Dr.
LAM Heung Fai
Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering
City University of Hong Kong
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
Outline
Introduction
Graphical User Interface and Toolbars
Getting Started:
A Truss Analysis Example
A Frame Analysis Example
Basic Skills
Hands-on
Concluding Remarks
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
Introduction:
What is iSA?
iSA ([Link] is a user-friendly 2dimensional structural analysis program.
It can be used to do:
1st and 2nd order static analysis
Dynamic modal analysis
Stability analysis
It can be used for the analysis of:
Truss
Continuous beam
Frame
Frame with different types of pinned connections
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
Introduction:
Calculation assumptions
The member axis is straight.
Material is homogeneous, isotropic and linear elastic.
The length of a member is large when compared to the
section dimensions, and shear deformation is neglected.
Plane sections remain plane after deformation.
Hooks law is valid without any restrictions.
All loads are assumed to act statically and do not change
the direction due to deformation.
* The deformations are small so that equilibrium on the
undeformed structure can be assumed.
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
iSA: Graphical user interface
(New project)
Toolbar
Menu bar
Drawing
area
Load tree
Status bar
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
iSA:
Toolbars
General
Results: axial force, shear force, and bending moment diagrams, etc.
Presentation: node and element numbers
Zoom
System (Model components): node, support, member, and hinge
Load: point, distributed and temperature loads, lack of fit etc.
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
Getting Started:
Truss Analysis Example
Given:
E = 200 GPa,
2
A = 0.0077 m
Determine:
Nodal displacements
Support reactions
Internal member forces
What are the horizontal
and vertical displacements
at the top right corner?
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
Getting Started:
Adding nodes
Press the
Nodes
button, and
add nodes
at the grid
points.
Press the
Zoom all
button if
necessary.
Nodes
Zoom all
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
Getting Started:
Adding elements
Press the
Members
button, and
connect two
nodes by an
element.
Left mouse
click to
connect and
right mouse
click to
stop.
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
Members
Right mouse
click to stop
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Getting Started:
Define pinned joints
Press the
Full
hinges
button, and
change the
four rigid
joint
(default) to
pinned joint
(truss).
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
Full hinges
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Getting Started:
Define supports
Release the
horizontal
constraint for
roller support
Supports
Pin support
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
Roller support
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Getting Started:
Select all members
Press the
Members
button to
select
members.
Draw a
rectangle
from left to
right; or
Draw a
rectangle
from right
to left (try).
Members
Draw a rectangle
from left to right to
select all members
that are enclosed by
the rectangle.
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
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Getting Started:
Define member properties
Right mouse click on any
one of the selected
members to open the
member properties
window.
Change the default E and A
values accordingly.
You may select material
and cross-sectional
properties from the
databases.
Youngs modulus
Cross-sectional area
Material database
Cross-section database
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
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Getting Started:
Apply point loads at nodes
Press the
Concent.
node load
button to
add point
load on
nodes.
The
analysis can
be
completed
instantly.
Concentrated node load
The deflection shape
can be calculated
instantly and presented
as green lines.
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
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Getting Started:
Analysis results
Switch
on/off the
display of
support
reactions
and axial
forces.
Switch
on/off nodal
values and
max/min
values.
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
Result presentation buttons
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Getting Started:
Nodal displacements
Analysis report
Parallel to member
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
Perpendicular to member
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Getting Started:
Frame Analysis Example
Calculate the support reactions and the deflection of
the structure. Determine the axial force, shear force,
and bending moment on the structure.
Take E = 200 GPa,
A = 0.0077 m2,
and I = 2.5 104
m4 for all
4.5 m
members in this
example.
44 kN/m
B
C
A
6m
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
6m
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Getting Started:
Define grid size
Model components, such as element and support, must be
added AFTER the definition of nodes.
By default, nodes can ONLY be added to the grid
points in the drawing area.
In order to put nodes at the desired positions, one may
need to re-define the grid spacing in the drawing area.
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
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Getting Started:
Define nodal coordinates
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
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Getting Started:
Define member collectivity
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
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Getting Started:
Define member properties
With the member
button pressed:
Left click a
member to select
it.
Right click a
member to edit
the default
member
properties.
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
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Getting Started:
Define supports
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
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Getting Started:
Edit support conditions
Support must be added on a node but not grid point.
With the support button pressed, one can edit the support
properties by the right-mouse-button.
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
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Getting Started:
Apply distributed load
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
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Getting Started:
Distributed load properties
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
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Getting Started:
Support reactions
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
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Getting Started:
Axial force diagram
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
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Getting Started:
Shear force diagram
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
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Getting Started:
Bending moment diagram
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
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Getting Started:
Max/min values
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
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Getting Started:
Details
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
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Basic Skills:
Display model information
You can switch on/off the display of:
Loads
Node number
Element number
Material properties
Geometrical properties (e.g., length of member)
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
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Basic Skills:
Display model information
You can display the element
stiffness matrix and its
contribution in the system
stiffness matrix (recall the
matrix stiffness method).
