Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering

ME 115
Lab 2: Elastic Behavior of Cantilevered Beam
February 14, 2023
Group 38

Table of Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 1
Results and Analysis ..................................................................................................................................... 2
Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................... 6
References ..................................................................................................................................................... 7
Abstract
A Report on the elastic behavior of a cantilevered beam is focused on conducting numerical
experiments and calculations in order to investigate elastic behavior in various shapes and
materials. The purpose of this lab is to utilize investigative and problem analysis skills in order to
create a clear and professional document. The contents include the group’s findings regarding
comparisons between the use of finite elements analysis and formula calculations to determine
elastic behavior of various materials based on the deflection values. Initially, research was
conducted regarding the size of cantilever beams as well as various elastic moduli. The three
shapes of triangular, wide rectangular and thin rectangular prism were chosen as the shapes to be
tested. The three shapes were then modelled in SolidWorks and finite element analysis was
applied with various common materials. The deflection values were then recorded and compared
with the calculated values. Important numerical values found in the lab were the difference in the
calculated versus the SolidWorks generated deflection values. These include a difference of
0.17631711 mm for steel 304, 0.172375436 mm for steel 316L, 0.039272461 mm for 6061
aluminum and 1.708671739 mm for oak. In conclusion, the finite elements analysis proved to be
quite effective when measuring the deflection values for metals, as the difference in the two
values for steel and aluminum were within a millimeter. Whereas the software fares worse with
wood, as the difference in the deflection of oak is quite substantial at almost a 2 mm difference.
These deflection values demonstrate that steel bends the least under a force, closely followed by
aluminum, with oak bending significantly more. Overall, the finite element analysis proves to be
a convenient and reliable method to determine deflection values that aid in determining the
elastic behavior in various materials.

1: Introduction
The elastic behaviors of beams can be determined by observing the deflection values of the beam
when a force is applied near the edge opposite to the fixed side. This can be done through a
process called Finite Elements Analysis (FEA). FEA is a digital process which involves a
computer solving numerous equations by breaking a large system into smaller parts, or finite
elements [1]. Partial differential equations are solved in order to compute relevant quantities of a
structure [1]. In engineering mechanics, it is common to use FEA in order to compute stresses
and strains on an object [1]. This allows the computer to determine the deflection value. These
calculations can also be done by hand with a set of equations. Figure 1 illustrates this equation,
where y is the deflection of the beam, F is the force applied, l is the length of the beam, and E is
the modulus of elasticity, or the young’s modulus.

Figure 1: Equations to calculate deflection

The young’s modulus is essentially the ratio between stress and strain, with each material
possessing a different young’s modulus [2]. The I in the equation is the second moment of area.
Where w is the beam width and it’s the thickness. These equations can calculate the deflection as
well. The scope of this report is to determine the elastic behavior of beams of various shapes and
materials using deflection values obtained via FEA using SolidWorks or calculations using
formulas.

2: Results and Analysis

The investigation aims to explore the effects of various materials, and the cross-section geometry
on the maximum deflection value by creating a finite element model of a Cantilever Beam.
Cantilevered beams are beams that are supported at only one end and free to move on the vertical
axis dependent on the magnitude of load.
The simulation function in SolidWorks can be used to model the effect of the load onto the
beam. To create a simulation of a cantilever beam, we must first create a three-dimensional
model of a beam. The first step is to create a sketch of the cross section with the required
measurements, for example the triangular prism beam requires the sketch of a triangle. The
sketch is then extended into a three-dimensional object through the Boss-Extrude/Base function.
The volume of beam was a constant 0.1 m3 across all beam structures. Then the simulation tab
was used to create a static study, where one end of the beam was fixed using fixed geometry tool.
A triangular mesh was created with the parameter of 30mm and a constant force of 2000
Newtons was added to the end of the beam to model the load.
Studying the effect various materials have on the maximum deflection
The study of the effect of various materials on the maximum deflection involved changing the
material through the edit material function. SolidWorks has a built-in library of popular materials
like 304 steel, 316 steel, 6061 aluminum which incorporates the necessary material properties
like the Young’s modulus. Oak wood was a material that was custom made through the edit
material window, where oak can be located in the “woods” library where we must add a material,
this will open a new window where we can enter the properties of wood.[3] The study was
performed on a rectangular beam where the length was 2m, the width is 0.5m and the thickness
is 0.1m. These values were held constant throughout the simulation and were used to produce the
calculated value. The following table represents experimental data collected using SolidWorks.

Material Simulated Value (mm) Calculated Value(mm) Percent error (%)

304 Steel 0.497365 0.67368211 26.27%

316 Steel 0.490837 0.663212436 25.99%

6061 Aluminum 1.8158 1.855072464 2.11%

Oak 22.0905 23.79917174 7.17%

Table 1: Study modelling the effect of material type on maximum deflection

The material with the largest maximum deflection was Oak wood and the material with the
smallest maximum deflection value was 316 Steel, this relationship can be seen as oak wood has
the lowest modulus of elasticity at 7.86e9 Pa and 316 Steel has the highest modulus of elasticity
at 1.93e11 Pa. The largest percent error was produced by 304 steel and the lowest percent error
was provided by 6061 Aluminum.
Study of the effect of the cross-sectional beam geometry on the maximum deflection
The second parameter that was varied was the cross-sectional beam geometry of the cantilever
beam. The cross-sectional geometry changes the distribution of force across the shape of the
beam, reflecting the difference in the maximum deflection values. The base of this study was the
wide rectangular beam with the length of two meters, the width of 0.5 meters and the thickness
of 0.1 meter. The figure bellow demonstrated the beam structure as well as the deformed result.

