Lab Reports
Submitted To: Engr. Sida Hussain
Submitted By: M. Faizan Khan
Semester: 2nd
Class No: 97(E)
Department: Department of Civil Engineering
Course: Engineering Mechanics
University of Engineering and Technology,
Peshawar, Pakistan
Contents
List of Figures ................................................................................................................................iii
List of Tables ............................................................................................................................. iv
Experiment 1: To Verify of Law of Parallelogram of forces ....................................................... 1
APPARTUS: ............................................................................................................................... 1
PROCEDURE:............................................................................................................................ 1
OBSERVATIONS AND CALCULATIONS:.......................................................................... 2
PRECAUTIONS:........................................................................................................................ 2
Experiment 2: To Verify Law of Polygon of Forces .................................................................... 3
APPARTUS: ............................................................................................................................... 3
PROCEDURE:............................................................................................................................ 4
OBSERVATIONS AND CALCULATIONS:.......................................................................... 5
PRECAUTIONS:........................................................................................................................ 5
Experiment 3: To Determine Co-efficient of Friction between various material by Inclined
Plane ................................................................................................................................................ 6
APPARTUS: ............................................................................................................................... 6
PROCEDURE:............................................................................................................................ 6
OBSERVATIONS AND CALCULATIONS:.......................................................................... 7
PRECAUTIONS:........................................................................................................................ 7
Experiment 4: To Verify Principle of Moment in the Disc Apparatus ....................................... 8
THEORY: ................................................................................................................................... 8
APPARTUS: ............................................................................................................................... 8
PROCEDURE:............................................................................................................................ 9
OBSERVATIONS AND CALCULATIONS:.......................................................................... 9
PRECAUTIONS:...................................................................................................................... 10
Experiment 5: Measurement of Support Reactions in Statically Determinate Beam .............. 11
THEORY: ................................................................................................................................. 11
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APPARTUS: ............................................................................................................................. 11
PROCEDURE:.......................................................................................................................... 12
OBSERVATIONS AND CALCULATIONS:........................................................................ 12
PRECAUTIONS:...................................................................................................................... 13
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List of Figures
Figure 1 Apparatus used for Verification of Law of Parallelogram Law of Forces ................... 1
Figure 2 Apparatus used for Verification of Polygon Law of Forces ......................................... 3
Figure 3 Apparatus used for determining co-efficient of Friction between various materials by
inclined plan .................................................................................................................................... 6
Figure 4 Disc Apparatus for verification of Principle of Moment. ............................................. 8
Figure 5 Measurement of Support Reactions in a Statically Determined Beam ...................... 11
iii
List of Tables
Table 1 Observations and Calculations of Parallelogram Law of Forces ................................... 2
Table 2 Observations and Calculations of Polygon Law of Forces ............................................ 5
Table 3 Observations and Calculations of co-efficient of Friction between various materials
by inclined plan ............................................................................................................................... 7
Table 4 Observations and Calculations of Principle of Moment .............................................. 10
Table 5 Observations and Calculations for Measurement of Support Reactions of a Statically
Determined Beam ......................................................................................................................... 12
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Experiment 1:
To Verify of Law of Parallelogram of forces
APPARTUS:
1. Gravesand Apparatus (Wooden board with arrangement of pullies mount on a
wall)
2. Two Frictionless Pulleys
3. Three Weights in Pounds (lbs)
4. Cord
5. Drawing Sheet
Figure 1 Apparatus used for Verification of Law of Parallelogram Law of Forces
PROCEDURE:
1. Fix the drawing sheet on the force board using drawing pins.
2. Take a cord and pass it over the two pulleys. Attach the weights at both ends.
3. Attach another short length of cord and attach it to the mid-point of the length of
the cord in between two pulleys. Attach a pan at its other end.
4. Add weights on this pan till the three weights reach an equilibrium.
1
5. Mark the position of the cords on the drawing sheet using a pencil. Three lines are
formed, meeting at a point.
6. Remove the sheet and draw a parallelogram with its sides parallel to the forces.
Find 'R' by measuring the length of the diagonal of the parallelogram. The angle
between two sides is measured which is the angle θ.