On the top menu:
View Stiffness matrix of structure
View Stiffness matrix of member
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
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Basic Skills:
Views and Zooming
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
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Basic Skills:
Select items: [Ctrl] key
One can use left-mouse-button + [Ctrl] or [Shift] to select
more than one member in the drawing area (with the
member or pointer button pressed).
With the [Ctrl] or [Shift]
key pressed, one can
select and unselect a
member with the leftmouse-button.
The same method can
be used to select other
model components.
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
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Basic Skills:
Select items: Mouse drag
Drag the pointer from
left to right to select all
members inside the
rectangle.
Drag the pointer from
right to left to select all
members touched by
the rectangle.
The [Ctrl] key and mouse drag methods can be used
together.
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
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Basic Skills:
Different types of supports
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
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Basic Skills:
Warning messages!!
If the supports of a structure are improperly defined, the
system will become unstable.
iSA will automatically check the kinematical stability of
the structure.
Warning message will be given to the user through the
status bar if the system is improperly supported.
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
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Basic Skills:
Different types of hinges
Three are three types of hinges in iSA. They are:
Full hinge: all members are connected to this joint as a pin
connection.
Half hinge: this allows users to define pin joints at the end of
individual members.
Pinjointed hinge: this allows users to define the situation when
two members are hinged at the middle.
Select
Split member
Node
Half hinge
Support
Pinjointed hinge
Member
Full hinge
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
Member polygon
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Basic Skills:
Split members
There are many ways to split a member.
Select the member to be split and press the Split
member button on the toolbar.
OR, you can press node button and click on the member.
Then, answer Yes to subdivide the member!!
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
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Basic Skills:
Forces on node and member
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
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Basic Skills:
Distributed loads on member
Three type of distributed loads are available in iSA. They
are summarized in the table below.
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
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Basic Skills:
Temperature load on member
Two types of temperature
loads are available in iSA.
The constant temperature
across the depth of a section,
and
Linear varying temperature
along the depth of a section.
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
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Basic Skills: Lack of fit and
support settlement
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
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Basic Skills:
Structure generator
The Structure
Generator (the template
system in iSA) can be
called by selecting the
Generate structure
item from the Structure
menu.
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
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Hands-on: Question 1
Truss Analysis
Take: E and A for all bars are equal to 200 GPa and
0.0077 m2, respectively.
Determine the axial force in all members.
15kN H
15kN
G
15kN
6m
F
E
B
5m
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
C
5m
5m
5m
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Hands-on: Question 2
Simply supported beam
Consider a simply supported beam with 6 m span under a distributed
load of magnitude 12 kN/m as shown below.
Take: E = 200 GPa and I = 2.5 104 m4.
Plot the bending moment and shear force diagrams
Determine the maximum bending moment and the corresponding
location.
Determine the maximum deflection and the corresponding
location.
12 kN/m
2m
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
4m
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Hands-on: Question 3
Continuous beam
Take E = 200 GPa, A = 0.0077 m2, and I = 2.5 104 m4 for
all members in this example.
30kN
2m
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
2m
2m
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Hands-on: Question 4
Portal frame
Columns: UC30530597
Beam: UB30516554
Plot the axial force, shear
force, and bending
moment diagrams of all
12 m
members.
Determine the horizontal
and vertical displacements
of nodes B and C.
8m
10 kN
C
8m
EI = constant
5 kN
8m
D
16 m
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
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Hands-on: Question 5
Lack of fit
UB 305 x 165 x 54
UC 305 x 305 x 97
If the beam is 20 mm
too long during
installation,
determine the
displacement and
4m
internal member
forces induced.
UC 305 x 305 x 97
5m
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
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Hands-on: Question 6
3-story frame
Columns: UC30530597
Beam: UB30516554
Determine the max. and min.
axial forces, shear forces and
bending moments of each
member under the following
loading conditions:
ONLY the vertical loads
ONLY the horizontal loads
Both vertical and horizontal
loads
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
3 kN/m
5 kN
D
3m
3 kN/m
5 kN
C
3m
3 kN/m
5 kN
B
3m
E
6m
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Hands-on: Question 7
Support settlement
If the support F is settled 20 mm downward, determine
the induced displacement and internal member forces.
Given:
Youngs modulus = 30 GPa (concrete).
The I & A of the bridge desk are 2.13 107 cm4 and 4.00 104 cm2.
The I & A of the columns are 1.80 107 cm4 and 2.25 104 cm2.
C
10 m
16 m
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
10 m
12 m
G
22 m
22 m
16 m
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Concluding Remarks
An introduction to a user-friendly 2D structural analysis
program iSA was given.
The basic features of iSA were introduced through a
simple frame example.
iSA is the implementation of the matrix stiffness method,
and it works as a simple but powerful tool for the analysis
of 2D structures.
If you want to buy a copy of iSA, please contact Ms. HO
Ming Chong Fanny at [Link]@[Link]. CityU
students will have special discount.
iSA: instant Structural Analysis
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iSA: instant Structural Analysis
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