LAB REPORT: Structures 2

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LAB REPORT: Structures 2
TITLE: Indeterminate system – Castigliano’s second theorem

 Castigliano claims in his second theorem that the value of the deflection
(displacement) at a point in a structure is equal to the partial
derivative of the internal energy within the structure with respect to a
load (force) that is in the direction of the deflection. So we have for
a load H :
𝜕𝑈
=0
𝜕𝐻
 For our lab session, the objective was to determine the horizontal
reaction at the pin supports of the following structure:

This structure is a square frame. In the lab, we change the value of the load
P placed at mid-span. Each value of P produces a displacement that could be
read by a device that measures small displacements. This device is branched to
a pulley which is the location of the other load: the load that will reset the
displacement at the support(B) to its initial value before the load (P) is the
value of the horizontal reaction H.

We obtained the following values:

  Application of Castigliano’s theorem:
The initial structure is equivalent to the following structure:

H now is a load not a support reaction, and the pin at pin is replaced by a
roller. The bending moment diagram is given by the next figure. We can from
the diagram deduce the values of 𝑀1 (for vertical members) and 𝑀2 (for the
half of the horizontal member):
𝑀1 = −𝐻𝑥1
𝑃
𝑀2 = 𝑥 − 𝐻𝐿
2 2
The application of Castigliano’s theorem for bending moment gives:
𝜕𝑈 𝜕𝑀𝑖 𝑀𝑖
= ∑∫( ) × 𝑑𝑥 = 0
𝜕𝐻 𝜕𝐻 𝐸𝐼
 𝜕𝑀1 𝜕𝑀2
→ = −𝑥1 ; → = −𝐿
𝜕𝐻 𝜕𝐻
𝐿
𝐿
𝜕𝑈 2 2 𝑃
→ = [∫ −𝑥1 (−𝐻𝑥1 )𝑑𝑥1 + ∫ −𝐿 (−𝐻𝐿 + 𝑥2 ) 𝑑𝑥2 = 0
𝜕𝐻 𝐸𝐼 0 0 2

2 𝐻𝑥13 2
𝐿 𝑃𝐿 𝑥22 𝐿
→ [ (𝑥1 = 0 → 𝑥1 = 𝐿) + 𝐻𝐿 𝑥2 (𝑥2 = 0 → 𝑥2 = ) − × (𝑥2 = 0 → 𝑥2 = )] = 0
𝐸𝐼 3 2 2 2 2

𝐻𝐿3 𝐻𝐿3 𝑃𝐿 𝐿2
→ + − × =0
3 2 2 8
→ 𝐻 = 0.075𝑃
Our results: Comparison with the theory
After the application of the experiment, we got values tabulated as follows:

Load H (load that returns the displacement

null at the support)

5 0.83
10 1.5
15 1.8
20 3.2

We could directly see that H ≠ 0.075P in each case. For this purpose, we will
establish a correction coefficient. It should be noted that this coefficient
depends on the special case and special circumstances of the equipment: friction
between support and its base, calibration of the device (for displacement
measurement), etc…
We will draw a curve corresponding to the function:
𝐻𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 = 𝐶𝑟 × 𝐻𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙

Having 𝐻𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 at the vertical axis and 𝐻𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙 at the horizontal axis,
the slope of the curve will be the correction coefficient.
The following table represents 𝐻𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙 and corresponding 𝐻𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 values
(for each load P):

𝐻𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙 0.83 1.5 1.8 3.2

𝐻𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 0.375 0.75 1.125 1.5

Drawing the curve, we have:

 Htheoretical
1.8
1.6 y = 0.4652x + 0.085
1.4
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5

The real curved is represented by the blue continuous curve. The red dashed
curve is a linear interpolation best fitted curve for the points of the table.
The equation for this curve is:
𝐻𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 = 0.4652𝐻𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙 + 0.085

The slope is :𝐶𝑟 ≈ 48 %

For any next experiment now, and for the same conditions, we can obtain
approximately theoretical values by reading at lab, and multiplying obtained
values by 𝐶𝑟 = 48%.