7. Repeat the experiment by changing weights.
OBSERVATIONS AND CALCULATIONS:
S. W1 W2 W3 Rm(measured) Rc % Error
No. (calculated)
1. 1 lbs. 1.5 lbs. 1.96 lbs. 1.96 lbs. 1.99 lbs. 0.017 %
Table 1 Observations and Calculations of Parallelogram Law of Forces
PRECAUTIONS:
1. Pulleys should be frictionless.
2. Cords and weight should not touch the board.
3. Board should be mounted vertically on a wall.
4. Weights should be placed gently in the pans.
2
Experiment 2:
To Verify Law of Polygon of Forces
APPARTUS:
1. Gravesand Apparatus (Wooden board with arrangement of pullies mount on a
wall)
2. Four Frictionless Pulleys
3. Weights in Pounds (lbs.)
4. Cord
5. Drawing Sheet
Figure 2 Apparatus used for Verification of Polygon Law of Forces
3
PROCEDURE:
1. Set up the apparatus provided after measuring and recording the weights of the
pans.
2. Put different weights on the pan (W1, W2, W3, W4 and W5) and let the system
come to rest and then note their values.
3. Now, fix a sheet of paper on the drawing board and mark the central point (point
where the strings meet and the directions of the string with pencil.
4. Remove the paper from the drawing board and draw the lines of actions of the
forces.
5. Draw the force polygon by representing W1, W2, W3, W4 and W5 in magnitude
and direction.
6. The polygon may not be closed. The error (unclosed distance of the polygon) is
due to error in experimentation and the friction in various moving parts.
7. Repeat the procedure 3 times and complete the experiment.
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OBSERVATIONS AND CALCULATIONS:
S. No. W1 (lbs.) W2 (lbs.) W3 (lbs.) W4 (lbs.) W5 (lbs.) % Error
1 0.5 0.8 1 1.2 0.64 0.28
Table 2 Observations and Calculations of Polygon Law of Forces
PRECAUTIONS:
1. Clean the apparatus
2. The thread must be smooth without knots.
3. Ring should be carefully centralized.
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Experiment 3:
To Determine Co-efficient of Friction between various material by Inclined
Plane
APPARTUS:
1. Inclined Plane
2. Calibrated Arc
3. Weight
4. Frictionless Pulley
5. Set of Slide weights having bottom surface of different materials
6. Cord
Figure 3 Apparatus used for determining co-efficient of Friction between various materials by inclined plan
PROCEDURE:
1. Note down the angle of inclination θ, after setting the inclined plane. The top
surface of the inclined plane is made of steel alloy.
2. Place the slider of known weight W on the inclined plane.
3. Tie the slider to the pan with the help of a cord which passes over a frictionless
pulley.
4. Increase the weights in the pan till the slider just tends to slide.
5. Note down the weight in the pan including the weight of the pan.
6. Repeat the above procedure for other slider having different base surfaces and
other angles of inclination.
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OBSERVATIONS AND CALCULATIONS:
S. No. Surface of Weight of Weight of Angle of Co-efficient
Slider Slider (W) Pan (P) Inclination of Friction
1. 2.875 lbs. 2 lbs. 2.5 lbs. 26 0.0833
Table 3 Observations and Calculations of co-efficient of Friction between various materials
by inclined plan
PRECAUTIONS:
1. Pulley should be smooth and frictionless. Weights should be put in the pan gently.
2. The cord should be free from any knot.
3. The cord should be parallel to the inclined surface in between the slider and the
pulley.
4. The surface of the inclined plane and the bottom of the slider should be clean.
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Experiment 4:
To Verify Principle of Moment in the Disc Apparatus
THEORY:
Principle of moment states that if several coplanar forces acting on a body keep it in
equilibrium and their moment are taken about any point in their plane, the sum of the
clockwise moments, is equal to sum of anticlockwise moment.
∑ M clockwise = ∑ M anti-clockwise
The sum of moments about a point must be zero i.e., ∑ M = 0 for a body in
equilibrium.
APPARTUS:
1. Weights
2. Disc Apparatus
3. Measuring Tape/Ruler
Figure 4 Disc Apparatus for verification of Principle of Moment.
