STEPS TO DETERMINE THE DEFLECTIONS AT EACH JOINT OF

THE TRUSS UNDER THE GIVEN LODING CONDITIONS

2. Drag the Static Structural icon from the Analysis Systems Toolbox at the left
and drop it inside the highlighted green rectangle in the Project Schematic to
create a standalone static structural analysis system

3. Double-click (or right-click and choose Edit) on the Engineering Data cell in
the Project Schematic to edit or add a material. In the following Engineering
Data interface which replaces the Project Schematic, click the empty box
highlighted below and type a name, e.g., ‘Douglas Fir’, for the new material.
Select ‘Douglas Fir’ from the Outline of Schematic window, and double-click
Isotropic Elasticity under Linear Elastic in the leftmost Toolbox panel. Enter
‘1.31E10’ for Young’s Modulus and ‘0.29’ for Poisson’s Ratio in the bottom
center Properties of Outline window. Close the A2: Engineering Data tab to
go back to the Project Schematic

4. Click Tools and select Options from the drop-down context menu. In the Options
window that appears, click Geometry Import on the left panel, and make sure that
SpaceClaim Direct Modeler is selected as the Preferred Geometry Editor under the
General Options on the right panel. Right-click on the Geometry Cell and choose
Properties from its drop-down context menu to bring up the Properties of Schematic
A3: Geometry panel. From that panel under Basic Geometric Options, select Line
Bodies to enable truss modeling. Next, double-click on the Geometry cell to launch
the SpaceClaim program.

5. To customize units, click SpaceClaim Options from the File drop-down menu.
SpaceClaim Options window will show up. Click Units from the
left panel, and select Meters from the drop-down list of Length. Next, change
the Minor Grid Spacing to 1m. Click OK to save your changes and exit.
Next, click on Plan View in the mini-toolbar to display a head-on (top) view of
the sketch grid. Click on the Y symbol located at the bottom left corner in the
Graphics Window to display a bottom view of the sketch grid. Click the Sketch Mode
icon on the Design tab to begin a sketch. Click on the Line icon. To draw a line, click
a start point and then an end point in the sketch grid. When necessary, press the Esc
key to end the line creation. Draw 13 lines.

6. Click Profiles on the Prepare tab, and select the Rectangle icon in the New Profile
Library from the Profiles drop-down menu. A Beam Profiles folder is now added into
the Structure Tree on the left. Right click on Rectangle under the Beam Profiles
folder, and select Edit Beam Profile from the drop-down context menu. In the Driving
Dimensions folder showing up next, click on B to bring up its default Ruler
dimension value. Click on the default Ruler dimension value, and change it to 0.06m.
Repeat the same step for H, and change the Ruler dimension value for H to 0.06m as
 shown below in the Type column. Close the SYS tab to return back to the Graphics
Window for sketch modeling.

7. Click Select on the Design tab, and select all 13 Lines under the Curves folder in the
Structure Tree. To select all lines in the tree, click the first Line in the structure tree,
and hold the Shift key and click the last Line. The selected lines will be highlighted in
yellow. Click Create on Prepare tab to create beams from the selected lines using the
rectangular cross-section provided. This will bring up a Beams folder in the Structure
Tree to replace the previous Curves folder. The Beams folder contains 13 Beams
(Rectangle).

8. Click Select on the Design tab, and select all 13 Beams in the Structure Tree. To select
all beams in the tree, click the first Beam, and hold Shift key and click the last Beam.
The selected beams will be highlighted in yellow. Right-click on the highlighted
Beams in the Structure Tree and select Move to New Component in the drop-down
context menu. A Component1 will be created in the Structure Tree with all 13 beams
moved underneath. Next, click Component1 in the Structure Tree, and change the
Share Topology to Merge in the bottom left Properties menu to merge all the beams.
After that, save and exit SpaceClaim.

9. Double-click the Model cell to launch the Static Structural program. In the Static
Structural program that brings up, click Beam (Rectangle) under Geometry in the
Project Outline. Next, in the Details of “Beam (Rectangle)”, click to the right of the
Assignment field under Material, and select Douglas Fir from the drop-down menu to
replace the default material assignment of Structural Steel.

10. Click on Mesh in the Project Outline. In the Details of “Mesh”, enter a fairly large
number, say,’10’, for the Element Size. The value of the element size will be set as
10m. This large element size value will ensure that each truss member will be meshed
with only one element. Next, right-click on Mesh in the Project Outline, and select
Generate Mesh. Click on Statistics in the Details of “Mesh” to display the total
number of nodes and elements in the mesh.

11. Right-click on Static Structural (A5) in the Project Outline, and select Insert and then
Fixed Support. A Fixed Support item will be added underneath Static Structural (A5)
in the Project Outline. Click on the Vertex filter icon to enable point selection, and
select the two points. In the Details of “Fixed Support”, click Apply to confirm on the
Geometry selection. After completion, a Fixed Support boundary condition will be
added to the selected two points.

12. Right-click on Static Structural (A5) in the Project Outline, and select Insert and then
Force. Select the three points in the Graphics Window. In the Details of “Force”, click
Apply to confirm on the Geometry selection. Next, change the Define By selection to
Components and enter ‘-90000’ for Z Component in the Details of “Force”. A
downward red arrow will appear on the group of points in the Graphics Window to
represent the applied force.
13. Insert a Total Deformation item by right-clicking on Solution (A6) in the Project
Outline. Right-click on Solution (A6) in the Outline tree and select Solve. The
program will start to solve the model. After completion, click Total Deformation in
the Outline to review the total deformation results.
Modeling tips: To get the reaction force, a Force Reaction probe can be inserted by
right-clicking on Solution (A6) in the Outline tree as shown below.
In the Details of “Force Reaction”, select the Fixed Support as the Boundary
Condition.
Right-click on Solution (A6) in the Outline tree and select Evaluate All Results
After completion, click Force Reaction in the Outline to review results
The reaction force is found to be 90000 N in the positive Y-direction. This is because
a boundary condition has been applied earlier to the two fixed ends in one step (see
Step 11). To avoid summing of the force reaction, two fixed conditions can be inserted
instead in Step 11, one for each end. The reaction forces at an individual support can
then be displayed by selecting the support of interest from the drop-down menu of
Boundary Condition in the Details of “Force Reaction”.