Figure 2: Wide rectangular beam geometry and deformed maximum displacement (NTS)

The distribution of force is well modelled by the gradient scale, where the blue at the fixtures
shows the least amount of displacement from the original position and the red shows the
maximum displacement of 0.497365mm. The nature of the force that is used is equally
distributed on the edge of the rectangular beam and as such it is uniform across the width of the
beam at all points, this illustrated the significance of cantilever beam width. A larger beam width
allows for better distribution of force along its direction, this can be significant in bridge design
when considering the various distribution of load on the axis of the beam. Figure 3 shows a thin
rectangular beam and its effects on the maximum displacement.

Figure 3: Thin rectangular beam geometry and deformed maximum displacement (NTS)
The thin rectangular beam models the significance of the thickness of a beam. The displacement
on the of the beam in the vertical direction was 0.041295mm which is extremely low. It is
important to not that as the thickness to width ratio of a rectangular beam gets larger the
displacement approaches zero. This is due to the distribution of load over the thickness of the
material. The displacement gradient as modelled by SolidWorks shows a curved gradient which
indicates an ununiform distribution of force throughout the beam, which can lead to greater
points of weakness within the structure of the beam.
The final shape that was explored in the simulation was a triangular beam. The dimensions for
the triangular beam were calculated by using the constant volume of 0.1m3 and the constant
length of two meters. The second moment of area was calculated using the following equation
𝑦𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 = 𝑏ℎ3 [4]

The dimensions chosen for the triangular prism was a length of 2 meters, base of 0.11547005383
and height of 0.1m. The triangle was an equilateral triangle where all sides had the same base
dimension, and all angles were 60° degrees. The following figure illustrates the SolidWorks
model of the beam and the load simulation.

Figure 4: Thin rectangular beam geometry and deformed maximum displacement (NTS)

The maximum displacement of the triangular beam was the highest, with a value of 8.75mm, the
displacement across the beam was well distributed as demonstrated by the gradient with a high
majority of the beam under little to no displacement. The majority of the displacement was
distributed onto the second half of the beam, this is due to the force distribution on a triangular
shape. Force on a triangle is often distributed to the base of the triangle. The base of the triangle
in this case was not supported which led to a large amount of load on the base of the triangle
which is evident by the considerably large displacement of the beam. The difference between a
rectangular shaped beam and a triangular shaped beam are apparent through the trends in
displacement values.
The simulated values in comparison to the calculated values model the error of the simulation.
The error speaks to the accuracy of the simulation. Table 1 compares the simulated values to the
calculated values and evaluated the percent error of the study.
 Shape Simulated Value (mm) Calculated Value (mm) Percent error (%)

Wide Rectangular 0.497365 0.67368211 26.27%

Thin Rectangular 0.041295 0.026947368 34.74%
Triangular Prism 8.7456 8.751414607 0.06644%
Table 2: Study modelling the effect of beam geometry on maximum deflection

The rectangular prisms show the highest percent error with the thin rectangular beam at 34.74%
error and the triangular prism has the least amount of error at 0.067% error. This error sources
from the imperfections within the SolidWorks program and the accuracy of the mesh parameters,
the mesh parameter was chosen to be 30mm which is considerably large in context to the scale of
deflection values.

3: Conclusion
The study found that FEA through SolidWorks is an efficient and quite effective software when
measuring the deflection values for metals, as the difference in the two values for steel and
aluminum were within a millimeter. However, FEA is much less accurate when measuring the
deflection values in oak. The study determined the elastic behaviors for various shapes and
materials of beams. It was found that the thin rectangular beam had the least deflection, followed
closely by the wide rectangular prism, whereas the triangular prism had a much higher deflection
than both. The study found that steel metals such as steel and aluminum had low deflection
values, whereas wood such as oak deflected a great amount under a force. These results indicate
that the shape of which a beam is created is important, as the beam can react differently when
experiencing an applied force. It also illustrates the importance of choosing appropriate materials
for any sort of project, as different materials possess differing elastic behaviors. An optimal
material must be chosen for certain projects as even using the wrong type of metal may impact
the useability and functionality of the project. The overall objectives were achieved, as FEA was
successfully utilized to study the effect of beam geometry and material on the deflection value.
4: References
[1] “What is FEA: Finite element analysis? documentation,” SimScale, 08-Feb-2023. [Online]. Available:
https://www.simscale.com/docs/simwiki/fea-finite-element-analysis/what-is-fea-finite-element-
analysis/. [Accessed: 14-Feb-2023].
[2] Young's Modulus. [Online]. Available:
https://depts.washington.edu/matseed/mse_resources/Webpage/Biomaterials/young's_modulus.htm.
[Accessed: 14-Feb-2023].
[3] moodlemech, [Online]. Available:
http://www.mem50212.com/MDME/MEMmods/MEM30006A/Area_Moment/Area_Moment.html.
[Accessed 14 02 2023]
[4] "METWeb," [Online]. Available:
https://www.matweb.com/search/DataSheet.aspx?MatGUID=ea505704d8d343f2800de42db7b16de
8&ckck=1 [Accessed 4 02 2023].