As you can see, the steel beam was deflecting in the centre of the beam by approximately 115mm. This value is to large so a different material was tested to see if it would produce a smaller deflection.
Aluminium provided a great substitute for stell as it is lighter and thus gives a much larger structure for the same weight as a the steel beam. After much trial and error, the ideal structure dimensions were found and a maximum deflection of 4mm for found in the centre of the beam when the load was applied. This is a much more reasonable value and is within british standards for this structure.
Below is the buckling calculations for the legs and the connecting leg to beam strut.
Have you done stress analysis ?
ReplyDeleteYou worked on the deflection but I don't any evidence of estimating bending stresses in the main beam.