Beam Bending Lab Report

Submitted to:
Dr. Annie Abell
&
Miss MohiniDutt

Prepared By:
Ian Hildebrandt

Engineering 1181
The Ohio State University
College of Engineering
Columbus, OH

September 18, 2012

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Beam Bending Lab

Table of Contents
List of Figures and Tables...1
Executive Summary.2
Introduction3
Content.5-17

Task 2.5
Task 3-76-17
o Task 3.8-9
o Task 4.10-11
o Task 5.12-13
o Task 6.14-15
o Task 7.16-17

Deflection vs. Force Applied for 5 Beams..18

Discussion Questions..19-20
Conclusion.20-21
Appendices / Attachments22

Lists of Figures and Tables

Figure 1: Beam Bending Apparatus......3
Figure 2: Table and Graph of Task 3.8
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Beam Bending Lab

Figure 3: Table and Graph of Task 4..10

Figure 4: Table and Graph of Task 5..12
Figure 5: Table and Graph of Task 6..14
Figure 6: Table and Graph of Task 7..16
Figure 7: Graph of Deflection vs. Force Applied for All Five Beams..19

Executive 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
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Beam Bending Lab

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 excel lab worksheet
located on the class drive. Students started by measuring and recording the width and
thickness of each beam using the dial caliper. After, students measured the minimum
and maximum values with no weight on the weight holder. Lastly, students continued to
repeat measuring the minimum and maximum for each of the ten weights and recorded
all the values in the excel seed file. The first beam measured was the aluminum
cantilever beam. The second beam measured was the steel beam followed by the
aluminum box beam, the polystyrene beam, and the basswood 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 the polystyrene plastic.
D ia l I n d ic a t o r
P u l le y

V e r t ic a l
C a n t i le v e r
Beam

W e ig h t
H o ld e r

C la m p
E x tra
W e ig h ts

Figure 1: Beam Bending Apparatus

Introduction
The overall goals of this lab were to:

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Beam Bending Lab

Investigate and apply the concepts of stress, strain, and Youngs modulus

for structural materials.

Apply the stress-strain equation to calculate how applied forces deform

structures.
Calculate the moment of inertia of various beam geometries and

determine how beam geometry affects the stiffness and strength of beams
Use dial calipers and dial indicators to make accurate measurements of

the dimensions and deflections of structural beams.

Apply forces to cantilever beams and measure beam deflections.

This lab report contains multiple sections that explain the results of the beam
bending lab. In the first section, task 2, the lab worksheet is discussed in its entirety. In
task 3-7, the data and graph for each individual beam is discussed also. Following these
tasks, the four discussion questions are answered. Finally, the conclusion section is the
last part of the lab.

Task 2
The beam bending lab worksheet on excel that was provided to the students was an
extremely useful tool. Students had to continuously record data throughout the entire
duration of the lab. Students were able to easily type in all the values into the excel
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Beam Bending Lab

worksheet. This helped with time management and, as a result, efficiency during the
lab. The beam bending worksheet does the calculations for the students. It plots the
deflection vs. force and the theoretical deflection and applies a linear trend line to both.
The worksheet goes in order from task 3 to task 7. It has spaces for students to record
all the values measured during lab. Under the spaces designated for inputting data,
there is a graph for each task.
The number in cell H14 refers to the moment of inertia for the aluminum beam. It
uses the equation in cell G14 which takes the width of the beam multiplied by the
thickness of the beam cubed all divided by 12. This value is used to find the theoretical
deflection which is plotted on the graph for each beam as the red line. The moment of
inertia is calculated for all five beams using the same process as cell H14.

Task 3-7
The purpose of task 3-7 was to measure deflection for five different beams in order
to find out which one was the strongest. Students recorded values for ten different
weights that were applying forces on the beams. The amount of deflection that the
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Beam Bending Lab

beam was experiencing was recorded using the dial indicator. The deflection vs. force
graph was plotted automatically by the lab worksheet for each beam and students were
able to immediately see the accuracy of their results by comparing their data to the
theoretical deflection line.
The function of the dial indicator was to measure the deflection in inches of each
beam. The dial indicator is very precise and can make accurate measurements to the
thousandths place in inches. The dial indicator is read in two steps. First, students read
a small dial which indicated the tens place and second, they read the large dial which
indicated the thousandths place.

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Beam Bending Lab

Figure 2: Table and Graph of Task 3

Task 3
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Beam Bending Lab

In this task, the measurements were very accurate. It can be seen on the graph that
the red theory line runs almost through all the recorded data points in blue. There was
also very small percent error for these measurements with the highest percent error
reaching only 10%.

Figure 2: Table and Graph of Task 4

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Beam Bending Lab

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Beam Bending Lab

Task 4
For this task, the deflection of a steel beam was measured. The error in the
measurements was a little larger than the error for task 3. Regardless, the
measurements were still accurate and the data points stay relatively close to the theory
line as can be seen from the graph. The highest percent error was only 31%.

