Model for Deflection Analysis in Cantilever Beam

Exposure to Finite Element Method is beneficial to undergraduate engineering students; and educators have an obligation to introduce students to modern engineering tools. However, teaching of the course is computational intensive and existing propriety software are very expensive. Different approaches to introducing students to the FEM have been proposed. Existing approaches make use of learning modules of commercial Finite Element Analysis (FEA) packages such as ANSYS, ABAQUS, COMSOL Multiphysics, ALGOR, JL AutoFEA Analyzer and PRO/MECHANICA. This paper presents an in-house developed finite-element-based computer model via the virtual work principle using Linear Strain Triangular (LST) elements for deflection analysis on cantilever beam. The validation and capability characteristics was demonstrated by applying it to a cantilever beam, subjected to a point load, using both coarse (4-element) and fine (10-element) meshes. The model gave results very close to those obtained analytically; the 10-element mesh gave better results than the 4-element mesh. The model has made the analysis more flexible, and also made visualization and presentation of results easier for better judgment. It facilitates the presentation of the basic rules which govern FEA and helps in the learning of different aspects of the numerical technique; hence the model will serve as reliable tool in undergraduate engineering programme