AM-2540

GROUP-23

CODE-G
SPRING STIFFNESS TEST
AND
BENDING STRESS USING STRAIN
GAUGE

ME16B070 Sanjeev Parameswaran

ME16B071 Saurabh Jain
ME16B072 Saurabh Sinha
ME16B073 Shahad M
 SPRING STIFFNESS TEST

OBJECTIVE :-

The objective of this experiment is to find the spring constants for some
sample springs and to compare the estimated spring constant with those
obtained from theoretical calculations.

APPARATUS :-

a Suspension system for the spring to be loaded in compression

A p latform attached to the spring on which the loads are placed
A r od is attached to the top of the spring to the platform to ensure
axial loading
A scale attached to the spring to measure deflection
Vernier Callipers to measure the radius of the springs.
Weights

THEORY :-

The general notion of a spring is of a coil, usually made of a metal, rolled

as a helix.

When the stresses generated in a spring (due to application of Force)

are less than the yield stress of the material , the spring regains its original
configuration when the force is removed.This usually implies a linear
behavior and the spring can be modeled as a linear spring.
For a linear behaviour , the force deformation relationship is linearly
proportional and is expressed by the equation
where, F is the force,
is the deformation, and
kL is the constant or proportionality and is termed as the linear spring
stiffness.

An estimate of the spring stiffness kL can be calculated from force

deformation relationship, if a set of data of the measurement of the
deflection under the application of measured loads F is available.

In the absence of any experimental measurements, a theoretical estimate

of the spring stiffness can be calculated analytically from the knowledge of
the geometrical dimensions and the material elastic constants.

Here, G is the shear modulus of the spring material,

n is the number of active coils in the helical linear spring,
r is the spring wire radius, and
R is the mean radius of the helical spring.

Procedure

1. Three different samples of the helical springs are provided. Measure the
dimensions R and r using the vernier calipers.

2. Note down the vernier scale reading for unload condition.

3. Load the spring in steps of 0.5 kg of weight up to 2.5 kg, and note down
the readings.
4. Remove the loads one by one when the loading is over. Note down the
deflections when each increment of the load is removed.

5. Repeat the experiment on the two other spring samples.

6. Perform the necessary calculations to determine the spring stiffnesses.

OBSERVATION TABLE :-

Tensile Linear Spring

S Load Load Loading Loading Unloading Unloading Mean

No. (kg) (N) (Vernier (deflection) (vernier reading) (deflection) deflection
reading) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm)

1 0 0 9.5 0 9.4 0 0

2 0.5 4.895 9.4 0.1 9.3 0.1 0.1

3 1 9.79 9.3 0.2 9.1 0.3 0.25

4 1.5 14.68 9.1 0.4 8.9 0.5 0.45

5

5 2 19.58 8.9 0.6 8.7 0.7 0.65

6 2.5 24.47 8.7 0.8 8.7 0.7 0.75

5
 Compressive Linear Spring

S Load Load Loading Loading Unloading Unloading Mean

No. (kg) (N) (Vernier (deflection)( (vernier (deflection) deflection
reading) (mm) mm) reading) (mm) (mm) (mm)

1 0 0 11.3 0 11.3 0 0

2 0.5 4.895 11 0.3 11 0.3 0.3

3 1 9.79 10.6 0.7 10.6 0.7 0.7

4 1.5 14.685 10.3 1 10.3 1 1

5 2 19.58 10 1.3 10 1.3 1.3

6 2.5 24.475 9.7 1.6 9.7 1.6 1.6

Conical Spring

S Load Load Loading Loading Unloading Unloading Mean

No. (kg) (N) (Vernier (deflection) (vernier reading) (deflection) deflection
reading) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm)

1 0 0 9.5 0 9.4 0 0

2 0.5 4.895 9.4 0.1 9.3 0.1 0.1

3 1 9.79 9.3 0.2 9.1 0.3 0.25

4 1.5 14.68 9.1 0.4 8.9 0.5 0.45

5

5 2 19.58 8.9 0.6 8.7 0.7 0.65

6 2.5 24.47 8.7 0.8 8.7 0.7 0.75

5
 Theoretical Calculations of Spring Constant

Mean Reading
Spring (mm)
R (mm) 15.32
Tensile Linear
r (mm) 1.55
(n= 33)
KL (kN/m) 0.94
R (mm) 13.29
Tensile Conical
r (mm) 3
(n= 33)
KL (kN/m) 20.13
R (mm) 19.32
Compressive Linear
r (mm) 2.8
(n= 11)
KL (kN/m) 14.88
PLOT :-
Compressive Linear
Calculations :-

KL= 1/Slope
Theoretical = (1/0.067) * 103 N/m = 14.92 N/m
Experimental = (1/0.066) * 103 N/m = 15.15 N/m

Plot Analysis :-

The graph between load and deflection for a compressive linear

springs approximates to a linear curve.
The linear regression equation for the plot is 15.127x - 0.116
The slope of the curve , i.e. 15.127 103 N/m is the value of spring
constant calculated experimentally.
The theoretical value of Spring Constant comes out to be 14.88 103
N/m .
The experimental value is close to the theoretical value.
The deviation may be due to the manufacturing process of spring ,
experimental errors ( parallax etc.).
 MEASUREMENT OF BENDING STRESS USING
STRAIN GAUGE

AIM :- The objective of this experiment is to measure the tensile bending

stress at the root of a cantilever beam subjected to tip transverse loading
using a strain gauge.

