DESIGN OF CHILDREN’S PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENTS

By
 INTRODUCTION
Virtually every segment of our activities and surroundings is influenced to one degree or
another by materials. With the aim of solving problems through design , engineers use their
knowledge and principles on mechanics of materials to understand the way various materials
react to applied forces. This can be achieved by analysis of the resultant stresses, bending,
deflections and strains set up within the elements or bodies in an attempt to ensure that
components to be designed will not fail during its service life .The focus on material selection and
properties is also a key factor that is considered when designing/ and constructing children
playgrounds

CHILDRENS PLAYGROUND STRUCTURE.

The Children’s playground Structure is principally the design of a well equipped play equipment
which can cater for many children using minimum space and offering a variety of fun activities
using eco –friendly ,sustainable, cheap and durable engineering materials .The design has been
done with incorporation of principles learnt in materials engineering and mechanics of materials
with detailed reference to recommendations by the Australian Standards

PROJECT GOALS

To nurture and develop children physically and mentally by providing essential rides within the
playground area.

To apply knowledge on materials and mechanics of material during design and material selection
of the various major parts of the monkey bar ,slide and swing.

Providing many structures with series of decks linked so as to provide variety of play using a
minimum area of space.

OUTPUTS AND TARGETS

The design of the Children’s Playground structure was done using Autodesk Inventor. Using the
basic skill of 3D modeling and rendering the sketch and general scaled perspective view of the
playground is shown below.
The design process took into account children aged between 5-8 years putting all the weight
considerations and size into the dimensions and detailed shown in the sketch above.

As seen from the sketch the various diverse playing equipment included are :

1. Ladder.
2. Swing.
3. Monkey bar.
4. Tower platform.
5. Bridge.
6. Slide.
7. Recreation shade.

Specifications of the playground structure

1. Height of the tower structure is 1.5m.
2. Total space area occupied by the playground is 9m x 9m.
3. The length of the monkey bar section is 5m.
4. The bridge has a length of 4m by a width of 2m.
5. The length of the slide adjacent to the tower platform is 5 m.
6. The height of the cantilever swing from the ground is 0.5 m
7. The recreation shade is a square block with dimensions of 4m by 4m
8. All considerations to tolerance were also taken into account during the design process.

List of Construction Materials

1. Polyester rope for the swing ,

2. Wood, for the tower house.
3. Steel bars for the swing frames
4. Steel slide.
5. Plywood ladder

Design of elements under tension

Many materials, when in service, are subjected to forces or loads. The material selected

1. Poly-supreme rope for the sing rope,

2. Steel seat
3. Steel bars for the frames.
Material Selection.

The seat of a swing is usually suspended from swing set frame on either chains or ropes. Swings
typically apply oscillatory motion and which depends upon air drag which slow it down. The
ropes or wires holding the seat of the swing is usually applied to tensile force when carrying a
load. The load here is the weight of the children and vary depending on the angle of swing . A
cheap ,low carbon footprint ,relatively ductile material was the major factor that singled the
materials into polymer ropes, sisal ropes being selected and capable of considerable distortion
without fracture.

The poly-supreme rope was also selected because of its non-reactive properties therefore they
would be no formation of oxide layers like rust

To investigate the internal stresses produced ,an imaginary cut at section is made perpendicular
to the long axis of the rope .Taking into account the range age of the children being 5-8 years
an average of 400N weight was taken into consideration The tensile stress is to be applied along
the long axis of a cylindrical poly-supreme rope that has a diameter of 50 mm.

𝐹
𝜎=
𝐴

To investigate the internal stresses produced an imaginary cut at section is made perpendicular
to the long axis of the bar.

𝐹 𝐹 400
σ= = 𝜋𝑑4
= 𝜋(0.0504
= 81.48 𝑀𝑃𝑎
𝐴
4 4
𝑅𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ
Factor of safety, n = 𝐴𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑆𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ𝑠

A safety factor of 2 was chosen to ensure that the swing rope will remain durable during its
service
𝑅𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ
2=
81.48 𝑀𝑃𝑎

Required strength =162.98 MPa

It is safe to assume that the stress distribution gradually approaches the uniformdistribution at a
distance d away from the ends of the ropes, where d is the largest transversedimension of the
rope

DESIGN OF ELEMENTS UNDER COMPRESSION

MONKEY BARS
Material selection
Monkey bars is a the playing equipment that offers climbing option for the children to exercise
and play with.

Since the structure holds more than 5 children at a time the main structural material to be
selected would be strong metal being steel.