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PROCEDURE:
1. Set up all the apparatus before starting the experiment.
2. When no weight is attached, the hangers should be in equilibrium. If not, first
balance all the hangers.
3. Label the hangers.
4. Put weights in each hanger in such a way to keep all the hangers in equilibrium.
5. Measure the length between the hangers.
6. Calculate the moment produced by the weights on left side of center point, and
also the moment produced by weights on right side of center point.
OBSERVATIONS AND CALCULATIONS:
Left side moment should be equal to right side moment (clock-wise moment=anti
clock wise moment) to verify principle of moment.
Here,
Anti-clockwise Moment = F2 x d2
Clockwise Moment = F1 x d1
Anti-clockwise Moment = F4 x d4
Clockwise Moment = F3 x d3
∑ Manti-clockwise = F2.d2 + F4.d4
∑ M clockwise = F1.d1 + F3.d3
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W1 W2 W3 W4 L1 L2 L3 L4 Clockwise Anti-
moment Clockwise
moment
0.5 1 1 0.5 4.75 2.5 2.5 4.8 4.875 4.9
lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. in in in in
1.5 0.5 1.5 1 4.5 2 in 2 in 5 in 7.75 8
lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. in
Table 4 Observations and Calculations of Principle of Moment
PRECAUTIONS:
1. The weights shall be hung to the hooks gently.
2. The pulley in the disc shall rotate freely.
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Experiment 5:
Measurement of Support Reactions in Statically Determinate Beam
THEORY:
The experiment is based on the fundamental principle of equilibrium which states that
if stationary body, subjected to coplanar forces is in equilibrium, the algebraic sum of
all the forces and their moments about any point lying in their plane, is zero.
1. The sum of forces i.e. ∑ F = 0
2. The sum of moments about a point must be zero i.e. ∑ M = 0.
3. The principle of moment states that, when a system is in equilibrium, the sum of
all anti-clockwise moments is equal to the sum of all clockwise moments.
APPARTUS:
1. Weights
2. Sliding hooks
3. Spring Balance
4. Simply Supported Beam
Figure 5 Measurement of Support Reactions in a Statically Determined Beam
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PROCEDURE:
1. Place tag “A” and “B” on two Spring Balances.
2. Place the graduated beam on the compression spring balances.
3. Note the initial reading EA and EB.
4. Place slicing hooks at different point on the beam and suspend different weights.
5. Note down the final readings on the spring balance SA and SB.
6. Subtract E1 and E2 from S1 and S2, respectively to get O1 and O2. These are
called observed readings.
7. Note down the distance of each weight from any one support say from left.
8. Use equilibrium equations to calculate reactions.
9. If there is difference in the observed and the calculated reactions, calculate the
percentage error.
10. Repeat the experiment by taking different weights at different places.
OBSERVATIONS AND CALCULATIONS:
Observed Readings:
S. No. Ea Eb W1 W2 Sa Sb Oa = Sb Ob = Sb
(lbs.) (lbs.) (lbs.) (lbs.) (lbs.) (lbs.) – Ea – Eb
(lbs.) (lbs.)
1. 2.92 2.92 0.36 0.36 3.21 3.34 0.29 0.42
2. 3 3 1 1 4 4 1 1
Table 5 Observations and Calculations for Measurement of Support Reactions of a Statically
Determined Beam
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Calculated Readings:
L 1/a (inches) L 2/a (inches) Ra (lbs.) Rb (lbs.)
10 36 0.3 0.41
14 27 1.7 1.79
% Error:
A (%) B (%)
-3.33 2.43
-41.2 44.1
Here,
∑Fy = 0
∑MA = 0
RA + RB – W1 – W2 = 0
W1 x L1/A + W2 x L2/A – RB x L = 0
RA + RB = W1 + W2
W1 x L1/A + W2 x L2/A = RB x L
PRECAUTIONS:
1. The apparatus should be placed perfectly horizontal.
2. The hooks should be place in the grooves of the beam
3. The weights shall be hung to the hooks gently.
4. The measurement of distances of weights should be done from one end.
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