Tan Shou Kang

ID: 16WTD03024

Background Information of Modular Truss Apparatus

The experiment Modular Truss Apparatus is to determine the forces in members of a plane truss. A
truss is a structure comprising five or more triangular units constructed with straight members
whose ends are connected at nodes. External forces and reactions to those forces are considered to
act only at the nodes and result in forces in the members, which are either tensile or compressive
forces. A planar truss is a truss where all the members and nodes lie within a two dimensional plane.
The Unit for studying Forces in Different Single Plane Trusses (MFCS1) allows the measurement of
the bar forces in a single plane truss subjected to a single external force, in a statically determinate
truss.

The Unit for studying Forces in Different Single Plane Trusses (MFCS1) allows the measurement of
the bar forces in various single plane trusses, the study of the dependency on the external force and
the comparison of the experimental bar forces with several mathematical methods.

The unit consists of several bars with snap-locks at their ends to engage easily the bars in the node
discs. The bars can form triangular units with different angles.

The bars have several lengths to form different truss structures and are subjected only to tensile or
compressive stress. Our structures can be considered as ideal, because the friction is neglected and
the nodes do not transmit the moments. All bars include a strain gauge to measure the force on
each bar.

To generate an external force, a load application device is attached to a node disc. This device
includes a force gauge that can be mounted on different node discs.

The frame includes two supports with two node discs to hinge the truss structure to the frame of the
unit.

The unit includes an electronic console with a digital display to show all the readings. This console
allows to visualize, together with the software, the measurement data and graphical representation
of the bar forces in the computer (PC). (Edibon, 2014)