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Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology

MEE20004 - STRUCTURAL MECHANICS

LAB. 1 - PURE TORSION - 2015 Sem. 2


By writing my name below, I declare this is an individual assignment and no part of this submission
has been copied from any other student's work or from any other source except where due
acknowledgment is explicitly made in the text, nor has any part been written for me by another
person. Refer to Unit of Study Outline for Plagiarism guidelines.

STUDENT NAME & No.: Thilan Rathnayake 100037574


Lab. Date & Time: 18/08/2015 Demonstrator: Reiza Mukhlis
INTRODUCTION:
The aim of this Laboratory is to compare experimental measurements and theoretical calculations
relating to Pure Torsion of circular test specimens. Angle of Twist, , is measured using a
Protractor Scale on a STR6 TORSION TESTING Machine see Fig. 1 below and Fig. 2 on page 3.

PROCEDURE:

[ DEMONSTRATOR : - Ensure is < 00 before tightening chuck jaws .]

STUDENT NOTES :
(i) Measure rod test specimen diameter using Vernier, at three typical locations and record
average value of rod diameter (why average?).
(ii) Slide in test specimen, rotate Chuck Jaws in opposite directions and tighten both Jaws
with key. Check effective length tested, L= 500 mm. Zero Protractor Scale then zero
Force display.
(iii) Rotate test specimen end using Thumbwheel, determine Torque from Digital Force
Display [Moment Arm = 50 mm]. Measure Angular Deflection or Twist, .

Fig. 1 - STR6 TORSION TESTING Machine.


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A. Solid Steel Rod


Measure up
test specimen :

Measured Diameter (mm)


3.12
3.11
3.11

Average Diameter (mm)


3.11

Rotate rod end until noted Torque achieved , record corresponding Angular Deflection, .
Force
Applied
Observed Ang.
Calcd Ang. Defln, Error
(Newtons)
Torque,T (Nm)
Defln, (deg.)
(deg.)
(%)
0
0
0
0
0
1
0.05
2
1.92
3.88
2
0.1
4
3.84
4
3
0.15
6
5.76
4
4
0.20
8
7.68
4
5
0.25
10
9.6
4
Draw Graph (to Scale) of Applied Torque (horizontal axis) versus Observed Angular
Deflection, (vertical axis), draw in Line of best fit (refer BBoard Learng Matl / Other Res.
/ Linear Graphs). This should demonstrate Strain is linearly proportional to Load within Elastic
range.
B. Solid Brass Rod
Measure up
test specimen :

Measured Diameter (mm)


3.14
3.17
3.16

Average Diameter (mm)


3.17

Rotate rod end until noted Torque achieved , record corresponding Angular Deflection, .
Force
Applied
Observed Ang.
Calcd Ang. Defln, Error
(Newtons)
Torque,T (Nm)
Defln, (deg.)
(deg.)
(%)
0
0
0
0
0
1
0.05
4
3.76
6
2
0.1
8
7.52
6
3
0.15
12
11.28
6
4
0.20
16.5
15.04
8.8
5
0.25
20
18.8
8.2
Draw Graph (to Scale) of Applied Torque (horizontal axis) versus Angular Deflection, as above.

C . Hollow Brass Tube


Measure up
test specimen :

Measured Diameter (mm)


3.20
3.27
3.25

Average Diameter (mm)


