ME3311-Mechanical Engineering Lab-II: Finite element method

Assignment 1: Plane truss (Submit by 18/08/2015)

1) Consider a plane truss as shown in figure.

The horizontal and vertical members have length L, while inclined

members have length 2. Assume the Youngs modulus E=100Gpa and
Poissons ratio = 0.3, cross-sectional area A=1.0cm2 and L=0.2m.
Use Ansys to determine the tip deflections for the following three load
cases
a) Load case A: 13 = 14 = 10000
b) Load case B: 13 = 14 = 10000
c) Load case C: 13 = 10000, 14 = 10000
2) Assuming that the truss behaves like a cantilever beam, one can
determine the equivalent cross-sectional properties of the beam from
the results for Cases A, B, C. The three beam properties are: axial rigidity
() (this is different from the EA of the truss member), flexural
rigidity ( ) and shear rigidity() . Let the equivalent beam length
be l=6x0.2=1.2m.
The axial deflection of a beam due to an axial force F is given by

= ()

(1)

The transverse deflection due to a transverse load F at the tip

3
3()

+ ()

(2)

The first term on the RHS represents the deflection due to flexure and
the second term due to shear deformation. In Euler-Bernoulli beam
theory, we normally neglect the shear deformation as it is much small
compared to the flexural deflection.
The transvers deflection due to an end couple C is given by
=

2
2()

(3)

Substitute the average tip deflections obtained in problem 1 in Eqns 1-3

to compute the equivalent section properties: () , () , () .
You may use the average of deflections at nodes13 and 14 to determine
the equivalent beam deflections.
3) Verify the beam model by adding two more bars to the truss ( = 8
0.2 = 1.6). Compute the tip deflections of the extended truss for the
three load cases A-C at the end nodes 17 and 18 using Ansys.

Compare the FE results with deflection obtained from the equivalent

beam model (Eqn 1-3).