Manual

Truss48
Version 4.2

C. Lugtmeier 1998

Truss48 library

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Contents
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. A. B. C. D. E. COPYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY .................................................................................. 3 DESCRIPTION ................................................................................................................................... 3 COORDINATE SYSTEM, SIGNS AND DIRECTIONS ................................................................................ 4 GETTING STARTED ...................................................................................................................... 5 THE INPUT BROWSER ....................................................................................................................... 8 PERFORMING THE CALCULATION ................................................................................................... 12 VIEWING THE RESULTS .................................................................................................................. 13 PLOT THE TRUSS ............................................................................................................................ 16 EXAMPLE....................................................................................................................................... 17 INSTALLATION ............................................................................................................................... 18 CHARACTERISTICS......................................................................................................................... 18 MEMORY USAGE ............................................................................................................................ 19 HISTORY ........................................................................................................................................ 19 AUTHOR ........................................................................................................................................ 19

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1. Copyright and disclaimer of warranty

All the files of the Truss48 library are copyrighted by Caspar Lugtmeier. Truss48 is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER PROVIDES THE PROGRAM AS IS WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT WILL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM. This version of Truss48 is a Giftware release. You may use it as long as you like, but only for non-commercial purposes and only as a private person. Permission to copy the whole, unmodified, Truss48 library is granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for resale (excepting nominal copying fees) and provided that you include on each copy this copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty.

2. Description
The Truss48 library is a so-called Finite Elements Method application for the Hewlett Packard 48G, 48G+ and 48GX calculators1. It is designed to be used for the structural analysis of trusses. Truss48 can calculate member deformations, member forces, member stresses, nodal displacements and reaction forces of any given truss. The only limit is the amount of memory on your calculator. A plotter is provided with which you can plot the truss, in unloaded and loaded situation. In other words, Truss48 can plot the deformed truss. Truss48 provides all of this through an easy to use interface and comes complete with built in help-screens. Integrity of your data is assured through the use of Library Data objects for the storage of the input and the calculation results. Additional features include a built-in file/directory browser complete with a lot of utilities, a configuration menu, stack export and import of data and support for the MATRIX v1.2 library by A. Moy. Truss48 is completely written in SysRPL, the only exceptions are two small subroutines used for the Library Data conversion, these are written in Assembly language.

Please note that the Truss48 library is not designed for, nor will it work on, the HP 48S/SX calculators. Using it on such a calculator will cause a Memory Lost event. You have been warned! C. Lugtmeier 1998 3

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3.

Coordinate system, signs and directions

Truss48 uses an X-Z coordinate system where the positive X-direction is to the right and the positive Z-direction is downwards. Displacements, loads and reaction forces also follow these conventions. Member deformations (elongation), forces and stresses are positive when the member is lengthened. Below the positive directions are drawn.

Coordinates forces
X Z

Loads

Displacements

Reaction

PX PZ uZ

uX RZ

RX

Member force and deformation

Description In the table underneath a description is provided for the symbols used in Truss48. Please note that the sign-conventions described above are available through the SIGN command on the Truss48 library (see Getting started). Symbol X Z UX UZ PX PZ RX RZ F Description X-coordinate Z-coordinate Displacement in X direction Displacement in Z direction Load in X direction Load in Z direction Reaction force in X direction Reaction force in Z direction Deformation of member Force in member Stress in cross-section of member Cross-sectional area of section Modulus of elasticity Implied unit (example 1) [m] [m] [m] [m] [kN] [kN] [kN] [kN] [m] [kN] [kN/m2] [m2] [kN/m2] Implied unit (example 2) [mm] [mm] [mm] [mm] [N] [N] [N] [N] [mm] [N] [N/mm2] [mm2] [N/mm2]

Note: Since units are not supported with real and complex arrays on the HP48 you have to be careful about the values you enter. The implied units must be compatible for meaningful results.

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4. Getting started
The Truss48 library menu consists of two menulabels, TRUSS and ERASEcfg. The TRUSS command starts the Truss48 interface (explained further on), the ERASEcfg command can be used to clear the configuration settings of Truss482. The Truss48 interface is started when the TRUSS command is executed. When this is done you will find yourself in the main browser environment. The figure underneath shows this environment.

Figure 1. The main browser interface. When you start Truss48 it starts with an empty file with the default name NoName. The name of the current file is always shown on the top of the screen. There are four commands available in this main browser. The Input, Calculation, Results and Plot command. With the up and down key the black choose-bar can be moved to any one of these four commands. A command is executed with the use of the ENTER key. These four commands will be explained later on. There are also commands available through the use of the menukeys. These commands are NEW, OPEN, SAVE, ABOUT and QUIT on the first menurow (the commands available through the second menurow will be explained later on). Starting a new file The NEW command will start a new file with the default name NoName. Please note that this is automatically done when you start Truss48. If you are working on a truss and already have entered some data you will be prompted to save the file you have been working on (see Saving a file). Opening a file When you choose OPEN in the main browser interface you will enter the open file browser interface. If you are working on a truss and already have entered some data you will be prompted to save the file you have been working on (see Saving a file). The open file browser interface is shown below in Figure 2.