3.24

Rotate rod end until noted Torque achieved, record corresponding Angular Deflection, .
Force
Applied
Observed Ang.
Calcd Ang. Defln, Error
(Newtons)
Torque,T (Nm)
Defln, (deg.)
(deg.)
(%)
0
0
0
0
0
1
5
3.84
23.2
0.05
2
9
7.68
14
0.1
3
13
11.52
11.3
0.15
4
19
15.36
19.1
0.20
5
23
19.2
16.5
0.25
Draw Graph (to Scale) of Applied Torque (horizontal axis) versus Angular Deflection, as
above. Assume inner diameter is 1.85 mm.
Note : Take % Error as = Observed - Calculated Observed 100%
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LABORATORY REPORT :
Type and edit your report using Microsoft Word (hand-written is not acceptable except for the sample
calculation). Email your individual Lab. Report to your demonstrator by due Date 1 week after
conducting Lab. Please scan your report and save whole report as one PDF file with a name of
Surname_Initial_Student ID_Lab1.pdf. Please see the Study Guide or Blackboard for your
demonstrators Email address. Also please refer to Unit of Study Outline for penalties etc.
The Report must include (in order):
(i) This 3 page handout as cover sheet /results for your report (1 mark).
(ii) Three (3) scale Graphs (for parts A, B, C) of Observed Angular Deflection, versus Torque
(including line of best fit). Use graph paper or computer software to plot these graphs. (1
mark).
(iii) Discussion: Compare theoretical results with those measured (error/difference in
percentage); comment on potential sources of errors and possible solutions. Compare
performance of test-pieces B and C. Address other points raised in the experiment. The
expected length of the Discussion is between half and one full page using 12 font size with
1.5 line space (200-400 words) (1 mark).
(iv) Conclusion: Please state whether the Laboratory Objective has been achieved (e.g. the
relation between angle of twist and torque) and summarise your experimental observations
and comments (1 mark).
(v) Sample Calculations should be included in an Appendix, attached at the end. Only this part
can be hand-written neatly (1 mark).
DATA : Brass : G = 38 GPa; Steel : G = 80 GPa.
THEORY : Refer to Beer et. al. - Mechanics of Materials Global Ed. 6E Chapter 3.

Fig. 2 - STR6 TORSION TESTING Machine.


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Observations
Graphs for observations

Angle of deflection vs torque for steel rod

12

Angle of twist

10
8
6
4
2
0
0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

torque

Angle of deflection vs torque for brass rod

25
20
15

Angle of twist

10
5
0
0
-5

0.05

0.1

0.15

torque

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0.2

0.25

0.3

Angle of deflection vs torque for hallow brass tube

25

Angle of twist

20

15

10

0
0

0.05

0.1

0.15

torque

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0.2

0.25

0.3

Discussion
For the solid steel rod, the percentage error between the measured angle of twist and observed angle of
twist is only under 4%, but for the solid brass rod the percentage error is between 6% to 8.8%.
However this percentage for hallow brass rod went up to 23%. For the solid steel rod the angle of
twist is very less but this value increased for the solid brass rod and hallow brass rod. Percentage error
for solid brass rod started with 6% for the torque 0.05 Nm and it has increased up to 8.8% for the
torque 0.2 Nm. But error percentage for the hallow brass rod started with 23% (the maximum
percentage all time for the experiment) for the minimum torque and decreased to 11.3% for the torque
0.15%. In comparison solid steel rog has given consistent results while other two gave fluctuating
results.

In solid brass rod the measured angle of deflection for the minimum torque is 4 degrees while hallow
brass rod had 5 degrees. For all torque values there is no significant difference between angle of
deflection, even hallow shaft had hallow with 1.85mm inner diameter. So we can conclude that there
is no significant difference in angle of twist, even the rod has hallow with half of its outer diameter. In
practical view by using hallow rods we can save big amounts of material and they also give almost the
same strength as solid rods.

The errors of this experiment may occur due to several reasons. The first reason for the error is there
will be a slight slip in the grip, due to the material not feeling the torque we observe, so the angle of
twist will be slightly less than expected. The second reason is when we measure the effective length it
will always be less than the actual effective length because we cannot mark the actual effective length
after we tighten the chuck. The third reason is, the rod may be bended while we apply torque, and
because of that torque may not be transferred accurately. The fourth reason is protractor scale may be
tightened too much, if this happens protractor will not move as it should and will result in a less angle
than the actual. The fifth reason is that we are taking measurement for the forces 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 N and
least measurement in scale is one newton. So even if we observed the force as 1N it may be between
1N and 2N but we are using 1N for the calculations. The sixth reason is that the diameter is not
constant throughout rod so we took the average diameter, but still a slight error is occurring due to
this. The last type of error is human errors.

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Conclusion
The aim of this experiment was to compare experiment observations and calculated results of pure
torsion. By looking at the results we can say the experiment is successful, the results observed and
calculated are not much different and error percentages are also less. By looking at the results we can
conclude that the angle of twist is linearly proportional to the torque.

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Sample calculations

For solid steel rod

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