Development of a mechanical beam prototype for educational purposes

This paper presents an experimental prototype based on a beam for educational purposes for students of university. The platform is conditioned easily by students for experiments different, opening many new possibilities for experiments in mechanics of material courses. The approach is to apply the theory of mechanic of materials using the prototype by a real-time implementation. This estimates and plots shear-force and bending moment diagrams for a beam with concentrated loads. The implemented algorithm allows to estimate maximum moment and deflection on a specific point. The platform is easy to interface with any computer giving new possibilities for practical assignments in courses of Mechanical, Mechatronics, Architecture and Civil engineering. Also, we present application examples with a beam with two supports and a Cantilever beam that validate the performance of the prototype with students during practices.