TESTING AND MEASURING Lego Technic: Structural analysis through experiment and simulation

What may appear as a mere toy to children becomes a functional test sample for mechanical engineers? Lego clamping bricks offer significant potential for investigating mechanical interactions on a small scale - both experimentally and numerically. This concept formed the basis of a project undertaken as part of our master‘s program in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Applied Sciences Bingen.

The objective of the project was the systematic analysis of the stiffness properties of Lego bricks in combination with connectors from the Lego Technic series, with the aim of evaluating the accuracy of digital models in representing real components and assemblies. For this purpose, a Zwick/Roell Z020 materials testing machine was used to carry out 3-point bending tests and tensile tests on bricks of type 3703. The FEM programme Abaqus was used for the numerical simulation.