PUSAT PENGAJIAN KEJURUTERAAN AWAM LABORATORY MANUAL SEMESTER

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA, PULAU PINANG MARCH - JULY 2023

COURSE CODE : CES511

COURSE : STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING LABORATORY
LEVEL OF OPENNESS : 1
CATEGORY : PARTIALLY OPEN
DEGREE OF OPEN ENDED (%) : 33%
PERIOD ACTIVITY : 2 WEEKS
EXPERIMENT NAME : THREE HINGED ARCH (CO1:PO2)

INTRODUCTION
An arch may be looked upon as a curved girder, either a solid rib or braced, supported at its ends
and carrying transverse loads which are frequently vertical. Since the transverse loading at any
section normal to the axis of the girder is at an angle to the normal face, an arch is subjected to three
restraining forces: thrust, shear force and bending moment. Depending upon the number of hinges,
arches may be divided into four classes which is three hinged arch, two hinged arch, single hinged
arch and fixed arch (hingeless arch). A typical three-hinged arch is shown in Figure 1. A three hinged
arch is statically determinate structures while the rest three arches are statically indeterminate. In
bridge construction, especially in railroad bridges, the more used arches are two-hinged and the
fixed end one.

PREAMBLE

Figure 1: Three-hinged Arch

The horizontal thrust is given by :

𝑯𝑨 = 𝑾𝒌𝑳 /(𝟐𝒉)

Where;

𝑊 = applied load
𝐿 = length of span
ℎ = height of arch
𝑘𝐿 = distance from support to point load
 PUSAT PENGAJIAN KEJURUTERAAN AWAM LABORATORY MANUAL SEMESTER
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA, PULAU PINANG MARCH - JULY 2023

OBJECTIVES
To study three-hinged arch for the horizontal thrust of the roller end for a given system of loading
and to compare the same with those obtained analytically.

LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the experiment, students should be able to:
1. determine the relationship between applied load and the horizontal thrust at the support of
a three-hinged parabolic arch.
2. analyze three-hinged arch for external loading.
3. compute horizontal reaction in three-hinged arch.
4. realize the application of the three-hinged arch in structure engineering.

In the case of three-hinged arch, we have three hinges: two at the support and one at the crown
thus making it statically determinate structure. There are four reaction components in the three-
PROBLEM hinged arch. One more equation is required in addition to three equations of static equilibrium for
STATEMENT evaluating the four reaction components. Taking moment about the hinge of all the forces acting on
either side of the hinge can set up the required equation.

EQUIPMENT

WAYS &
MEAN

Figure 2: Three-hinged Arch Apparatus

 PUSAT PENGAJIAN KEJURUTERAAN AWAM LABORATORY MANUAL SEMESTER
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA, PULAU PINANG MARCH - JULY 2023

PROCEDURES

1. Fix the simple support and the roller support to the support frame at a distance equals to the
span of the arch i.e. 1000 mm.
2. The roller support must be anchored such that the pulley is located on the inside of the arch.
3. Take the wire rope at the roller end of the arch and pass it over the pulley attached to the
roller support.
4. Place a load hanger at the end of the wire rope and at a selected location of the arch.
5. Offset the dead load by placing sufficient load on the load hanger at the end of the wire rope
so that the arch is level. (Horizontal thrust due to dead load is approximately 12 N)
6. Place a load on the load hanger at the selected location of the arch.
7. Add sufficient loads on the load hanger at the end of the wire rope to level the arch.
8. Record the magnitude of the applied load and the load at the roller support
9. Increase the applied load and repeat step 6 to 9.
10. Repeat the above experiment for another two tests to obtain average reading of the measured
values.

DATA ACQUISITION

Refer Appendix 1

DATA INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS

Each group is required to prepare the experimental report based on the data collected:
1. An introduction of the theoretical background regarding the fundamental knowledge of the
experiment.
2. All readings and data from the experiment should be converted to appropriate units and
tabulated accordingly.
3. List of collected data and sample calculation/plot of graph.
4. Include all the analysis and calculation of the needed answer.

REPORT
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

1. Derive the horizontal thrust at the pinned support for the three-hinged arch in terms of the
applied loading, span and height of the crown.
2. Based on the data collected, purpose the suitable way to plot the graph of thrust for the
experimental and theoretical case.
3. How do you check the accuracy of experimental result with respect to theoretical values?
4. From the results above state the relationship between the horizontal thrust at the support and
the applied load.

REFERENCE Include list of references at the end of your report.

 PUSAT PENGAJIAN KEJURUTERAAN AWAM LABORATORY MANUAL SEMESTER
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA, PULAU PINANG MARCH - JULY 2023

Appendix 1 : Results

Span of arch = mm

Thickness of the arch = mm

Width of the arch = mm

Height of the arch = mm

Distance of the load from the pinned
= mm
support

Table 1
Load, W Horizontal Thrust (N)
Experimental Theoretical
Test 1 Test 2 Average