Software assisted evaluation in structural design

The diagrammatic portrayal of the comparative performance of structures can be of value to educators, manufacturers and designers. An awareness of these procedures would give engineering students a better understand of the interaction of material and form, while the manufacturers of structural components such as tubes, I beams and trusses could also benefit as they would gain insights into the limits of their own, and their competitors' range of products. But although this work does have applications in these two areas, it is in order to assist in the design of engineering structures that a software implementation is being developed. Such a tool will be of greatest assistance at the concept stage of structural design. On-screen diagrams, generated with the assistance of embedded expertise, and readily accessed in a variety of configurations will allow the designer to make rapid evaluations and comparisons between alternative proposals, even if they are radically different in nature.<
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