Beam and Leaf Spring

The heavy-duty box-section support beamworks as the main support underneath the test beams and the leaf spring duringthe tests. The spring is of the same heavy-duty design as those used in vehicle suspensions. The Beam and Leaf Spring parts fit into the compressive testarea of Universal Testing Machine. The testing machine applies a compressive bending force and measures the beam deflection. Students may adjust the position of the knife edge supports to setthe length of beam under test. This give students a better understanding of a ‘real world engineering component. For beam tests, the test beam rests across two knife edge supports fixed to the support beam. This forms a ‘simply supported beam. For leaf spring tests, the spring rests on its rollerson two fl at supports fixed to the support beam. They can then compare theresults with those predicted by theory. Again, the testing machineapplies a compressive force and measures the leaf spring deflection. For thebeams, students use the deflection and force values to find the relationshipbetween force and deflection for the different beams.