Step-By-Step Examples

This part of the documentation contains example problems solved by ENERCALC 3D. They are used to demonstrate the capabilities and reliabilities of the program. They may also serve as simple tutorials for the program.

Each example contains:

▪A brief description of the problem,

▪Suggested steps to create the model in the program,

▪Comparison of program results with theoretical or published results,

▪Comments.

Many of the example problems are simple and may even be verified by hand calculations. This is deliberate because simple models are easy to construct and hand calculation is the most reliable verification method. The data files for all of the example problems are provided in the “Verifications” subdirectory under the program directory. They have the file extensions of “r3a”. You may open these files, perform the analyses, and review the results. However, in order to get yourself familiar with the program, you are strongly encouraged to create these models from scratch.

Suggested modeling steps list the major steps to create each model. These steps serve only as a guide and not an exact step-by-step procedure in the creation of the model. We trust you as an engineer to be creative in using the many different model-creation methods in the program. The General Modeling Guide on the following page is a good starting point. All examples use the default settings in the program unless specified. For example, if no load case or load combination is defined, the “Default” load case or “Default” combination will be used. No stress averaging is used for finite elements unless explicitly specified.

Result checking for each problem usually starts with displacements. The reason for this is simple. The program uses the stiffness method and therefore is displacement-based. If the displacements were wrong, nothing else would be right. Other results such as forces and moments may be more relevant or important to you as an engineer. However, they are not the primary verification parameters and are provided where applicable.

Important comments are summarized at the end of each example. They explain the modeling techniques and results.