BEAM DEFLECTION APPARATUS

The apparatus has been designed to enable students to carry out experiments on simply
supported and cantilever beams in order to investigate:—

 The relationship between the deflections and the applied loads.

 The effect of variations in length and cross sectional dimensions on the beam compliance.
i.e:— Deflections per unit load.

Cantilever Beam with End Point Load

To investigate, for a cantilever beam carrying an end point load,
 The relationships between the deflections and the applied loads.
 The effect of variations in length and cross sectional dimensions on the beam
compliance.

For this arrangement, it can be shown that the deflection under the load, i.e Maximum
Deflection

Carry out load /deflection tests, for beams of the same material as follows:—

Test (i) l = 600mm b = 25.4mm d = 6.4mm

Test (ii) l = 500mm b = 25.4mm d = 6.4mm

Test (iii) l = 400mm b = 25.4mm d = 3.2mm

Test (iv) l = 400mm b = 25.4mm d = 6.4mm

Observations
Apply load gently and note the readings as mentioned in the table

Test No. Load Applied Deflection (experimental) Deflection (Theo.)

II

III

Iv

Compare the experimental and theoretical results in the comments.

Graph
Plot Load Vs. Deflection EXP on the same graph in excel and include 4 series in the excel sheets that
shows the

 Effect of decreasing l compare tests (i) and (ii)

 For the effect of increasing cross section compare tests (iii) and (iv)

Comments