Practical guide

Strength of Materials III

Year Module (SOM PRA3)

Department of Mechanical and Industrial

Engineering
Compiled by:

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
This practical guide contains important information
about your practical
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1. EXECUTION OF THE EXPERIMENTS

Each experiment presented in this practical guide is performed according the
schedule provided. The order of performance of each experiment is followed
unless specified otherwise by the laboratory instructor. In order that the
laboratory session is conducted in the most meaningful manner possible, it is
imperative that each student read, study and understand the experiment to be
conducted prior to coming to the lab.

Students will be divided into groups to perform the experiment. Each group is
required to work together throughout the practical session. But, each student
must do his or her own analysis and compile individual report. Students must
come to the lab at their registered schedule.

An attendance sheet is circulated and it is the responsibility of the student to

sign it at each lab session. The lab instructor is not expected to remember if the
student attended the practical session. Any student who arrives late (at the
discretion of the instructor) to the laboratory will be deducted 15% on the
laboratory report. Students arriving 30 minutes after the start of the
experiment is considered absent.

1. LABORATORY REPORT
Each student will submit a complete written report covering each experiment
performed. The report is to be individual own work. The report will be written
in the third person, past tense (for procedures executed, data taken and results
obtained), and should be self-sufficient. In other words, the reader should not
need to consult the references in order to understand the report. Correct English
and spelling should be used. The reports are practice for writing technical
reports similar to those, which are required by engineers engaged in industry
and engineering practices.

The report must be typed using a word processor. All pages, equation, figures,
graphs and tables must be numbered. Figures, tables and graphs must have
titles. Thy must be neat and clear.

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2. SPECIFICATIONS
In order to observe the accepted rules of good writing form, the following
specifications for the general makeup of the report are required:

1. Use A4 white paper.

2. Write the report with a word processor.
3. Consistent fonts and presentation for every section of the report.
4. Use one side of the paper only.
5. Create all drawings and figures using computer drawing and plotting
programs. Scanned images are allowed where appropriate.
6. Use the same font font style on drawings and graphs as used in the text.
Graphs axes should be clearly labelled, including units where appropriate.

3. REPORT OUTLINE
1. Title page: must include lab title, date performed, student names,
student number and submitting date.
2. Aim of the practical: state the objective clearly.
3. Apparatus: draw the apparatus used and clearly label it.
4. Procedure: write the procedure in your own words. And it must be
written in the third person, past tense. Note that it is unacceptable to
simply use or copy the procedural instruction from the practical
guide.
5. Data sheet: tabulate the experimental data.
6. Results: answer all questions posed in practical guide. All observed and
calculated data should be tabulated when possible. Heading and
subheadings identifying items of data or sets of data should be used
a) Sample calculations: show a sample of a complete calculation.
b) Graphs: plot graphs using word processor with all the titles.
7. Discussion and conclusion: most important section of the entire
report. It should be a complete discussion of the results obtained. Part
of this discussion should deal with the accuracy of the results.
8. References: publication or other authorities which help explain the
experiment, calculate results, explain errors, draw conclusion etc.,

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should be acknowledged. References should be arranged in

alphabetical order according to the last name of the author, or the last
name of the first-named author for papers with more than one author.
9. Appendices: materials that support the report but are not essential to
the reader’s understanding of it are included here.

4. SUBMISSION
Students must submit their report to the laboratory instructor at stated
date during practical session. Students submitting late reports are not
accepted resulting in a zero mark for the practical.

5. CONTACT PERSON

Mr. M. Pita

Telephone number: (011 471-)

Email: unisa.ac.za

Contact Times

09H00 TO 15H00 (Monday to Friday.)

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EXPERIMENT I TORSION OF A ROD

1. AIM
To understand the principles of torsion testing, interpreting the
experimental results of the provided materials when failed under torsion
and to determine the maximum shearing stress.

2. APPARATUS

3. PROCEDURE
3.1 Setup a fixed chuck support and dial gauge mount in appropriate
positions to allow the clamping of a test specimen in the chuck and
the measurement of the lever displacement, and secure with knobs.
3.2 Place the free chuck support on the frame but do not secure yet.
Clamp the rod test specimen in the fixed chuck and manipulate the
free chuck support to clamp the other end of the test rod. Secure the
free chuck support with knob.
3.3 Assemble the lever on the rod test specimen with the grub screw and
ensure that the lever is horizontally level.
3.4 Position the dial gauge to measure the vertical displacement of the
lever tip.
3.5 Measure the length and the diameter of the rod.
3.6 Measure the diameter of the pulley.
3.7 Measure the length of the lever.

