The owners of a manufacturing plant want to hang a piece of equipment from a retrofit beam. They are very concerned about additional deflection of the beam because it is closely surrounded by...

The owners of a manufacturing plant want to hang a piece of equipment from a retrofit beam. They are very concerned about additional deflection of the beam because it is closely surrounded by sensitive equipment. If the additional deflection anywhere along the beam exceeds 1/4 inch, the system must be redesigned. The beam is a steel W8 x 15 (I = 48.0 in4, E = 29,000 ksi). A team member points out that since the beam experiences only a point load, the Conjugate Beam Method is probably faster than the Double Integration Method in this case. a. Guess the location of the peak vertical displacement (e.g., near A, just right of B). b. Estimate the peak vertical displacement considering segment BC as simply supported. Will this provide an upper bound, a lower bound, or just an approximation for the actual peak vertical displacement? Justify your answer.

c. Construct the moment diagram for the full beam. Identify at least three features of the moment diagram that suggest you have a reasonable answer. d. Determine the location and value of the peak vertical displacement. e. Evaluate the displacement prediction using your results from part (b). f. Evaluate whether the beam will meet the deflection limit or must be redesigned. g. Comment on why your guess in part (a) was or was not close to the solution in part (d).