NATIONAL

INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY WARANGAL

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
MATERIAL TESTING LABORATORY
INSTRUCTION MANUAL
EXPERIMENT No. 4

BENDING TEST ON SIMPLY SUPPORTED BEAM

Aim: - (1) To find the Young’s modulus of elasticity of the material of a given beam by
conducting bending test on simply supported beam. (2) To verify Maxwell & Betti’s
Reciprocal Theorem.
Apparatus: - Scale, callipers, weights, dial gauge with magnetic base, the supports for the
beam and the beam specimen.

Theory:-Consider two cases of loading on a simply supported beam prismatic beam of a

flexural rigidity EI as shown in the following figures.
Case (i): The load is applied at mid span while deflection is measured at quarter span.
W
L/4  L/2

Case (ii): The load is applied at quarter span while deflection is measured at mid span.

W
L/4  L/2

For the above loading conditions, the deflection equation at D is given by,
3
 11  WL
 
 768  EI
Procedure:-Measure breadth (h) of the beam at three sections along the span and take
average values for further calculations. Apply load at C in six increments and measure the
corresponding deflection with the help of a dial gauge. Take the precautions to keep the dial
gauge in correct position to measure the desire deflections. Tabulate the deflections
corresponding to various loads for each case as shown below.

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MATERIAL TESTING LABORATORY, STRUCTURES DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, NIT WARANGAL
 Observations:
Average breadth of the beam (b) =
Average depth of the beam (d) =
Moment of inertia (I) =bd3/12 =
Least count of dial gauge=

Sl.No Load Dial Gauge reading for Deflection Dial gauge Reading for Deflection
in Kg case (i) in mm case (ii) in mm

Loading Unloading Avg Loading Unloading Avg

Calculations:

Plot a graph between load and deflection for each of the cases. Now compare the two
graphs and verify the law of reciprocal deflections. From each graph corresponding to any
two convenient points find the value of W/δ ratio and calculate E from corresponding
expression.

3
 11  W  L
E  
 768    I
Load
(W)
(W/δ)

Deflection (δ)

Result:-

Report the average Young’s Modulus of the material of the given beam from the
above two cases.
Exercise:
1. What is meant by Degrees of Freedom, Degrees of constraint, Free Body Diagram,
Statically Determinate / Indeterminate structures
2. Derive the expression for deflection used in this experiment. Derive such expression
for different load and deflection position.
3. Review on methods of finding deflection for determinate beams.

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MATERIAL TESTING LABORATORY, STRUCTURES DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING, NIT WARANGAL