Date:_______________

Bending of a Beam
Senior Freshman Engineering Laboratories
Lab: 2E4A
Coordinator: Asst. Prof. Bidisha Ghosh
Demonstrator:

Concept
A transverse load is applied to a beam. The beam changes its shape and
experiences bending moment. Internal stresses (bending stress) develop in the
beam.
In the bent or curved shape, the material on the inside of the curve experiences
compression and material on the outside of the curve experiences tension. In
pure bending, the transverse planes in the material remain plane and parallel
during bending.

Objectives
1. To measure deflections and strains in a simply supported steel beam.
2. To compare the analytical and experimental values of strains in the beam.
3. To use measured deflections and theory to evaluate the Youngs modulus of
the material.
4. To note the source of errors in a typical simply supported beam experiment.

Theory
Please refer to the beam bending lecture notes as provided by Dr A. OConnor in
2E4 class.
A steel I-beam is subjected to a point load in the middle. The beam is loaded
within the elastic limit.

Figure 1: Bending of a Beam

Beam deflection :

Date:_______________

l
2

Pl 3
48 EI

The deflection, can be computed for general loading situation by

integrating the moment curvature equation. For Fig. 1, the theoretical value of
beam deflection can be determined as follows:

where, P is the applied load and l is the length of the beam.

Bending Stress : For a given beam the stress experienced due to bending is
dependent on the bending moment and geometrical characteristics of the beam:

=My/ I , where y is the distance from the neutral axis.

Bending stress distribution for a beam in pure bending:

(c) Bending Stress

(b)Bending Stress
(a)Beam Section
Distribution in IDistribution
Cut
Section
Figure 2: Bending Stress Distribution in a Beam

Method
1. Measure the cross-section area of the I-beam, length of the beam between
supports and note the support conditions.
2. Check the data acquisition system (the dial gauge and strain gauges) and set
the initial values of strains and deflection to zero at no load.
3. Load the beam (gently) up to a maximum of 700N and record the deflection
and strains at each increment of loading.
4. Unload the beam and record the deflection and strains at each step of
unloading.

Report

Plot the bending moment diagram and shear force diagram of the beam in
the experiment.

1) Beam deflection

Date:_______________
Obtain Load-deflection graphs (load on the vertical axis) for loading and
unloading scenarios.
Comment on the linearity of the curve.
Compute the slope of the linear section. Theoretically calculate the elastic
modulus using the slope value,
E

l3
48I

l3
dP

d 48I (slope of elastic load-deflection curve)

.
Compare with the Youngs modulus (E = 200GPa for steel) and comment
on the results.
2) Bending Stress Distribution:

Calculate the stress at the strain gauge locations and plot the bending
stress profile of the beam under maximum load (Similar to Fig. 2(c)).
Compare the theoretical and experimental values of stress at the strain
gauge locations for the maximum load. Comment on the results.