Datum Mesh 0.2.3

Buckling of frames: how far the loads can grow before a frame buckles.

Buckling

• Solve › Buckling: the six lowest load factors of a frame or truss and their buckled shapes. Every load on the model, self-weight and warming included, times the load factor buckles it.
• The axial forces come from a static solve first; members in compression soften the frame until it buckles. Beams are cut into eight pieces each, so a column drawn as one member buckles as it should.
• Truss bars in compression are also checked on their own as pinned struts (π²EI/L²), weakest first, and the bar that buckles before the frame is named.
• The load factors are listed on the Results page and in the printed report; a factor below 1 is flagged.

Better natural frequencies

• Beams are cut into eight pieces for natural frequencies too, so higher modes of frames drawn with few members are now accurate.

Trust

• Help › Verification: 54 checks, all passing. New: Euler's buckling loads for a column held four ways (pinned, flagpole, fixed and pinned, fixed at both ends) and its second mode, all within 0.05 %; a column held at both ends and warmed; a truss bar checked as a strut.