Design and manufacturing of compact trusses

TARP
MEE399

Project report

School of mechanical engineering(SMEC)

April 2020

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Idea:
The main idea behind this project is to build a truss which can be
ready to use anywhere during natural calamities, This is a foldable
truss which is activated by a pneumatic compressor

Project Members:

KOPPAKA ABHIRAM-17BME1170
ACHIMSETTY PAVANSAI-17BME1162
REDDY RAJESH-17BME1004
CHAKKA ANURAGHAVA-17BME1236
NAVEEN SAI REDDY-17BME1177
DEEPAK POLEMONI-17BME1223
VENKATA BALA SUBHRAMANYAM-17BME1152
PUNNETH CHOWDARY-17BME1237
KRISHNA REDDY-17BME1262

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List of contents
S.no Title Pg No.
1 Abstract 3
2 Introduction 5
3 Design 6
3.1 dimensions
4 Parts 8
4.1 deck
4.2 link
4.3 deck shaft
4.4 pneumatic
cylinder

5 Kutzbach equation 10
6 Stress analysis 11
7 Conclusion 13

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1.Abstract
This truss is a portable bridge that can be deployed during
emergency state to access remote areas that are affected by disaster
such as flood. The objective of this research is to design a
collapsible scissor bridge which is able to be transported by a 4x4
vehicle and to be deployed to connect remote areas. The design is done
by using Solid works. There are five major components of the scissor
structure; pin, deck, cross shaft and deck shaft. The structure is
controlled by pneumatic piston.

The main purpose of the bridge to transport people from one end to
the other end during disaster times such as floods and cyclones. The
bridge is intended to be deployed during chaotic situations.
Nevertheless, the structure made is heavy and complex and will
take about one hour to assemble the components. This bridge is
able to operate with a minimum amount of force to expand and
retract. With a force in the horizontal direction of the link, it provides
a collateral force to the other link and expands the bridge. The motion
of the structure must satisfy Kutzbach equation or criterion by
determining the degree of freedom of the mechanism.

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2.Introduction
Flood is the most common disaster in India , The Uttarakhand floods
has caused a major damage to the state. During the time of floods
transportation is the major problem, This project objectives are to
design a light weight bridge, to simulate its motion and to assess its
structural strength. The mechanism of the bridge must satisfy
Kutzbach equation which produces two degree of motion with
specific number of links and joints.
This bridge is able to operate with a minimum amount of force to
expand and retract. With a force in the horizontal direction of the
link, it provides a collateral force to the other link and expands the
bridge. The motion of the structure must satisfy Kutzbach equation or
criterion by determining the degree of freedom of the mechanism.
This is done by obtaining the number of links and number and types
of joints that is included in the system as a whole

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3.Design
The whole assembly mainly consists of four main parts. Deck, cross shaft,
support pin, Link, deck shaft and most of the load is carried out by the links up
to 40% and hence it is considered as the main component of the bridge. The
deck serves as the pathway as the transportation is done through the deck and
the decks are connected through the deck shaft. The design of the deck is done
by interlocking method by putting multiple decks together by connecting the
deck shaft. The cross shaft helps in holding the links together and provides
angular moment to the links. The cross shaft is in the shape of a cylindrical
bar.

Design of the assembly

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3.1 Dimensions of the assembly:
Component Function Dimension Material
Link • Structural support Length:3312mm A36 steel
Hole dia:80mm
Cross shaft • Structural support Length:2440mm A36 steel
• Provide angular Dia:80mm
momentum

Deck • Used as a platform Length:2200mm A36 steel

Width:2340mm
Hole diameter:80mm

pin • Minor structural Length:120mm A36 steel

support Diameter:80mm

Deck shaft • Structural support Length:2440mm A36 steel

• Support deck Dia:80mm
placement

3.2 Properties of A36 steel:

Ultimate tensile strength- 400-550MPA
Yield strength- 250MPA
Modulus of elasticity -200Gpa
Poissons Ratio- 0.260

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4.parts
4.1 Deck:
Deck is the main component in the truss as the truss is divided into 6 decks
and each deck is assembled with a deck shaft

As you can see in the above picture there two cylinders on the either side too
allow the shaft to penetrate and helps in joining of two decks

4.2 Link:
Link is the one which bears the maximum amount of load of the truss

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4.3 Deck shaft:
It used for joining two decks

4.4 Pneumatic cylinder:

The Pneumatic cylinders are placed on the either of the beginning of the truss,
These cylinders use the power of compressed gas to produce a force in a
reciprocating linear motion like, something forces a piston to move in the
desired direction. The piston is a disc or cylinder, and the piston rod transfers
the force it develops to the object to be moved. The pneumatic cylinders are
directly connected to the set of kinematic links and a compressor is used to
apply force on the pistons which can be operated by a person. When the
compressed air is sent to the pneumatic cylinder, the piston inside the cylinder
gets pressurize and move forward and the cylinders are connected on either
side of the kinematic links and force will be equally distributed on the links
which makes the bridge or links to expand to the side.

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5.Kutzbach equation:
It is important to determine the degree of freedom of a design or mechanism
to ensure the movability. This is done by determining the number of links
and joints included in the system. In this case, taking one set of the scissor
structure should suffice to prove that the degree of freedom is two; in
horizontal and vertical motion of the structure
n = 3(l-1) – 2j - h

Where, n = number of degree of freedom, l = total number of

links, j = total number of primary joints and h = total number of
higher-order joints.
By extracting one set of the structure, the number of links is l = 5, the
number of primary joints is j = 5, and the number of higher-order joints is
h = 0. By applying Eq.(7), the number of motion or degree of freedom
is n = 2. Thus, it proved that the design mechanism is workable and
able to produce two kind motions which are vertically and
horizontally.

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6.Stress Analysis
The forces applied to the structure which in total of 210070 N. These
forces are assumed to be the forces that will be exerted by the 2.6 unit of
4x4 pick-up truck during its operation. In this simulation, both of the end
of the structure is set to be the fixed support.

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The total deformation of the scissor structure after load of 210070 N is applied
to the middle section (red contour). The maximum deformation is 26.334 mm.
This shows that when the targeted load which is the typical 4x4 pick-up truck
passes by, the structure is able to withstand the force exerted. Take note that
the load applied is the gross weight of the truck which means it is inclusive of
the weight of the vehicle with its cargo on the back side.

Von mesis stress

These values are used to obtain the safety factor of this bridge by using the . In
this case, yield stress is provided by the properties of A36 structural steel which
is 250 MPa. By using the value from equivalent stress (vonmises) which is
149.48 MPa r, the factor of safety is obtained. From equivalent stress, the
safety factor is 1.672. These values support that the structure is able to

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withstand the load of 210070 N and to clarify this value, the load value used is
a summation of the total weight of the structure

7.Conclusion:
This design is not used for continuous purpose and only be used for use
and throw.
Design of the structure are based on the literature reviews and cited
studies from other research papers supported with structure analysis in
results and discussion section. The structure able to satisfy Kutzbach
equation and has satisfactory safety factor. The fluid analysis on the
structure caused by wind can also be a potential area to analyse to
ensure that the structure design is more robust.

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