Description

The arch is comprised of two half sections that meet in the middle with a roller bearing to simulate the central hinge. When assembled the arch sections form the three hinge arch with a flat horizontal plane for the different loads to be applied over the span of the arch.

The two arch sections are clamped to the supports which simulate a pinned support at each end of the arch. The supports don’t allow any horizontal or vertical movement but allow the supports to rotate. One of the supports constrains the frame horizontally by a load cell.

This allows the horizontal thrust at that support to be measured.

Features & Benefits

• Ability to show mechanical principles of three hinged arches

• Point loads, UDLs (uniformly distributed loads) and rolling loads can be applied to the arch

• Pivoting support capable of measuring horizontal thrust

Experimental Content

• Relationship between applied loads and horizontal reaction force (thrust)

• Comparison between theory and experimental results

• Horizontal reaction force influence lines

• Uniform Distributed loads (UDL), Point Loads and Moving Loads