Results comparison between classic handmade process and the use of S-FRAME
Altair EmployeeFollowing the next link, you can find a video with a comparison of handmade calculations and S-FRAME analysis: https://youtu.be/dLoiHIWYivs?si=N-XNuNja8BPKou-r
For this example, an analysis of a truss structure was preformed, to calculate the vertical displacement in a joint for the given structure. The handmade calculations were based in the Virtual Work Method.
The Virtual Work Method uses the law of conservation of energy to obtain the deflection of any point given. This method applies a vertical unit load in the point of interest and calculates the virtual internal axial forces (n) for all the members. This data is integrated with the real axial member forces (N), calculated with the real forces applied in the truss. This integration considers the member's length (L), their area (A) and the Young's modulus (E), and give us the displacement Delta:
With all the data gathered, a quick operation can be done to obtain our result. Having this, it's a matter of building the model in S-FRAME with the correct parameters and run the analysis, so we can make the comparison. These processes are ilustrated in the video.