B57EB2-1ED-LU

HERIOT WATT UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING & PHYSICAL SCIENCES

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BENG IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

MENG IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
BENG MECHANICAL ENGINEERING AND ENERGY ENGINEERING
MENG MECHANICAL ENGINEERING AND ENERGY ENGINEERING
BENG AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING
BENG ROBOTICS & CYBERTRONICS
MENG ROBOTICS & CYBERTRONICS

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1st YEAR

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING SCIENCE 2

B57EB2

Wednesday, 09 May 2012

09:30 – 11:30
JWC2

Answer ALL Questions in Section A & B

Total of 4 Questions

New Calculator Policy Guidelines:

Where a calculator is required for the completion of an examination, students
may use any basic scientific calculator, except the following: graphics
calculator, programmable calculator and a calculator which features text
storage or retrieval facilities.
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SECTION A

Q1. Cars A and B are travelling at vA=116 km/hr and vB=108 km/hr respectively
when the driver of Car B applies the brakes abruptly causing the car to slide to
a stop, see Figure Q1. Take the coefficient of friction for the road to be 0.8.

(a) Convert the speeds vA and vB to S.I. units. (2 marks)

(b) Modelling the car as a sliding box draw a free body diagram for Car B
during the slide. (3 marks)

(c) Calculate the deceleration of Car B and determine the distance required
to come to a halt. (7 marks)

(d) Suppose the driver of Car A takes 1.5 seconds to react to the situation
and applies his brakes causing Car A to slide as well. Given Car A has
the same deceleration as Car B calculate the minimum distance, d
between A and B at the time Car B starts sliding, to avoid a car crash.
(13 marks)

Car A Car B
vA vB

Figure Q1

Q2. Cont’d…/
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Q2. An amusement ride in a fairground is depicted in the figure below. While

rotating at a constant angular velocity, ω the cables make an angle of 40odeg to
the vertical.

(a) Draw a free body diagram for one of the riders. (3 marks)

(b) Treating the riders as point masses calculate the angular velocity, ω.
(9 marks)

(c) Suppose a family takes the ride where the masses of the members of the
family are A=80 kg, B=60 kg, C=45 kg and D=35 kg, see the figure below.
Calculate the unbalance of the system. (10 marks)

(d) Calculate the magnitude of the centripetal force for the system. (3 marks)

Side View

L=8m

B Plan View

C A

Figure Q2

Q3. Section B Con’d…/

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SECTION B

Q3 (a) Explain the difference between strength and toughness for engineering
materials. In your answer, you should indicate how yield strength (σ y) and
fracture toughness (KIc) are measured. (4 marks)

A new material from the table below is being sought for an anti-roll bar in
a car. The bar is of circular cross-section, is of fixed length and can
experience tensile loads of up to 0.6MN.

Alloy KIc y Relative price per

(MPa√m) (MPa) 3
(kg/m ) unit mass
High Strength Steel 95 1310 7850 450
Magnesium alloy 15 270 1750 1000
Titanium Alloy 65 980 4400 10000
Aluminium Alloy 28 630 2600 550

You may use one or more of the following equations for a through-
thickness edge-crack to answer this question:

(b) By considering yield in tension as one possible failure mode and fracture
from a 1.0 mm deep edge-crack as a second possible failure mode, find
the maximum allowable stress for each of the alloys listed in the table
below. State the failure mode in each case. (8 marks)

(c) Using your result from (b), obtain values of the required diameter of bar
for each of the alloys. (8 marks)

(d) Find the material which can achieve the design criterion at the minimum
cost. State your assumptions and show calculations. (5 marks)

Q4. Cont’d…/
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Q4. A loaded frame is shown in Figure Q4. Point loads are applied to AB at D
(2400N) and E (1200N).

The member BC is a circular rod and makes an angle of 50 o to the horizontal.

The pin at A is in Double Shear and the pin at B is in Single Shear. Both pins
can be considered as free to rotate.
The pins at A and B are made from an alloy with a Yield Stress y = 180 MPa.
The circular rod BC is made from an alloy with a Yield Stress y = 220 MPa

(a) Draw a Free Body Diagram of the member AB. (5 marks)

(b) Using a safety factor of 2 for the pins at A and B and a safety factor of 4
for the circular rod BC determine to the nearest mm the smallest
diameters of pins A and B and the smallest diameter of the circular rod CB
required to support the point loads shown in Figure Q4. (20 marks)

1200 N 1000 N
C

D E 50o

A B
2.0 m 1.0 m 1.5 m

Pin at A – Double shear

Pin at B – Single shear

Figure Q4

END OF PAPER