Aircraft Structures Laboratory

Universal Testing Machine (UTM)

UTM is used to determine the tensile strength of a given specimen by generating stress verses strain graphs. Mechanical properties such as modulus of elasticity, yield strength and ultimate strength can be determined for the given material. Capacity: 20 kN


Shear Centre of Open Sections

Shear center is a point on the cross of the beam and the shear force passes through this point which causes the beam to bend without twisting. If the resultant of the internal shear force system and the applied shear force at any section do not coincide, a torque is developed and the section undergoes a twist. For the section not to twist, the applied shear force must pass through the shear center which is the centroid of the internal shear force system. The experimental setup is used to determine the shear center of ‘C’ section beam.


Torsion of a Thin Walled Tube and Solid Shaft

Shear center is a point on the cross of the beam and the shear force passes through this point which causes the beam to bend without twisting. If the resultant of the internal shear force system and the applied shear force at any section do not coincide, a torque is developed and the section undergoes a twist. For the section not to twist, the applied shear force must pass through the shear center which is the centroid of the internal shear force system. The experimental setup is used to determine the shear center of ‘C’ section beam.


Digital Torsion Testing Machine for Solid Shaft


Tunsymmetrical Bending of Beam

The well-known flexure formula is based on elementary theory of bending of beams and it assumes that the load is always applied through one of the principal axes of the section. Though the applied load passes through shear center of the section, the plane of bending and the plane of loading need not necessarily be the same unless the load passes along the principal axes. Therefore knowledge of the location of the principal axes is required. The experimental is used to determine the principal axes.


Compression Test on Column, Critical Buckling Loads – Southwell Plot

The need for materials with high strength to weight ratio in aircraft design has resulted in the use of slender structural components that fail more often by instability (buckling) than by excessive stress. The simplest example of such a structural component is slender column. The Southwell plot is a graphical method of determining experimentally a columns critical load. The technique can be used as a non-destructive testing of any structural elements that may fail by buckling.


CSpring Testing Setup – Stiffness of the Spring

Stiffness is a measure of ability of the material to resist the deformation in response to an applied force. Generally spring stiffness is the force required to cause unit deflection. The spring testing setup is used to determine the stiffness of the spring.


Composite Fabrication - Vacuum Resin Transfer Molding facility

Composite materials are known for high strength to weight and high stiffness to weight ratios. Among various methods, the two ways of making the fiber reinforced polymer composite plates, such as the hand layup and the vacuum assisted resin infusion techniques are available in the laboratory.