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Engineering
Laboratory Experiment
Date: ________________________________
Title: Plastic Bending of Portals
SUMMARY
(written by student)
2. Introduction to Experiment
In this experiment you are asked to set up and perform experiments related to the
plastic bending of portals, then compare the results to the simple Plastic Design theory.
The experiment clearly demonstrates the principles involved and gives practical support
to your studies.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Fix a specimen portal frame (two uprights with a cross-beam at the top) to the bottom
cross-piece of a test frame. The test frame also holds horizontal and vertical screw
mechanisms with electronic load cells for loading the portal frame. Set the portal frame
load conditions by arranging the load cell screw mechanisms to provide either single or
combined loads. Load the portal frame manually by adjusting the screw mechanisms.
The electronic load cells connect to a Digital Force Display that shows the horizontal
and vertical loads as the portal frame deforms. Two long-travel digital deflection
indicators measure the portal frame deformation. Continue to load the portal frame until
it is in the fully plastic condition, that is, it has undergone plastic collapse. Monitor the
collapse load, deformations, and note where plastic hinges formed during collapse.
The square portal frame with encastre fixings has three redundancies. If it forms four
plastic hinges it will turn into a mechanism and collapse. Alternatively, if any individual
member fails as a beam it will effectively fail as a structure. In this experiment you will
load specimen portals vertically and then horizontally. In both cases you will observe the
positions of the plastic hinges, examine the load deflection relationship and compare the
collapse load to theory.
Take a specimen portal and check the corners are reasonably square and its legs are
straight. If they are not, you need to use another frame. If the frame is a little distorted_
make a note of any distortion so you can make a comparison before and after the test.
Measure the section of the frame and calculate a value for the second moment of
Area, I, in m4
Remove the clamp plates and locate the ends of the specimen portal into the fixing
blocks. Ensuring the clamp plates are square, clamp the specimen using a clamp plate
and screw in each block. Find the centre of the portal top beam and mark it with a
pencil. Find the longer wire and position the small diameter pin underneath the pencil
mark position with the offset end toward the indicator anvil. Clamp it to the frame using
the clamp pin and two screws.
Rest the indicator anvil on the pin. Pass the wire around the adjustable pulley and
secure the end into the load cell clevis using two clevis shear screws. Using a
combination of the adjustable Pulley and the load cell, make sure the wire comes
vertically down from the frame, around the pulley, then horizontally across to the load
cell. Look at the digital force display readout to ensure the Frame is not Pulled during
these adjustment. Ensure there is no load on the wire and zero both the load cell and
the indicator.
Wind the load cell handwheel to pull the frame and cause a measured deflection of 1
mm, take a reading of the force required. Continue to wind the load cell to cause
deflections in 1 mm steps until there is very little or no increase in load for each
increment of deflection. Enter your results into Table 1.
Plot a graph of force versus deflection. From your results, comment on the shape of the
resulting plot and note the collapse load. Release the load and carefully remove the
portal, sketch the shape of the collapsed portal making note of the positions of the
hinges that have formed. Save the portal for later tests.
How many hinges have formed? Has the portal failed completely (turned into a
mechanism) or has only one part of the structure failed?
Take another (new) portal and fix it into the blocks (as you did in Part 1). Find the
shorter wire and position the small diameter pin into the right-hand corner with the offset
end toward the indicator anvil. Clamp it to the frame using the clamp pin and two
screws. Pass the wire around the adjustable pulley and secure the end into the load cell
clevis using two clevis shear screws. Using the adjustable pulley and d the load cell,
make sure the wire comes horizontally from the frame. around the pulley, then vertically
up to the load cell. Check the digital force display to ensure the frame is not pulled
during these adjustments. Check there is no tension in the wire, ensure the indicator
anvil is pushed up to the pin, then zero both the load cell and the indicator.
Deflection Force
(mm) (N)
0 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
Plot a graph of force versus deflection. From your results, comment on the shape of the
resulting plot. Note the collapse load. Release the load and remove the portal and
sketch the shape of the collapsed portal making note of the positions of the hinges that
have formed.
How many hinges have formed? Has the portal failed completely (turned into a
mechanism) or has only one part of the structure failed?
Sketch bending moment diagrams for both load cases and compare with the two modes
of failure. Are these what you expected? Could you use the bending moment diagram
to predict the positions of the plastic hinges?
To compare the collapse loads to theory we can use the following equations (for a portal
with a height to width ratio of 2:3.
V = 8Mp/L
H= 6 Mp/L
Where:
[The experiment has stated aims and objectives. What conclusions were drawn in
relation to those aims? What other conclusions were drawn from the experiment]