BTEC Level 3 Unit 27 Beam Loading Assignment: Shear Force and Bending Moment Analysis for Simply Supported and Cantilever Beams

Scenario

You are a first-year technical trainee engineer working in a large manufacturing company producing structural members that are to be used in a new construction project. Your supervisor has asked you carry out some experiments to find out how beams react to different types of loading, and then perform several calculations to confirm the findings of the experiments. The experiments and calculations relate to shear and bending in beams. 

Task 1

• You need to:
  • Create a mathematical model of the shear force and bending moments for each beam arrangement.
  • For each, you need to present your findings as annotated shear force and bending moment diagrams.
  • Use your diagrams to identify significant data, including maximum and minimum values, and points of contra flexure.
  • Safely set up apparatus for each beam arrangement using simple and complex loading. Once set up, you need to gather experimental results for each beam.
• Once you have completed all your experiments, you need to produce a short report in your log book that considers both the theoretical values and the measured values for each of the various beam arrangements.
  • In your report, you will need to evaluate (give reasons for) the differences between the theoretical values and experimental values, including ways that you could improve (e.g., the experimental accuracy) the experiments if they were repeated.

Task 2

• B.3) Conduct and Analyze experiments accurately to determine:
  a) Shear force (N) and bending moment (Nm) at the center of the simply supported beam and cantilever beam with a concentrated load and uniform distributed load.
  • For the mass varying from 100g to 1000g.

Task 3

• B.5) Evaluate the simple and complex loads acting on simply supported and cantilever beams, comparing the results from safely conducted experiments and theoretical calculations, and suggest improvements to the experimental method used.
• You need to produce a report that demonstrates analytical and practical skills and use these to explain the effects of loads on simply supported and cantilever beams, suggesting improvements to the structures.