FACULTY OF MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING

EXPERIMENT NO: 05
EXPERIMENT NAME: SHEAR FORCE IN A BEAM
SUBMISSION DATE: 14 11 2017
SESSION NUMBER: 02
GROUP NUMBER: 03
GROUP MEMBERS
NAME ID
BARRATHAN A/L TMIL SELVAN FA16051

LAB INSTRUCTOR
MR AIDIL SHAFIZA
TABLE OF CONTENTS

CONTENTS PAGE
1.1 Introduction 3
2.0 Apparatus 4
3.0 Objective 4
4.0 Procedure 5
5.0 Results 8
6.0 Discussion 9
7.0 Conclusion 11
8.0 References 11
1.0 INTRODUCTION

Force in a beam acting perpendicular to its longitudinal (x) axis is known as shear force
(Shear Force and Bending Moment, 2000). The ability of beam to resist shear force is more
necessary than its ability to resist axial force for design purposes. Axial force is the parallel
force in the beam on longitudinal axis. Generally, change in force magnitude will affect shear
stress produce in a beam. Shear force at both sides, left and right of the cut has the same sum
of forces as there are equal and opposite reaction of forces which states from Newtons Third
Law. The shear force varies as its magnitude depends on the factors of the type of the loading,
type of supports and also point of application of loading. During this experiment a series of
forces with increasing magnitude will be applied on beam and for each beam shear stress value
can be calculated. Free body diagram of this apparatus has been shown below.

Figure 1

In order to calculate the shear force at cut as shown in Figure 1, the formulas that we used
in this experiment are:

Sc = W.a / L (1)

a = distance to the load (not to the cut)

a = 260mm

Shear force at the cut (in N) = Displayed force (N) (2)

2.0 APPARATUS

Apparatus Quantity / specification Figure

Test frame 1

Digital force display 1

Weight hooks 3

Weights 2 sets

Ruler 1
3.0 OBJECTIVE

i. To examine how shear force varies with an increasing load.

ii. To study how shear force varies at the cut position of the beam for various loading
condition.

4.0 PROCEDURE

EXPERIMENT 1: SHEAR FORCE VARIATION WITH AN INCREASING LOAD POINT

1. Set up the apparatus as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2

2. Adjusted the Digital Force Display to zero with no load.

3. Placed a hanger with load of mass 100g at the left of the cut with distance of 40mm
from the cut.
4. Recorded the force displayed on Digital Force Display in a table as in Table 1.
5. Repeated the experiment by using different mass of 200g, 300g, 400g and 500g.
6. Converted the mass to weight in Newton (N).
7. Calculated the shear force at cut using those formulas:
Sc = W.a / L
Shear force at the cut (N) = Displayed force
8. Plotted a graph comparing experimental value of shear force and theoretical value of
shear force.
EXPERIMENT 2: SHEAR FORCE IN A BEAM

1. Adjusted the Digital Force Display to zero with no load.

2. Hanged the hook with load of mass 400g in the position as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 3

3. Recorded the value of force displayed on Digital Force Digital is red and in Table 2.
The formula used is:-
Shear force at cut (N) = Display Force
4. Calculated the support reactions, RA and RB and also theoretical shear force.
5. Repeated the procedure of the experiment as shown in Figure 4 and Figure 5 by using
different loads which is 1.96N & 3.92N and 4.91N & 3.92N, respectively.

Figure 4
Figure 5
5.0 RESULTS

Experiment 1: Shear force Variation with an increasing point load

Mass(g) Load (N) Experimental shear Theoretical shear
force (N) force (N)

0 0 0 0

100 9.8 1.1 0.5

200 1.96 1.2 1.19

300 2.94 1.9 1.73

400 3.92 2.4 2.32

500 4.90 2.9 2.90

Table 1: Result for experiment 1

Experiment 2: shear force variation for various loading conditions

Figure W1 W2 Force Experimental Ra(N) Rb(N) Theoretical

(N) (N) (N) shear force shear force
(N) (Nm)

4 3.92 0 -1.2 -1.2 5.17 2.83 1.25

5 1.96 3.92 2.8 2.8 2.5836 3.2964 -3.2964

6 4.91 3.92 2.4 2.4 2.588 6.2418 -2.322

Table 2: Result for experiment 2

6.0 DISCUSSION

Before doing the experiment, we need to know what shear force. Shear force is
the algebraic sum of the vertical forces acting to the left or right of a cut section along
the span of the beam (Woods, A. 2017, June 27).

To get the value of shear force, we need to find the bending moment first.
Bending moment is the algebraic sum of the moment of the forces to the left or to the
right of the section taken about the section (Woods, A. 2017, June 27).

For the first experiment we need to find the shear force in the beam when given
certain weight.

Figure 6

Figure above show the position of weight in the beam. After changing the
weight fifth times, we can conclude that when the weight increases the shear force also
increases. This can be clearly seen in table 1.

Using the formula Shear force at the cut equal to display force during the
experiments, we can get the value of experimental shear force (N) at table 1. For the
theoretical value shear force we can get by substitute the value of weight, length
between Ra to weight and total beam length. Figure below show the equation for this
experiment:
 Figure 7

Based on the table 1, we generate a graph between loads and shear force to
compare the relationship between the experimental result and theoretical result that
have been calculated by using formula shown in figure 7. From the graph shown in
figure 8, we can say that shear force is linearly perpendicular to the increasing load.
When the load increase the shear force also increase as well. The experimental value is
almost near as theoretical value.

For the second experiment we examined how shear force varies at the cut
position of the beam for various loading condition. The result that obtained by the
theory is different with the result experimental shear force based on the table 2. This is
because of the result experimental shear force were originally taken while doing the
experiment compare with theoretical shear force obtained from the calculation. Perhaps
during the experiment being carried out, there are some errors due to equipment or
environmental interference such as the weight hook was not put accurately during the
experiment that cause the hook to move while taking the load reading.
QUESTION

1. i. Graph Experiment 1:

Shear Force against Load

Shear Force (N) 4

3
Experimental Shear
2 Force (N)
Theoretical Shear
1
Force(N)
0
0 1 2 3 4 5
Load (N)

Figure 8

In experiment 1, the theoretical shear force is more linear than experimental shear force.
We can say that shear force is linearly proportional to loads applied.

ii. Graph Experiment 1 (Modified):

Shear Force against load

2.5

2
Sehar Force (N)

1.5 Experimental shear

force (N)
1 Theoretical shear
force (N)
0.5

0
2.45 3.43 4.41 Load (N)

Figure 9

For experiment 1 which has been modified the load applied and the distance, theoretical
shear force has linear line compared to experimental shear force.
7.0 CONCLUSION

As conclusion, after finishing the experiment, the objectives are achieved. We found
that the weight of loads that applied on the beam will affect shear force value. The higher
the weight of the loads, the higher the shear force at the cut in a beam. Then, the distance
of the point load and the pin will also affect the force. This is because the shear force varies
at the cut position of the beam for various loading condition.

8.0 REFERENCES

Shear Force and Bending Moment. (2000, October 5). Retrieved October 9, 2017, from

http://people.virginia.edu/~pjm8f/engr162/beam/shear_force_and_bending_moment.h
tm

Atta, E. T. (n.d.). Shear Force in a Beam Lab Report. Retrieved October 09, 2017, from

http://www.green-mechanic.com/2017/01/shear-force-in-beam-lab-report-pdf.html

Woods, A. (2017, June 27). Shear Force and Bending Moment. Retrieved October 10,

2017, from http://slideplayer.com/slide/4279617/