Structures in products
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Flip to reveal answersHow do you model a product as a structure?
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Question
How do you model a product as a structure?
Answer
Simplify it to members and joints, add the real loads, follow each load to the ground, name what each member does, and say where it would fail first.
Question
Which strengthening gives most for the least material?
Answer
Triangulation for a mechanism; depth for bending, since stiffness rises with the cube of depth; a shorter span for deflection, which falls with the fourth power of span.
Question
Why is a stronger material rarely the fix for sagging?
Answer
Strength and stiffness are different properties, and a stronger grade usually has almost the same stiffness. Geometry changes deflection enormously; material hardly at all.
Question
Where does a product usually fail first?
Answer
At a joint, a fixing, or the most slender compression member — rarely in the middle of a solid part.
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Topic 7.2 hub
Structural systems applied
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