Figure 2. The open file browser interface. On the top of the screen the current directory is shown. In the space underneath the Truss48 files (recognizable by the T48 extension) in this directory are shown. Just as in the main browser interface you can use the up and down keys to move the black choose bar. Opening a file is done by pressing the ENTER key. Through the menu keys the following commands are available: BROWse, RENAme, PURGe, NAME, SORT and EXIT.

See B: Miscellaneous. 5

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With the BROWse command you can browse through the directories on the calculator to find a Truss48 file. The screen is shown in Figure 3 underneath.

Figure 3. Browsing through the directories. The RENAme command makes it possible to rename the selected Truss48 file. This should come in handy when you are using so called illegal names3 for your files. The PURGe command deletes the selected file (after confirmation). The NAME command can be used to show the full filename. This because filenames with more characters than 21 are truncated while being displayed in the browser. The SORT command toggles the alphabetical sorting of filenames. A little box appears in the menulabel when this is toggled on. The EXIT command exits the open file browser and resumes the file that was current before pressing the OPEN menulabel.

Saving a file The SAVE command lets you save the current file to safeguard intermediate results or just to give it a different name4. The T48 extension is automatically added to the filename you provide. You should not add this extension yourself. It is allowed to use illegal names. Pressing the ON key twice aborts the filesave. Note that when you save a file with a filename that already exists in the current directory you will be asked to confirm the filesave (the old file will be overwritten) with the ENTER key. Any other key aborts and returns to the save-prompt to make it possible to use a different name. A copyright message The ABOUT command shows the version of Truss48 (this manual belongs to version 4.2), the year the version was made and the name of the author (see E: Author). Quitting the Truss48 interface The QUIT command quits the Truss48 interface and returns you to the normal stack environment or the environment you started Truss48 from. The ON key has the same effect. Please note that the ON key always quits the Truss48 interface, it does not provide an exit from other interfaces back to the main browser interface. You should use the available EXIT command in the menus for this. If you are working on a truss and already have entered some data you will be prompted to save the file you have been working on (see Saving a file). Altering the configuration settings The second menurow of the main browser interface provides the means to alter the configuration of Truss48. This is shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4. The Truss48 configuration menu.

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Names with illegal characters or spaces. You might want to use the RENAme command available in the open file browser to do this. 6

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Most of the commands in this menu are either toggled on or off. When toggled on a small box appears in the menulabel. The RND command toggles that all the calculated values are rounded to an eight-digit precision. This is useful to prevent results as 1E-499 due to the limited precision of the calculator. Note that the intermediate results are never rounded. All the calculations are done at maximum precision. The MATR command toggles the support of MATRIX v1.2 library by A.Moy. If this is toggled on then MATRIX v1.2 is used as the matrixwriter and matrixviewer by Truss485. The NCL command toggles the plotting of nodes, constraints and nodal loads. The DFOR command toggles the plotting of the deformed truss. Note that the undeformed truss is always plotted. To the right of the DFOR menulabel there is a menulabel with a numeric value. The value shown in this menulabel is the deformation magnification factor. This factor is used to scale the deformed truss when plotted. A value of 1000 means that a displacement of 1 millimeter is plotted as a displacement of 1 meter. A valid value is any real number bigger than zero. When the menukey is pressed you will be prompted for the factor. This is shown in Figure 5. After entering the new value the menulabel is updated with the new factor.

Figure 5. Entering the deformation magnification factor. The PICT command toggles the exporting of the plot made to the PICT environment.

Note that the MATRIX v1.2 support is CRASHPROOF. This is often not the case with other libraries providing support for MATRIX v1.2. C. Lugtmeier 1998 7

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5. The Input browser

When the Input command is chosen from the main browser interface you enter the input browser interface. This interface is shown in Figure 6 underneath.

Figure 6. The input browser interface. The name of the current file is shown on the top of the screen. There are six commands available in this input browser. The Particulars, Nodes, Sections, Members, Constraints and Nodal Loads command. With the up and down key the black choose-bar can be moved to any one of these six commands. A command is executed with the use of the ENTER key. These six commands will be explained later on. There are also commands available through the use of the menukeys. These commands are EDIT, STK, STK, SIGN, HELP and EXIT. The EDIT command provides a means to edit already entered data for the selection through the use of the matrixwriter6. Note that when there no data for the selection entered yet, the menulabel inverts and shortly displays the text new and then starts the matrixwriter with an empty matrix. This is provided to enter the data with the matrixwriter, as opposed to the use of the inputline which is the default method, accomplished by pressing the ENTER key. (The only exclusion from all this is the Particulars data. Since this data is not saved in an array an inform menu is used to enter and edit the Particulars data.) The STK command makes it possible to export input data to the stack. An error will be generated if the for export selected input data has not been defined. The STK command makes it possible to import data from the stack. If such data is already present for the selection you will be prompted for confirmation. Pressing the ENTER key then overwrites the data in the current file, any other key aborts. The SIGN command displays the used signs and directions in Truss48. The HELP command displays a screen with context sensitive help. This means that the helpscreen is different for each selection. Displayed is the format that is to be used for the data. (This formatting is automatically done when entering data through the use of the inputline via the ENTER key. This is not the case when using the matrixwriter to enter the data.) The EXIT command exits the input browser and returns to the main browser interface. Note that the ON key quits Truss48.