A material with a high allowable load is chosen during design .Allowable load is calculated
depending on the ultimate stress that can be applied to a beam/bar and it will not deform .This is
found using a desired safety factor

Yield Strength Tensile Ductility,

Metal Alloy
(MPa) Strength(MPa) %EL [in 50
mm]
Aluminum 35 90 40
Copper 69 200 45
Brass (70Cu–30Zn) 75 300 68
Iron 130 262 45
Nickel 138 480 40
Steel (1020) 180 380 25
Titanium 450 520 25
Molybdenum 565 655 35

In this case of the monkey bar, the beam is resting on two supports is a simply supported beam

Assumptions

For calculation purposes the area has been assumed to be so small that the load can be justly
assumed to act at a point.

A uniformly distributed load has been assumed to act over the beam of the monkey bar
though in most the distribution is not uniform but may vary linearly across the loaded portion
since children provide live loads because they randomly select their favorite play equipment.

Shearing force is defined as the algebraic sum of the forces taken on either side of the section in
a beam carrying transverse loads Similarly, the bending moment at any section is the algebraic
sum of the moments of the forces about the section, any can be taken from either sides.

The shearing-force (S.F.) and bending-moment (B.M.) diagrams show the variation of these
quantities along the length of a beam for any fixed loading condition

Using the geometry of the monkey bars and the assumptions taken into account, the reactions
are evaluated in a more simplified manner.
By the symmetry of the beam. Each reaction will therefore take half the applied load,

i.e
12 𝑥 25
𝑅𝐴 = 𝑅𝐵 = = 150 𝑘𝑁
2

The S.F. at A, using the usual sign convention, is therefore + 150kN.

Consider now the beam divided into six equal parts 2 m long. The S.F. at any other point C

150 − 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝐴 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐶

150 − (25 𝑥 2) = +100𝑘𝑁

The S.F. at A is + 150 kN and between A and B this decreases gradually by the amount of the
applied load to

25 x 12 = 300kN) to - 150kN at B.

fig 2.

Shear forces and bending moments represent only the resultants of the internal stresses both
normal and shear stresses are involved, and are associated with the bending moment and shear
force respectively. These stresses must determined in order to assess the ability of the beam to
support the loads applied by the children to ensure safety and durability.

In consideration of the beam equilibrium of the every force acting on it must be considered.

Comparison of wood and steel.

The beam may be considered replaced by the equivalent wooden section

The thickness t‘ of the wood equivalent to the steel which it replaces is given by

The equation below.

Then, for the equivalent section

Now the maximum stress in the timber is 12 MN/m2, and this will occur at y = 100 mm;thus, from
the bending theory the moment of resistance of the beam, i.e. the bending moment which the
beam can withstand within the given limit, is 9.2 kN m.

The maximum stress in the steel with this moment applied is then determined by finding

Therefore maximum stress in equivalent wood

first the maximum stress in the equivalent wood at the same position, i.e. at y = 40 mm.

FINAL DESIGN.

The primary concern of the structural analysis and material selection is the prevention of failure
of children’s playing equipment and ensuring durable eco-friendly materials can be used .
Exceeding the material properties and strength causes permanent deformation or failure, which
is unacceptable for our application as it would compromise the safety of our children and
Australian standards for Children’s playground.. Therefore, all subsequent calculations of margin
of safety has been performed using the considerations obtained from mechanics of materials and
as a point of reference. The main goal of the project which emphasized on design of a well
equipped play equipment has been met with provision of best selected materials that offer .

References

Beer, F., Johnston, E., DeWolf, J. and Mazurek, D. (2015). Mechanics of materials.

GameTime. (2019). Playground Equipment | Playgrounds, Playground Sets. [online] Available at:
https://www.gametime.com/playground-equipment [Accessed 26 Sep. 2019].

Gifford, C. (2012). Materials. 3rd ed. New York: Kingfisher.

Gupta, K. (2016). Material science and engineering technology II. 4th ed. Seattle: Wordpress Inc.

he Australian Children's Education & Care Quality Authority ... (2019). Standard safety
equipments for Playgrounds. Chatswood: The Book Printing Co.

Hearn, E. (2015). The mechanics of elastic and plastic deformation of solids and structural
materials. 5th ed. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.

Hibbeler, R. (n.d.). Statics and mechanics of materials. 2nd ed. Bongaree QLD: Victory Press.

Huggins-Cooper, L., McNicholas, S. and Burroughs, D. (2015). Materials. 3rd ed. North Mankato,
Minn.: Smart Apple Media.

Mechanics of creep brittle materials. (1991). Mechanics of Materials, 11(1), pp.83-84.

Ross, C., Bird, J. and Little, A. (n.d.). Mechanics of solids. 3rd ed. Washington DC: Diamond
printers.

Tambouratzis, T., Karalekas, D. and Moustakas, N. (2013). A Methodological Study for

Optimizing Material Selection in Sustainable Product Design. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 18(4),
pp.508-516.

Zhang, H., Jin, D. and Zhao, X. (n.d.). Advanced research on material science and environmental
science. 4th ed. London: Fast times Co.