Description
In part one, three different length plastic I-beams are tested under compression to investigate their method of failure. The way in which a member fails (buckling or not) is determined by its Slenderness Ratio, and this ratio is calculated for each beam. Topics covered also include the Radius of Gyration and the Area Moment of Inertia.
In part two, the critical force is predicted using the Euler Column Equation. When a compressive force is applied to a long straight column, it will elastically compress until a critical force (Fcrit) is reached, and at this point the column will suddenly buckle. The relationship between this critical load and the column material and geometry is called the Euler Column Equation.
Video
PASCO Advantage
PASCO Capstone software has the ability to embed live video from a webcam and sync the Materials Tester data to the recorded video. Then you can play back the video along with the data on the graph, stepping through one frame at a time to see the exact breaking point
Concepts
- Column Buckling of I-Beams
- Slenderness Ratio
- Euler Column Equation
Experiments
What’s Included
- 1x Materials Testing Machine (ME-8236)
- 1x Structures Beam Fixture (ME-8242)
- 1x Truss Set Members (ME-6993)
- 1x Flat Structures Members (ME-6987)
- 1x Thin I-Beams (ME-7012)
- 1x Digital Calipers (SE-8710)
- 1x 550 or 850 Universal Interface or AirLink (Required)
Support Documents
- Materials Structures Beam Adapter Manual
- Materials Testing Machine Manual
- Cross section of beams for structures sets
- Material properties of polymer used for blue beams