The influence of loading frame stiffness on loadcell–deadweight force machine interaction

We have investigated the effect of the loading frame stiffness on the deadweight force machine–loadcell interaction. We examined the influence of four of the loading frame’s dimensional variables, specifically the upper plate thickness, span width, loading frame height, and column diameter. Finite element analysis illustrates that the upper plate thickness is the most important of these four factors. In order to perform the finite element analysis efficiently, we utilized the Taguchi technique, as this typically reduces the total required simulations. The validity of the finite element analysis was confirmed through experiments. Further investigation of the effects of the upper plate thickness showed the degree of interaction initially decreases with increasing thickness, but then levels off. The onset of constant interaction is a useful guide for the design of a deadweight force machine, because it can provide optimal thickness to satisfy both the high stiffness and small weight simultaneously.