Program for solving 2D truss structures based on the Finite Element Method

by Eng. Francesco Onorat

This work was in response to a need to design an industrial warehouse whose structure was based on steel beams. Although the design of steel truss structures is a common analysis taught in engineering courses, and the theory allows to get the solution by handmade calculations, the desire for a robust, error-checked design process that could be performed repeatedly led me to code it in software. Typically, several iterations are common practice in the design phase but they are time consuming and potential source of errors if the process is managed by handmade calculations.

This work was in response to a need to design an industrial warehouse whose structure was based on steel beams. Although the design of steel truss structures is a common analysis taught in engineering courses, and the theory allows to get the solution by handmade calculations, the desire for a robust, error-checked design process that could be performed repeatedly led me to code it in software. Typically, several iterations are common practice in the design phase but they are time consuming and potential source of errors if the process is managed by handmade calculations.