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Beam Bending Lab

Figure 4: Table and Graph of Task 5

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Task 5
In task 5, the deflection of an aluminum box beam was measured. Once again, the
recorded values were accurate as can be seen by both the percent error and the graph.
The percent error values continuously grow smaller as the weight gets larger and the
values seem to be approaching a constant.

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Beam Bending Lab

Figure 5: Table and Graph of Task 6

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Task 6
In this task, the deflection for a polystyrene plastic beam was measured. The
measurements for this beam were extremely accurate. The percent error is very small
and the theory line runs almost directly through all of the data points. The first data point
received a percent error of 23%. The second and third points received percent errors of
9% and 2%.

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Beam Bending Lab

Figure 6: Table and Graph of Task 7

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Task 7
In the final task, the deflection for a basswood beam was measured. The
measurements for this beam were also accurate because once again there is small
percent error and the theory line runs very closely to all of the data points.

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Beam Bending Lab

Deflection vs. Force Applied for All Five Beams

0.900
0.800
Steel Beam

0.700
Aluminum Box Beam

Polystryene Plastic Beam

Basswood Beam

0.600
0.500
Absolute Deflection (inch)

0.400
0.300

Aluminum Cantileaver Beam

0.200
0.100
0.000
0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

Force (Weight) Applied to Beam (lbf)

Figure 7: Graph of Deflection vs. Force Applied for All Five Beams
This graph shows the deflection vs. force applied for all five beams. It can easily
beam seen that the strongest beam is the steel beam. It deflects a very small amount at
the highest force applied. The second strongest beam is the aluminum cantilever beam
which deflects slightly less than the aluminum box beam which is the third strongest
beam. The fourth strongest beam is the basswood beam. It deflects at a very high rate
when only a small force is applied. Lastly, the polystyrene plastic beam deflects at an
immensely high rate at a very low force.

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Beam Bending Lab

1.20

Discussion Questions
1. 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.
2. 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 in Wisconsin 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.
3. The strongest beam I tested was the steel beam. I came to this conclusion
because when I plotted all five beams on one graph it was clear that the steel
beam deflected the least when the greatest amount of force was applied to it.
The polystyrene plastic was the weakest I measured because, once again, on

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Beam Bending Lab

the graph it was clear that the plastic deflected the most at the lowest force
applied.
4.

Strongest

Weakest

Material Used

Relative Strength
(1-10)

Steel Beam
Aluminum Cantilever Beam
Aluminum Box Beam
Basswood Beam
Polystyrene Plastic Beam

9.5
8.8
8.5
4.1
2.0

Conclusion
Throughout the duration of this lab, the students were exposed to stress, strain,
Youngs modulus, moment of inertia, force, and deflection. After making use of these
concepts during lab, a conclusion was drawn about the strongest and weakest beams
tested. The strongest beam was found to be the steel beam. The weakest was found to
be the polystyrene plastic. This was verified when the force vs. deflection for all five
beams was plotted on one graph.
During the lab, not many difficulties were faced. However, one difficulty was
making sure that the minimum and maximum values were accurate because if the
weight was not adjusted properly, then the dial indicator would not produce the same
reading. Another difficulty that was faced was measuring the width and thickness of
each beam. The dial caliper is extremely precise and at times it was a little bit difficult to
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Beam Bending Lab

get the exact reading. Other than those two, there were no other difficulties experienced
during the lab.

Beam Bending Lab Report Grading Guidelines (100 pts)

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Beam Bending Lab

Contents

Points
Worth

Report Formatting

5 pts

1. Cover Sheet with proper formatting, Table of Contents, and List of

Illustrations

2. Executive Summary

Introductory Paragraphs (3-5 lines)

Point
Value

5 pts

1.Brief introduction of objectives/goals of the lab.

2.Brief introduction to the contents of the Lab Report.

Task 2 Beam Bending Lab Worksheet

10 pts

1.Describe the contents of the Beam Bending Lab Worksheet and describe how
it is organized.

2.Describe the Excel formula in Cell H14 of the Worksheet. To which

Equation Number in the Preparation Document does it refer? And which
other calculations in the Worksheet use the number in Cell H14?

Tasks 3-7 Measure the characteristics of all of the cantilever beams

30 pts

1.Briefly state the purpose of Tasks 3-7.

2.What was the function of the Dial Indicator? How did you read the dial?

3.Copy and paste the data tables and graphs from Tasks 3 - 7 into your Lab
Report and discuss each graph. Were your measurements accurate? If not,
why not?

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4.Plot Deflection versus Applied Force for all five beams on the same graph.
Place this graph in your report and discuss the results.

Discussion Questions 1 4. These are to be answered in your report.

40 pts

Discussion Question 1

10

Discussion Question 2

10

Discussion Question 3

10

Discussion Question 4

10

LAB Report Conclusion

10 pts

Total

100 pts

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Beam Bending Lab