Structures, Vibration and Materials Laboratory

METU AEE Structures, Vibration and Materials Laboratories

Experimental Facilities for Teaching and Research

Undergraduate Structures, Vibration and Materials Laboratory

In the undergraduate structures laboratory there are variety of experimental setups used for demonstrations and laboratory work in courses such as AE261 Statics, AEE 264 Mechanics of Materials, AEE 361 Applied Elasticity, AEE 362 Aerospace Structures, and AE410 Aerospace Engineering Laboratory. These experiments teach students the fundamentals of structures. These equipment are used for laboratory works in the Structure courses and also for laboratory and project works in AEE 410 course.

The Redundant Truss Experiment: The equipment introduces testing and analysis of a determinate pin jointed structure and allows students to compare the results to those of a similar indeterminate structure. The equipment also demonstrates the use of strain gauges.
The Shear Force in a Beam Experiment: The experiment gives students a visualization and proof of the basic theory of shear force.
The Bending Moment in a Beam Experiment: The experiment gives students a visualization and proof of the basic theory of bending moments.
The Strain Gauge Trainer: The equipment shows students how popular strain gauges work and how to use them correctly. It shows them how to measure strain in different ways and compare displayed strain with theoretical strain for different materials and structures.
The Bending Stress in a Beam Experiment: The experiment introduces students to stress and strain, bending moment, section properties and the bending equation. Students determine the neutral axis of a T-section beam under pure bending.
The Unsymmetrical Bending and Shear Centre Experiment: The experiment gives students a visualization and proof of basic concepts such as principal second moments of area, construction a Mohr’s Circle and the position of the shear center for various sections.
The Buckling of Struts Experiment: The experiment is concerned with the buckling of slender columns and relationships between length, end fixing conditions and buckling load.
The Frame Deflections and Reactions Experiment: The experiment is concerned with the deflections and reactions of a rectangular portal. In the experiment students use measured and calculated values of moments, reactions and sway to study the linear elastic behavior of the portal in particular, the sway of the frame due to the asymmetry of the frame or the loading position.
The Thin Cylinder (SM1007): Thin Cylinder shows students the strains in the surface of a thin-walled cylinder when it is under stress from an internal pressure. This arrangement is similar to many real world applications, including pressure pipes, aircraft fuselages and compressed gas cylinders. It also teaches students about a biaxial stress system, the use of strain gauges, Young’s Modulus, Poisson’s Ratio, and construction and use of a Mohr’s Circle.
The Diaphragm (SM1008): Diaphragm shows students the change of shape and strains in the surface of a circular diaphragm when it is under stress from an increased pressure on one side. Also known as ‘a circular flat plate with its edges fixed around the circumference’, this arrangement is similar to many real world applications. These include pressure control units, pressure transducers, cylinder covers, and sealing plates and the ends of cylindrical pressure vessels and storage tanks. It also teaches students about the use of strain gauges, radial and circumferential strains, the cross-section of a diaphragm under pressure (deflected shape), how to calculate the theoretical strains and deflected in a diaphragm.
Universal Vibration Apparatus:
- Pendulum experiments
- Mass spring systems experiments
- Free and forced vibrations experiments
- Torsional vibrations experiments
Other Research Facilities and Equipment:
- 100 kN Servo-hydraulic Axial Testing Machine
- 250 kN Servo-hydraulic Axial Fatigue Testing Machine
- 100 kN – 1100 N×m Servo-hydraulic Axial/Torsional Fatigue Testing Machine
- 100 kN Electromechanical Testing Machine with -100 – +350 °C Environmental Chamber
- Pin-on-Disk Testing Machine
- 10 kN Electromechanical Testing Machine
- 20 J – 44 kN Drop-weight Low-velocity Impact Test Setup
- Friction Test Setup
- 1,000,000 fps Ultra-High Speed Visualization System
- 3-D Digital Image Correlation Syste
- Photoelasticity System
- 5800× Digital Microscope
- Strain Gage Instrumentation
- Lambda 35 UV/Vis Spectrophotometer
- DSC 4000 Differential Scanning Calorimeter
- TGA 4000 Thermogravimetric Analyzer
- Spectrum Two Spectrometer
- DMA 8000 Dynamic Mechanical Analyzer
- High Performance Scanning Vibrometer
- Optical Derotator (Used with High Performance Scanning Vibrometer)
- Single Point Vibrometer
- Accelerometers and Force Transducers
- Miniature Accelerometers
- Triaxial Miniature Accelerometers
- Force Transducers
- Impedance Head
- Modal Exciters (400N)
- Impact Hammer (2200N)
- 28-Channel Pulse Data Acquisition System
- Built-in Signal Generator
- Laser Takometer