CASTELLATED BEAM DESIGN SOFTWARE SOFTWARE

The GUI is provided by an Excel spreadsheet subdivided into a number of worksheets.

CASTELLATED BEAM DESIGN SOFTWARE SOFTWARE

The proposed Porthole beam design software is basically subdivided into two parts, a customised GUI for user input/output and a pre-written generic FE engine. For more complex calculations VBA can interface with subroutines written in other programming languages when compiled into the form of a dynamically linked library (DLL). VBA expands the capabilities of the spreadsheet by allowing the developer or indeed the user to create custom-made subroutines and functions. Excel spreadsheets provide a variety of useful and powerful features. MicrosoftВ© Excel TM together with the integrated programming language, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), has, to a certain extent, proved to be a feasible basis for the development of software. This approach makes it possible to produce programs with little overhead in software design. On the other hand, it is possible to utilise an existing application which provides a GUI that is familiar to the end-user and allows for suitable expansion. It is well known that the development of a GUI can be complex and time-consuming. This approach involves, among other things, the design of a GUI. On the one hand, it is possible to design a bespoke application which usually has to be developed from scratch. In order to meet the above mentioned requirements the software developer is left with a number of options. Furthermore, it is important to keep the structure of the software as flexible as possible for subsequent expansion and modification of the program. Whilst the interface is required to be user-friendly and simple, the underlying program has to be capable of performing complex structural calculations.

The graphical user interface (GUI) to the software should allow for simple operation of the software. The principle purpose of the software presented in this paper is to support the design of Porthole beams. The paper outlines the advantages of the spreadsheet compared to bespoke software and discusses issues relating to the development of the integrated spreadsheet. The approach uses a spreadsheet for user input/output and design calculations while interfacing with a bespoke finite element analysis engine (FE engine) for the structural calculations. This paper proposes a more general approach to the design of hot rolled I-sections with a number of relatively large web openings. However, existing methods are either based on the restricted patterns required for the fabrication of cellular beams or limited to fabricated beams only. The Steel Construction Institute (SCI)В has covered the design of beams with web openings and software is available for cellular beamsВ as well as for fabricated beamsВ . Additionally, it is possible to produce customised plate girders, so-called fabricated beams, with individually arranged web penetrations. With the Porthole beam, the pattern of the openings is much more flexible. Cellular beams require regular cutting patterns. The Porthole beam is simply a hot rolled steel section with a customised pattern of openings cut into the web. Advances in the production of deeper steel sections, up to 1m in depth, have led to Porthole TM beams being an economic alternative to cellular beams. These were initially restricted to castellated beams and more recently cellular beams. Steel beams with multiple openings in the web have become popular in recent years.

Castellated beam design software