APPARATUS :-
Strain Gauge
Strain Gauge Indicator
Aluminium Specimen Bar
Bar Holder with a provision of loading

EXPERIMENTAL SETUP :-

An aluminium bar is clamped at one end and the other end (free end) is
loaded. The deflection is induced on the free end of the cantilever beam by
rotating the micrometer.The strain gauge is attached to the top surface of
the beam, near the clamped end.The wires from the strain gauge are
connected to the strain gage indicator, which displays the bending strain
measured by the strain gauge.

THEORY :-

A strain gauge is a device used to measure the strain in any

component.Strain Gauge measures strain by taking advantage of the
change in resistance of material due to deformation.It is not only a material
property but also depend on materials geometry.
This can be explained by the fact that the electrical resistance in a piece of
wire is directly proportional to the length and inversely proportional to the
area of the cross section.
The most common example of a strain gauge consists of an insulating
flexible backing which supports a metallic foil pattern. The gauge is
attached to the component by a suitable adhesive.

EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS :-

By measuring the changes in resistance, and from a knowledge of the

gauge factor, strain in a deformed body can be estimated. This is
mathematically expressed as

where,
R is the resistance of the gauge in the undeformed state,
R is the change in the resistance in the gauge due to deformation,
GF is the strain gauge factor, and
is the strain.

Once the strain is measured experimentally, the stress can be calculated

using the well known stress-strain relations. For linear systems (i.e., when
the deformations are small compared to the geometrical dimensions of the
specimen), this can be given by the relation
ANALYTICAL ESTIMATE :-

Flexure Relation :-

The estimate of the load at the tip can be made using deflection of the
cantilever beam.This is achieved using the well-known load-deflection
relation of a cantilever beam given by

and the bending moment at the gauge location is given by

PROCEDURE:
1. Form a cantilever beam by fixing the beam specimen onto the bar
holder. Measure dimensions L0 , L1 , breadth b and thickness t.
2. On the inner side of the strain indicators lid, connect the two ends of
the strain gauge as a QUARTER bridge.
3. Depress the Gauge Factor button. Set the initial gauge factor to 2.05
or 2.06.
4. Bring the display value close to 0 by depressing the AMP ZERO
button (amplier) using the ngertip control knob.
5. Balance the circuit (still beam is not loaded). Depress the RUN button
(with all other buttons set to OFF) and set the display. Using the
BALANCE knob, set the display to a convenient value (zero or any
other value). If the initial setting is not zero, the initial value should be
subtracted from the reading value.
6. Take the rst set of readings with no load on cantilever.
7. Use the micrometer handle to make a deection of 0.5 mm. Add
deection in 0.5 mm steps(one complete revolution of the
micrometer), to a maximum of 5 mm. Repeat the measurements.

OBSERVATION TABLE

GF=2.055 L0= 25.3 cm b=2.4 cm t(h) = 0.5 cm E = 70GPA

L1= 24.6 cm

bh3 t
IZZ =
12 = 2.5 10 y =
2 = 0.25 cm
-10

Using,
and the Flexure Relation Stress (Theoretical) can be calculated.

Strain(Theoretical) is thus calculated using stress-strain relation.

Stress Stress
Strain (exp) (theory) Strain
Displacement (exp) X106 X106 (theory)
(mm) x10-6 (Pa) (Pa) x10-6 %Difference
0.5 55 3.85 3.99 56.93 -3.39%
1 111 7.77 7.97 113.86 -2.51%
1.5 166 11.62 11.96 170.79 -2.81%
2 222 15.54 15.94 227.73 -2.51%
2.5 281 19.67 19.93 284.66 -1.28%
3 341 23.87 23.91 341.59 -0.17%
3.5 402 28.14 27.90 398.52 0.87%
4 465 32.55 31.88 455.45 2.10%
4.5 527 36.89 35.87 512.38 2.85%
5 591 41.37 39.85 569.31 3.81%

OBSERVATION FOR STRAIN TEST :-

Strain gauge is attached to the beam. The top surface of the beam
undergoes tension while the bottom surface experiences
compression.
As the object is deformed, it causes its electrical resistance to
change.
 The resistance change is measured using Wheatstone bridge which
is related to strain by a quantity called gauge factor.
The display shows the value of strain in micrometers.
When the load is increased, the deflection in beam increases which
increases the display strain value.
Strain gauge can measure strain in only 1 direction.

RESULT :-
There is a good experimental agreement of experimentally observed
stress to the theoretical stress for a given bending strain.
This confirms the validity of the formula used in the experiment.