UNIV ERSITI

TEKNOLOGI
MARA

CES511 – STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING LABORATORY

KAMPUS PULAU PINANG

CES511 –STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING LABORATORY

LAB EXPERIMENT: INSTABILITY OF STRUT(CO2:PO5)
SEMESTER : OCT - FEB 2021 DATE OF LAB : 8 NOVEMBER 2020
GROUP : PEC221 5D LAB LEVEL OEL : 1
LECTURER : MADAM NOOR SYAFEEKHA BINTI MOHAMAD SAKDUN
CO2: Orga nize laboratory work on s tructural elements and materials.
PO5: Abi lity to utilize appropriate techniques, resources a nd modern engineering a nd IT tools i n predicting a nd modelling
of complex ci vil engineering problems with an understanding of the limitations.

CRITERIA
NO STUDENT ID NAME
1 2 3 4 TOTAL
1. 2019653678 NUR BATRISYIA BINTI MOHAMAD BASARI
2. 2019695342 NUR IFFA FARIZA BINTI ISMAIL
3. 2019848594 LAYLA SALIKIN BINTI CHE ROSMIN
4. 2019455512 MUHAMMAD DARWISH BIN ZULKIFLI
5. 2019814318 MUHAMMAD IZZUDDIN BIN MOHD

PSYCHOMOTOR PERFORMANCE RUBRIC

PERFOR MA N CE
SCALE
NO. CRITERIA
Developing Functional Proficient Advanced
0 1 2 3 4 5
Independently
Often requires Generally able to designed / identified
Has a very low ability to Independently
Ability to design and Unable to design/ instructor to design / design / identify basic the idea / task of the
design/ identify the designed / identified
conducted a identify the basic idea / identify basic idea / idea / task of the experiment with
basic idea / task of the idea / task of the
1 research- based task of the experiment. task of the experiment. experiment. additional supporting
experiment. experiment.
experiment (P1-P2) references.
Helps are required to Helps are required with Able to conduct the
Helps are required to Able to conduct a
conduct the whole refinement in several experiment with Show an outstanding
conduct the whole research-based
experiment. major details and minimal guide from ability in conducting
experiment. experiment.
conduct the experiment. the instructor. research-based
experiment.
Successfully
Cannot complete tasks Low ability to complete Successfully complete Successfully complete Successfully complete Successfully complete
2 performs
and standard tasks and standard experiment procedures experiment procedures experiment experiment
experiment without with moderate with minimal
procedures. procedures. independently. independently.
guidance based on supervision. supervision.
level of
Openness
(P3-P4)

Ability to All of the results have

manipulate the data Incorrect Incomplete Minimal with 1 Almost all of the All of the results have
been interpreted
leading to findings interpretation of interpretation of trends sentence describing the results have been been correctly
correctly, with sufficient
trends and comparison and comparison of data main finding of the correctly interpreted interpreted, with only 1
3 (P5-P6) support of important
of data indicating a indicating a lack of experiment. but without sufficient sufficient support of
trends or data
lack of understanding understanding of support of important important trends or
comparisons
of results. results. trends or data data comparisons.
comparisons.
Ability to adapt the Show excellent
obtained result with Failed to show any No ability to adapt the Show effort to give Display effort to Display effort to
idea at all result with any suitable reasonable justification understand the understand the finding understanding between
logical justification
justification. but incorrect finding with major with minimum flawed the results to adapt
4 (P5-P6)
flawed interpretation interpretation with logical justification

Instruction to Students
1. Two (2) weeks duration is given for each lab report submission.
2. Any plagiarism found or not properly cited, the group will be penalized and marks will be deducted.
Table of Content

1.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 2

2.0 Problem Statement..................................................................................................................... 3

3.0 Objectives .................................................................................................................................. 3

4.0 Materials & Apparatus .............................................................................................................. 3

5.0 Procedure ................................................................................................................................... 3

6.0 Result Analysis .......................................................................................................................... 5

7.0 Discussion ............................................................................................................................... 11

8.0 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 12

9.0 Reference ................................................................................................................................. 12

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Buckling is characterized by a sudden failure of a member subjected to axial
compression, where the actual axial load at the point of failure is less than the ultimate
axial load that the material is capable of withstanding. Hence, buckling is instability
due to loss of the member’s load-carrying capacity. In 1757, mathematician Leonhard
Euler derived a formula that gives the maximum axial load or buckling load that an
ideal long (slender) column can carry without buckling. The theoretical buckling load,
P theory for buckling of struts is given by the following Euler formula:

Figure 1.0 : Formula of Euler Buckling Load

with different end conditions.

