COMPARISON OF BENDING IN BEAMS USING SOLIDWORKS.
INTRODUCTION:
BENDING IN BEAMS: Bending of beams is a frequently encountered loading situation in practice. A slender member subject to traverse loads is termed as a beam under bending. At any cross-section, the traverse loads generate shear and bending moment to maintain equilibrium. The bending causes a change in curvature of the beam and induces tensile and compressive stresses in the cross-section of the beam. Maximum stresses are achieved in layers furthest from the neutral axis, the layer at which strain is zero.
The factor of safety (FOS) = (strength of the beam /stress in the beam due to load).
OBJECTIVE:
To compare the bending performance in beams with different cross-section under bending load using Solidworks,
1) Rectangular-section beam.
2) I - Section beam.
3) C - Section beam.
Dimensions of the beam:
1) Rectangular beam
2) I - Section beam
3) C - section beam
Procedure:
- Design the above sketches with respective dimensions, extrude them to 400mm.
- Under simulation start a new study with static linear or non-linear condition.
- Define boundary conditions and apply the material as alloy steel.
- Now fix one end of the beam assuming cantilever beam.
- Then apply load on the respective end, i.e., a load of 1500N.
- Now apply mesh and run the simulation.
- calculate the factor of safety.
Comparison between properties of different beams:
|
S.No |
Properties of each element |
Rectangular-section beam |
I - Section beam |
C - Section beam |
|
1 |
Maximum stress (Von-mises, Mpa) |
7.265 |
20.45 |
42.34 |
|
2 |
Maximum strain |
2.556e-05 |
7.751e-05 |
1.321e-04 |
|
3 |
Maximum displacement (mm) |
0.03101 |
0.0867 |
0.3295 |
|
4 |
Mass (kg) |
1.44 |
0.31 |
0.40 |
|
5 |
Factor of safety (FOS) |
85.39 |
30.33 |
14.65 |
|
6 |
Yield strength (N/m^2) |
6.204e+08 |
6.204e+08 |
6.204e+08 |
Beam design and plots:
Study-1: Rectangular-section beam
Stress plot:
Strain plot:
Displacement plot:
Study-2: I-section beam
Stress plot:
Strain plot:
Displacement plot:
Study-3: C-section beam
Stress plot:
Strain plot:
Displacement plot:
RESULTS:
From the above plots we can see that,
The value of stress is minimum in the rectangular-section beam (7.265Mpa) and maximum in the C-section beam (42.34Mpa).
The value of strain is maximum in the C-section followed by I-section and minimum in rectangular-section.
The weight of the beam is minimum in I-section (0.31) followed by c-section and maximum in the rectangular-section because of the more material density.
The factor of safety (FOS) of the C-section beam is less, I-section is moderate and rectangular-section is more which means the design of the rectangular beam is not good because of the more material usage and hence more cost.
The strength to weight ratio goes in the following order,
I-section beam > C-section beam > Rectangular beam.
Based on the above factors the I-section beam is the best when compared with the other 2 types.
CONCLUSION:
So, out of the three beams, the I-section beam is the best suited based on its good stress distribution, strength and lightweight.