Model Demonstrations
Statics
1. Equilibrium
Model 1: Action and Reaction Forces
Model 2: Stable and unstable equilibrium
Model 3: A plate-bottle system
Model 4: A magnetic “float” model
Model 1: Determination of the centre of mass of a piece of cardboard of arbitrary shape
Model 2: Determination of centre of mass and centroid of a body
Model 3: Centre of mass of a body in a horizontal plane
Model 4: Centre of mass of a body in a vertical plane
Model 5: Centre of mass and stability
Model 6: Centre of mass and motion
Model 7: Centre of mass and centre of curvature
3. Effect of Different Cross Sections
Model 1: Two rectangular beams and an I-section beam
Model 2: Lifting a book using a bookmark
4. Bending
Model 1: Assumptions in beam bending
Model 2: A thin beam and a thick beam
Model 1: Effect of torsion
Model 2: Effect of shear stress
Model 3: Effect of shear force
Model 4: Open and closed sections subject to torsion with warping
Model 5: Open and closed sections subject to torsion without warping
Model 6: Shear centre of a thin-walled open section
Model 1: Balloons on nails
Model 2: Uniform and non-uniform stress distributions
Model 3: Stress concentration
Model 4: The core of a section
Model 1: Effect of spans
Model 2: Effect of boundary conditions
Model 3: The bending moment at one fixed end of a beam
Model 4: Lateral stiffness of vertical members
Model 1: Experimental Verification
Model 2: Direct and zigzag force paths
Model 1: A pair of rubber rings
Model 2: Post-tensioned plastic beams
10. Buckling
Model 1: Buckling shapes of plastic columns
Model 2: Buckling loads and boundary conditions
Model 3: Lateral buckling of beams
Model 4: Buckling of an empty aluminium can
11. Prestress
Model 1: Prestressed wooden blocks forming a beam and a column
Model 2: A toy using prestressing
12. Horizontal Movements of Structures Induced by Vertical Loads
Model 1: A symmetric frame
Model 2: An anti-symmetric frame
Model 3: An asymmetric frame
Dynamics
Model 1: A moving wheel
Model 2: Collision balls
Model 3: Dropping a series of balls
Model 1: Natural frequency of suspended systems
Model 2: Effect of added masses
Model 3: Static behaviour of an outward inclined suspended system
Model 1: Free vibration of a pendulum system
Model 2: Vibration decay and natural frequency
Model 3: An overcritically-damped system
Model 4: Mode shapes of a discrete model
Model 5: Mode shapes of a continuous model
Model 6: Tension force and natural frequency of a straight tension bar
4. Resonance
Model 1: Dynamic response of a SDOF system subject to harmonic support movements
Model 2: Effect of resonance
5. Damping
Model 1: Observing the effect of damping in free vibrations
Model 2: Hearing the effect of damping in free vibration
Model 1: A tuned mass damper (TMD)
Model 2: A tuned-liquid-damper (TLD)
Model 3: Vibration isolation
Model 4: A pendulum tuned-mass-damper
7. Human Body Models in Structural Vibration
Model 1: The body model of a standing person in the vertical direction
Model 2: The body model of a standing person in the lateral directions