If compressive load is applied on a column, the member may fail either by

crushing or by buckling depending on its material, cross section and length. If
member is considerably long in comparison to its lateral dimensions it will fail by
buckling. If a member shows signs of buckling the member leads to failure with small
increase in load. The load at which the member just buckles is called as crushing load.

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2.0 OBJECTIVE
To determine the buckling load for a strut.

3.0 PROBLEM STATEMENT

Column is a slender member. It tends to fail due to buckling behavior instead of material itself.
Therefore, it is important to determine the buckling load of column so that can serve its primary
function.

4,0 APPARATUS
1.Specimen (steel,brass & aluminium)
2.Ruler
3.Vernier Caliper
4. Buckling of strut equipment

5.0 PROCEDURE
1. A specimen was chosen and its length, width and thickness were measured. AN average
readings were recorded.

2. The theoretical buckling load for strut with pinned end condition was calculated. This
was to ensure that the load applied to the strut does not exceed the buckling load.

3. The knife edge support was placed into the slot of the attachment for the end conditions.
Appendix was referred for proper installation of the knife edged.

4. The top platen was moved upwards and downwards to bring the distance between the two
knife edges closer to the length of the strut.

5. The reading on the digital indicator was noted. F1 was pressed until the 'tare' is displayed
if it is not zero.

6. The specimen was placed on the lower knife edge.

7. The jack was adjusted so that the knife edge just rest in the groove of the other end of the
sample. The screw jack was turned counter clockwise if the distance between the two

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 knife edges is slightly less than the length of the strut. The screw jack handle was turned
clockwise if the distance between the two knife edges is slightly greater than the length of
the strut.

8. The reading on the digital indicator was noted. The jack handle was turned counter
clockwise if the compressive load less than 20N to bring the compressive load less than
20N.

9. The position of the dial gauge was checked to ensure that it is at the mid length of the
specimen.

10. F1 was pressed until the 'tare' word was displayed.

11. The specimen was loaded at suitable increments by turning the screw jackhandle slowly
in the clockwise direction.

12. The load was increased, the load and corresponding mid-span deflection was recorded for
each load increment.

13. The specimen was unloaded by turning the jack handle in the counter clockwise
direction.

14. The experiment was carried out for pinned-pinned, pinned-fixed and fixed-fixed
boundary condition.

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6.0 Result & Analysis

Length of specimen = 0.60 m

Width of specimen = 0.025 m
Thickness of specimen = 0.0035 m
Modulus of Elasticity, E = 70 GPa
Dial gauge reading, 1 div = 0.01mm

Table 6.1 : Data for Aluminium (fixed - fixed support)

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 Graph Deflection Vs Deflection/Load
6

5
Deflection (mm)

3 y = mx + c
m = slope
2
c = intercept
1
y = 97.932x - 0.1764
0
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06
-1

Defl/Load (mm/N)

Graph 6.1 : Aluminium (fixed - fixed support) graph

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 Table 6.2 : Data for Aluminium (fixed - pinned support)

Graph Deflection Vs Deflection/Load

18
16
14
Deflection (mm)

12
10
y = mx+c
8 m = slope
6 c = intercept
4
y = 94.065x - 1.3016
2
0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25
-2

Defl/Load (mm/N)

Graph 6.2 : Aluminium (fixed - pinned support) graph

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 Table 6.3 : Data for Aluminium (pinned - pinned support)

Graph Deflection Vs Deflection/Load

12

10
Deflection (mm)

6 y = mx + c
m = slope
4
c = intercept
2
y = 98.562x - 0.3306
0
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.12
-2

Defl/Load (mm/N)

Graph 6.3 : Aluminium (pinned - pinned support) graph

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Table 6.4 : Buckling load for the specimen
Buckling Load (N)