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3.8 Hook one end of the cord in the slot, provided on the load pulley and
wind along the pulley groove.
3.9 Carefully hang the mass hanger onto the other end of the cord.
3.10 Set the dial gauge to zero.
3.11 Place a 100g mass on to the mass hanger and record the mass and
the displacement.
3.12 Repeat the procedure 3.11 by increase the load with the increment
of 100g.

4. CALCULATIONS
4.1 Using the given pulley radius and the weight values, calculate the
torque applied to the specimens.
4.2 Calculate the theoretical angle of twist.
4.3 Calculate the experimental angle of twist for the specimen by using
the dial gauge readings and the lever distance to where the dial gauge
makes contact.
4.4 Calculate the maximum torsional shear stress and compare the
values to the shear stress limits of the material and discuss.

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EXPERIMENT 2 EQUILLIBRUM OF A BEAM

1. AIM
Measure the force on the support of a cantilever under different load
forces at one end of the beam when is in static equilibrium.

2. APPARATUS

3. PROCEDURE

3.1 Setup a spring scale support plate to the far left of the frame

assembly and a digital force support just to the left of the frame
center line. Secure with knobs and zero the load cell reading.
3.2 Connect the spring scale to the hooks provided on the beam

assembly and slide a wire hanger over the other end of the beam.
3.3 Carefully place the beam on the digital force support knife-edge and

ensure that the edge run perpendicular to the beam font face.
Connect the other end of the spring scale to the support plate setup
on the frame struts. Shift the beam left and right to ensure that the
spring scale is perfectly aligned vertically.
3.4 Adjust the knob to extend the spring scale until the beam sits level

and stable without any human interference.

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3.5 Take measurements of position of digital force support, spring

balance and wire hanger.

3.6 Record the reading on the spring scale and digital force support, as

well as spring balance.

3.7 Weigh the mass hanger on wire hanger and record reading on spring

balance and digital force support.

3.8 Adjust the knob again until the beam assembly sits level and stable

without any human interference.

3.9 Repeat step 7 and 8 by increasing the weight on mass hanger by

increment of e.g. 100g .

3.10 Record the reading on spring scale and a digital force support for

every increase of weight on the mass hanger.

4. EXPIREMENTAL DATA

Length of the beam:

Distance from spring balance to digital force support:
Distance from digital force balance to wire hanger :

Weights Digital force support (N) Spring balance (kg)

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5. CALCULATIONS

5.1 Draw a free body diagram of the cantilever beam with load, indicate all
forces and moments acting on the beam.
5.2 Calculate the vertical reaction force at the knife-edge by applying the
equilibrium equation and summing all the vertical forces. Calculate the
vertical reaction force at the knife-edge by applying the equilibrium
equation and summing all the vertical forces.
5.3 Calculate the bending moment at the knife-edge by applying the
equilibrium equation and summing all moments produced by the
various forces acting on the beam.
5.4 Calculate the experimental moment by using the difference in spring
scale readings and the offset of the spring scale hook from the knife-
edge support.
5.5 Compare the calculated vertical reaction force and bending moment to
the experimental values and discuss any discrepancies.

6. CONCLUSION

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EXPERIMENT 3 SHEAR TEST

1. Aim

To determine the shear strength, which is the maximum shear stress that the
material can withstand before failure occurs.

2. Apparatus

Technical data

Specimen diameter = 6.32mm

Specimen length = 56mm

Specimen Material = Electrical Grade Copper

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3. Procedure

3.1 Measure the specimen diameter

3.2 Place the shear anvil and lower shear support with specimen inserted
between the compression plates and remove all slack between the
components.
3.3 Slowly pump the handle of the test unit hand pump.
3.4 Record the force and elongation on the digital gauge.
3.5 Continue to apply force in increments of 1KN and watch the applied
force rise.
3.6 Apply the force until the specimen shears.
3.7 Remove the specimen.

Experimental data

Force (N) Deflection (mm)

4. Calculations

4.1 Calculate and compare the shear strength of the specimen.

4.2 Drawn a graph of Force and shear deflection.

5. Conclusion

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