Simulating the behaviour of three dimensional reticular structures with both curved and straight elements

Abstract

The paper examines the details of a comprehensive package for the simulation of three dimensional reticular structures. The complete version of the package is intended to deal with a number of different aspects of the simulation and design of the reticular structures. The main emphasis is on the structure itself and its footing. The package has been designed to assist aeronautical, civil, mechanical and naval engineering students at the undergraduate or postgraduate level.

It has been designed to fulfil two functions. Firstly, to enhance the student appreciation of the behaviour of three dimensional reticular structures and secondly, to help them to design a full structure to satisfy certain criteria such as minimizing cost of the construction materials as would be encountered in a real design environment.

The package has several modules interlinked and called by means of a host program written in the C programming language. The modules themselves are written in FORTRAN77 with GKS as its graphics library and can be mounted on any basic IBM PC or PS/2 micro-computer.