Office Spaces is updating their office chairs and have decided to alter the material and cross section of the arm supports. They have requested our assistance in evaluating several materials through experiments and simulations. The purpose of this experiment is to test these various materials and to recommend a material choice and cross section geometry that will minimize deflection of the arm supports. The following sections of this memorandum will detail several facets of the experiment. Section 2 will present the results of the experiment in an objective manner and detail any observations recorded. Section 3 will discuss the importance of the results and section 4 will summarize the results of the experiment and conclude the memorandum.
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Firstly, each trendline had a strong, positive and linear slope. Of the three rectangular beams, aluminum had the greatest slope at .000133x followed by brass at .000094x and steel at .000051x. This is significant because it shows aluminum experienced far greater deflection than brass or steel when the same force was applied. It also shows that steel experiences the lowest deflection of the three rectangular beams when a force is applied. However, the hollow aluminum box experienced even less deflection than the rectangular steel beam.
The hollow aluminum box trendline had the lowest slope of any of the tested beams at .000016x, which is under half that of the steel beam. Considering the rectangular aluminum beam experienced the greatest deflection, shape is observed to have a large effect on the measured deflection. This is significant because a certain shape may be better than other shapes to produce the least amount of deflection.
The differences and similarities seen in the slopes in Figure 1 are caused mainly by material choice and cross-sectional area. It is clearly shown that material changes the slope of the curve based on the three rectangular beams. All three have approximately the same cross-sectional area and approximately the same area moment of inertia, so the only variable that is changing is the material. This is significant because it shows that material choice has a large …show more content…
Human error took several forms in this experiment. One such form was putting the weights on the weight holder too quickly. This would cause the beam to bounce up and down and to obscure the dial indicator. The beam would often take some time to stop moving so that an accurate reading could be taken. Another form of human error was the weight holder being moved. The weight holder sat freely in the hole at the end of the beam, so when adding weight, the weight holder moved and rotate around. This could affect the results if the weight holder was off center and not in the same location for each
Firstly, each trendline had a strong, positive and linear slope. Of the three rectangular beams, aluminum had the greatest slope at .000133x followed by brass at .000094x and steel at .000051x. This is significant because it shows aluminum experienced far greater deflection than brass or steel when the same force was applied. It also shows that steel experiences the lowest deflection of the three rectangular beams when a force is applied. However, the hollow aluminum box experienced even less deflection than the rectangular steel beam.
The hollow aluminum box trendline had the lowest slope of any of the tested beams at .000016x, which is under half that of the steel beam. Considering the rectangular aluminum beam experienced the greatest deflection, shape is observed to have a large effect on the measured deflection. This is significant because a certain shape may be better than other shapes to produce the least amount of deflection.
The differences and similarities seen in the slopes in Figure 1 are caused mainly by material choice and cross-sectional area. It is clearly shown that material changes the slope of the curve based on the three rectangular beams. All three have approximately the same cross-sectional area and approximately the same area moment of inertia, so the only variable that is changing is the material. This is significant because it shows that material choice has a large …show more content…
Human error took several forms in this experiment. One such form was putting the weights on the weight holder too quickly. This would cause the beam to bounce up and down and to obscure the dial indicator. The beam would often take some time to stop moving so that an accurate reading could be taken. Another form of human error was the weight holder being moved. The weight holder sat freely in the hole at the end of the beam, so when adding weight, the weight holder moved and rotate around. This could affect the results if the weight holder was off center and not in the same location for each