Boundary Condition Experimental Value Theoretical Value

(slope line) (Euler formula)

Fixed - fixed support 97.932 685.68

Fixed - pinned support 94.065 349.83
Pinned - pinned support 98.562 171.42

Table 6.5 : Theoretical Value

Boundary Condition k
Fixed - fixed support 0.5
Fixed - pinned support 0.7
Pinned - pinned support 1

Calculation :
bd 3
Moment of Inertia, I 
12
(25)(3.5) 3

12
 89.323 mm 4

1. Fixed-fixed Support
π 2 EI
Buckling Load, P 
(kL) 2
(π 2 )(70  10 3 )(89.323)

(0.5  600) 2
 685.68 N

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2. Pinned-fixed Support

π 2 EI
Buckling Load, P 
(kL) 2
(π 2 )(70  10 3 )(89.323)
 2
π EI(0.7  600)
2
Buckling Load, P 
 349.83
(kL) 2 N
(π 2 )(70  10 3 )(89.323)

(0.7  600) 2
 349.83
π 2 EI N
Buckling Load, P 
(kL) 2
3. Pinned-pinned Support
(π 2 )(70  10 3 )(89.323)
 2
π EI (1  600)
2
Buckling Load, P 
 171.42
(kL) 2 N
(π 2 )(70  10 3 )(89.323)

(1  600) 2
 171.42 N

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7.0 DISCUSSION
Euler’s theory states that the critical force is inversely proportional to effective length and
also directly proportional to the initial moment, Young’s Modulus. The Young’s Modulus that
has been taken is 70GPa for aluminium steel. Buckling is a failure mode which occur in long
slender structural members, before a plastic deformation such as yielding or crushing can
happen. Buckling occur depends on material of column, the type of end-support and the cross
sectional area of column. This experiment is compared the buckling of column between the type
of end support.
For experimental value, the pinned-pinned support where the effective length 1L show
the higher value of buckling in the result which is 98.932N. Meanwhile, after calculating the
buckling, the result show the fixed-fixed support where effective length is 0.5L show higher
value which is 685.68N. This show that the failure of fixed-fixed support will occur at higher
value.
For experimental value for pinned-pinned support is 98.562N higher than fixed-pinned
support. It show that the column if fixed-pinned support will be occur failure at lower value than
fixed-fixed support and pinned-pinned support. Meanwhile, fixed-pinned support had higher
value of buckling than pinned-pinned support. Meaning that failure will occur at lower value of
pinned-pinned support. Therefore, fixed-fixed support is more durable and can withstand higher
compressive load.
From graph plotting deflection versus deflection/load, a best fit line is draw to get the
slope of graph. The slope is represent the experimental value of buckling load. By looking at the
data collected, the theoretical value of buckling is higher than the experimental value. This is due
to the material imperfection. It is important to determine buckling load in column because of to
determine maximum load a column can support before it collapses.

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8.0 CONCLUSION
Based on the data collected, we can conclude that we achieved the objective for this experiment.
From the theoretical value, it showed that the fixed-fixed support have the highest buckling load
which is 685.68N, follow with pinned-fixed support which is 349.83N and pinned-pinned
support which is 171.42N. This prove that the fixed-fixed support is the strongest among them
and can withstand with highest amount of load compare to others. So, we should prioritize fixed-
fixed support in order to design column structure which is has a greater load to avoid buckling.
However, size of cross section and length of strut also important because based on Euler’s
Theory of Column Buckling, it said that buckling will likely happen if the length of the column
is greater compare to the size of its cross section. Based on our opinion, after went through the
experiment, it is important to determine the buckling load in column design because we can
determine the critical load of the column so that the column failure can be detect and can lower
the column failure in design.

9.0 REFERENCE
1. 1. https://civildigital.com/buckling-columns-euler-theory-elastic-buckling/
2. https://www.ukessays.com/essays/engineering/buckling-experiments-laboratory-report-
8868.php?vref=1
3. Open-Ended Manual for Structural Engineering Laboratory
(ver 1.0 Instruction for Student),Universiti Teknologi Mara Pulau Pinang
4. Fundamentals of Structural Analysis,M.K.Pant,Second Edition 2014

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