.086 50.00 0.020 4.14
300 0.58 8.825 34.48 0.029 6.00
400 0.78 11.867 25.64 0.039 8.07
500 0.95 14.456 21.05 0.048 9.83

Mat: Aluminium E value: 69N/m2 Width, b: 19.85mm Depth, d: 2.24mm I: 2.12x10-11m4

Mass at each Deflection(mm) Applied moment Radius of 1/R M/I (x 109)

end (g) (Nm) x10-11 curvature (m)
0 0 0 ∞ 0 0
100 0.65 4.75 30.77 0.032 2.24
200 1.23 9.00 16.26 0.062 4.60
300 1.80 13.17 11.11 0.090 6.21
400 2.31 16.89 8.66 0.115 8.00
500 2.38 17.41 8.40 0.119 8.21

Mat: Brass E value: 105N/m2 Width, b: 19.81mm Depth, d: 2.31mm I: 2.03x10-11m4

Mass at each Deflection(mm) Applied moment Radius of 1/R M/I (x 109)

end (g) (Nm) x10-11 curvature (m)
0 0 0 ∞ 0 0
100 0.38 4.050 52.63 0.019 2.00
200 0.73 7.779 27.40 0.036 3.82
300 1.08 11.519 18.52 0.054 5.67
400 1.44 15.346 13.89 0.072 7.60
500 1.81 19.929 11.05 0.090 9.82
Slope;

Steel Alluminium Brass

y𝟐 − 𝒚𝟏 y𝟐 − 𝒚 𝟏 y𝟐 − 𝒚𝟏
𝒙𝟐− 𝒙𝟏 𝒙𝟐− 𝒙𝟏 𝒙𝟐− 𝒙𝟏

(o,o) and (0.04,8.2) (0,0) and (0.090,6.21) (0.005,0.6) nd (0.072,7.60)

8.2−0 6.21−0 7.60−0.6

=205x109 =69x109 =104.5x109
0.04−0 0.090−0 0.072−0.005

=205GPa =69GPa =104.5GPa

Applications of simply supported beams;

A simply supported beam is one that rests on two supports and is free to
move horizontally. Typical practical applications of simply supported beams with
point loadings include bridges, beams in buildings, and beds of machine tools etc.

Precautions;

1. The dial must be set to zero for the initial start before load applied is
applied and varied on beams.
2. Parallax error was avoided when readings were taken from the vernier
and the dial.
Observation;

From the experimental values, different deflections were recorded against

the various test beams namely; steel, aluminium and brass noting that higher
deflection causes small circular bending radius and vica. The graphs also point out
the closeness of the theoretical Young’s modulus of elasticity of the various beams
and the actual values.

Conclusion;

The circular bending test experiment hence relates the theoretical values of

Young’s modulus of elasticity to the actual value but with small deviations. This

test proves that, circular bending provides accurate values of Young’s modulus of

elasticity for different material under purely bending.