Calcualting the tension in a wire
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close all; clear all; clc
%Calculates tension in a cable
m=50; g=9.81; l=50; %Parameters are fixed for run
c=linspace(50,100,100);
d=linspace(0,l,100); %Vector for distance from wall
D=zeros(100,1);
Tmin=zeros(100,1);
for x=1:length(c);
tension=m*g*c(x)*l./(d.*sqrt(c(x)^2 - d.^2)); %Calculation
[a,b]=min(tension);
Tmin(x)=a;
D(x)=d(b);
end
plot(D,Tmin,'b') %Plot
[p,q]=min(Tmin); %To find minimum tension, and postn
output=['Minimum tension ', num2str(p), ' occurs at d=', num2str(D(q)), ' Cable length ', num2str(c(q))];
disp(output)
Above is my code for calclulating the tension in a wire (different lengths). The resultant plot is similar to a staircase going downwards, but i am led to believe that it should be more parabolic...could anyone shed any light on the situation, thank you.
EDIT:
m=mass g=gravity l=length of beam c=length of cable Tmin=minimum tension a,b = minimum tension, a, at location, b.
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Answers (1)
Roger Stafford
on 15 Mar 2014
The "staircase" effect you are getting is due to the fact that your minimum always occurs at the far end where d = 1, since the tension is always monotone decreasing for the d values you are using. Consequently you get a vertical line for the plot. You are very far from reaching the true minimum at d = c/sqrt(2). If you did have d ranging that far, you would get a hyperbolic, not parabolic, curve of minimum tension versus d.
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