DESCRIPTION

Technical Description

As light-weight structures offering a high degree of rigidity, trusses are employed in the construction of halls, bridges, cranes, pylons and masts. Trusses are bar structures in which the bars are subjected to compression or tension loading, but not to bending.

The SE 130 setup provides experiments on single plane trusses with a high degree of measurement accuracy and computerised result readout based on software. The ready assembled truss is mounted horizontally on a frame. The bars are joined by a “hinged” connection, using node discs. Consequently, our truss can be considered as an ideal truss. The external force is generated with the aid of a threaded spindle. The force can be applied in various directions and at various points.

The forces occurring on the truss bars are recorded by strain gauges. All strain gauge measuring points are housed together in a connection box. From there, they are connected to the measuring amplifier FL 151. The software is used to manage the measurement data and provide graphical representation of the bar forces. The software features a comprehensive help function.

An additional truss is available to extend the scope of the experiment: SE 130.01, Warren type.

The well-structured instructional material sets out the fundamentals and provides a step-by-step guide through the experiments.

Learning Objectives / Experiments
- measurement of the bar forces in a single plane truss, Howe type
- dependency of bar forces on the external force
   * magnitude, direction, point of application
- comparison of measurement results with mathematical and graphical methods * method of joints
   * Ritter’s method of sections
   * Cremona diagram
- basic principle: measurement of forces using strain gauges