Place or remove hinges within a beam
Bulk mode (optional):
select group of beams (e.g. when used as a truss solver) and apply hinge to the group
Lose everything?
You will lose old backup
The current project will be lost
Use directly your pointer and click within the working area to enter a beam. The pointed position sticks to grid lines (call zoom in if you want to enrich the grid).
Press Escape key or Abort button when finished.
Note: you won't be able to enter nodes. Nodes appear automatically during the beam creation.
Erases all objects and starts a new project from a scratch. Also serves to interrupt demo.
Opens a saved project. Typically, you may choose from opening an
Saves your actual progress. Only one file is supported, therefore the action replaces any older record. Furthermore, a second file is used by autosave.
Note: the project will be saved into storage of your particular browser and remains permanent through restarts.
Usually affects the density of grid lines. It is likely you will find useful also tuning a scale within Settings
Serves to select multiple beams by a rectangle. The feature is useful if you want to
If the mouse is your pointer then this button is almost useless (the feature is automatically entered on dragging attempts). But since on touch displays dragging serves to another purpose (scrolling the working area), this button has to exist.
Note: some browsers (e.g. Firefox) may not support this feature: an error is displayed and you have to pick up beam by beam.
Acts as Escape key and is useful on touch screens—which are not equipped with a keyboard—to
Assuming you have a keyboard, you want rather to use Escape key.
Removes selected beams or selected loads. Assuming you have a keyboard, you want rather to use the Delete key.
Defines cross-sections and assigns them to beams. First, a section has to be defined and saved. Once the section is saved, it may be used.
It is common in structural analysis that the effect of shear is not taken into account when evaluating reactions/deflections, thus Ash is optional. Shear area depends on the type of used section: e.g. solid section, I-beam, hollow section; refer to other sources if you are unsure.
Finally, you have to select desired beams and call Apply button. Use Escape key or Abort button from the toolbar to deselect beams then.
You can place basic supports at any node. The dialog also allows you to remove support(s). Regarding inclined roller support, let you learn a workaround.
A beam may be connected into a node through a hinge. Activate the feature, then click on beams to achieve desired connection at each end.
You likely want to use bulk mode if the model is a truss: select by rectangle desired diagonals of the truss, then activate this function and click on any beam from the group.
This dialog serves to
A load can be placed into a node or anywhere (according to the grid lines) on a beam. If you want to place a load out of the grid, then place the load close to the desired position and exit the Load dialog. Click the load to modify its parameters.
By default, loads act in the direction of gravity. If you want another angle, then the convention is: gravity load is zero and angle in degrees counts counter-clockwise.
Uniform load is a distributed load with the second parameter left empty. A load may be placed to/from nodes or anywhere (according to the grid lines) on a particular beam. If you want to place a load out of the grids, then place the load close to the desired position and exit the Load dialog. Click the load to modify its parameters.
The feature is useful if you want to remove more loads at once.
The first mode (Run it): if activated, click on nodes or beams to remove loads acting on them.
The second mode (Apply to selected): first select beams, then call the action. You can deselect them, then by Escape key or by pressing the Abort button from the toolbar.
If you want to modify the position of a load within a beam, you have to look where the beam starts. The zero will be highlighted (node in red color): position within the beam is measured from there.
In order to keep the user interface simple, you won't be able to move a load entered on a node. Also, you won't be able to change a uniform load to a linear one. In such cases, remove the load and enter a new one.
Runs the solver on your structure and prepares results. You may be given a warning or an error. Some warnings can be overseen. An error usually comes from unstable structures (mechanism). That usually happens when not enough constraints/supports are provided or a forgotten beam has been left.
Once you alter/modify the solved structure, the results are considered no longer valid and are immediately removed.
Controls view and diagrams.
In the Main tab you may turn on/off some layers that you consider at a given moment as obtrusive.
In the other tabs you can control displaying N, V, M diagrams and the deflected shape. Let you point your pointer over diagrams to read particular values.
Available on touch screens only. The scale is useful to tune up a scale of the display according to your needs. If the dialogs and buttons appear large, then use small scale and vice versa. Some browsers (e.g. Firefox) may not support this feature.
A scale is useful when combined with zoom. On a large and complicated structure you likely prefer small scale. On a simple structure being projected to students you likely prefer a large scale.
The buttons within the main toolbar at the top of the screen contain labels. This option can hide them.
Switch between metric and imperial units.
Set the size according to your needs. Confirm by Apply button. The large sizes decrease the performance of the browser.
Additional functions are accumulated within this menu.
Runs the demo again.
The demo serves rather to attract a user. Open a tutorial video on YouTube in a new tab in your browser.