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rusty_tlc
February 23rd, 2006, 01:05 PM
Any body have a link to a webs site with the relative strengths of different size/wall steel tube?
mikeCJ-7
February 23rd, 2006, 02:29 PM
What are you looking for? There are a lot of different ways to calculate the strengths of tubing. Two main factors are the size/thickness and second the material properties E elasticity modulus, G shear modulus, Poisson's ratio, etc.

Then there are different methods to calculate the stresses based upon the types of loading, whether it is axial loading or torsional loads.

So depending on what you are looking for there is a lot more to your general question.
rusty_tlc
February 23rd, 2006, 02:59 PM
What are you looking for? There are a lot of different ways to calculate the strengths of tubing. Two main factors are the size/thickness and second the material properties Elasticity modulus, G strain modulus, Poisson's ratio, etc.

Then there are different methods to calculate the stresses based upon the types of loading, whether it is axial loading or torsional loads.

So depending on what you are looking for there is a lot more to your general question.
Sounds like an ME.:)

I'm just doing some blue sky thinking about camp trailers. Basically I wanted to know what the trade off (weight vs strength) is for different gage walls. So I guess the main force would be beam deflection?
mikeCJ-7
February 23rd, 2006, 03:37 PM
It is interesting in how they figure this stuff, the yield strengths for certain allows are of a known quantity. These values depending upon your factors of safety should never be approached in application or design. With a given yield strength it is up to the size of the tubing and its placement that will determine how it will load. Then based upon these loads you can calculate your beam deflection, how far it will compress and such and if you are in danger. So once you have a material chosen, size and orientation of the material have a huge impact on how it distributes the load.

Obviously steel is a good candidate for compressive type applications, it has a high Modulus of Elasticity (A-36 29,000 ksi) compared to aluminum (6061 10,600 ksi). But steel as much heavier.

If you have some ideas of loads and designs I could help you figure out what size tubing to use. Although there are some other shapes that may work too.