Entering the truss particulars The Particulars command is used to define the particulars of the truss. This is done by means of an inform menu, shown underneath in Figure 7.

Figure 7. The Particulars inform menu.

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Truss48 library The different entries will be described hereafter.

NODES: Here you enter the number of nodes the truss has got. SECTIONS: Here you enter the number of sections that is used in

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the truss. (A section has got two properties, area and modulus of elasticity.) MEMBERS: Here you enter the number of members the truss has got. CONSTRAINED NODES: Here you enter the number of constrained nodes in the truss. Note that this is something different than the number of constraints! A constrained node can have either one or two constraints. NODAL LOADS: Here you enter the number of nodal loads on the truss.

Pressing the OK menukey confirms the input, the CANCL menukey cancels the input/alteration of the particulars data. After pressing either menukey you will return to the input browser interface. Import of particulars from the stack with the STK command is not possible.

Entering the nodes The Nodes command can be used to enter the nodes. Any input that was already defined will be overwritten. When selected and then activated by the ENTER key you will be prompted for the coordinates of the first node. When entered and confirmed you will be prompted for the coordinates of the second node. This will continue until you have entered the coordinates of all the nodes (the number of nodes is selected in the particulars inform menu). During the execution of the inputline interface you can press the ON key twice to abort the entering of the nodes. If nodes were already defined they will not be overwritten. An alternative way to enter the nodes is pressing the EDIT or STK menukey. See the description provided by the EDIT and STK commands above for details. Format: Xnode 1 Xnode 2 Xnode n-1 Xnode n Where: n : X : Z : { n 2 } real array Znode 1 Znode 2 Znode n-1 Znode n number of nodes x-coordinate of the node z-coordinate of the node

Entering the sections The Sections command can be used to enter the sections. Any input that was already defined will be overwritten. When selected and then activated by the ENTER key you will be prompted for the cross-section area and modulus of elasticity of the first node. When entered and confirmed you will be prompted for the properties of the second node. This will continue until you have entered the properties of all the nodes (the number of sections is selected in the particulars inform menu). During the execution of the inputline interface you can press the ON key twice to abort the entering of the sections. If sections were already defined they will not be overwritten. An alternative way to enter the nodes is pressing the EDIT or STK menukey. See the description provided by the EDIT and STK commands above for details. Format: { n 2 } real array

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Truss48 library Asection 1 Asection 2 Asection n-1 Asection n Where: n : A : E : Esection 1 Esection 2 Esection n-1 Esection n number of sections cross-sectional area of the section modulus of elasticity of the section

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Entering the members The Members command can be used to enter the members. Any input that was already defined will be overwritten. When selected and then activated by the ENTER key you will be prompted for the section, starting node and end node of the first member. When entered and confirmed you will be prompted for the properties of the second member. This will continue until you have entered the properties of all the members (the number of members is selected in the particulars inform menu). During the execution of the inputline interface you can press the ON key twice to abort the entering of the members. If members were already defined they will not be overwritten. An alternative way to enter the nodes is pressing the EDIT or STK menukey. See the description provided by the EDIT and STK commands above for details. Format: Smember 1 Smember 2 Smember n-1 Smember n Where: n : S : SN : EN : { n 3 } real array SNmember 1 SNmember 2 SNmember n-1 SNmember n ENmember 1 ENmember 2 ENmember n-1 ENmember n

number of members section number member is made of start node of member end node of member

Entering the constraints The Constraints command can be used to enter the constraints. Any input that was already defined will be overwritten. When selected and then activated by the ENTER key you will be prompted for the node number, the x-constraint value and the z-constraint value of the first constrained node. The x and z constraint value can be either 0 or 1. Zero means not constrained, one means constrained. Both the x and z constraint value can be one at the same time but obviously both can not be zero at the same time, since the node is not constrained in that case (it makes no sense to enter a non-constrained node when you are entering the constrained nodes). When entered and confirmed you will be prompted for the properties of the second constrained node. This will continue until you have entered the properties of all the constrained nodes (the number of constrained nodes is selected in the particulars inform menu). During the execution of the inputline interface you can press the ON key twice to abort the entering of the constraints. If nodes were already defined they will not be overwritten. An alternative way to enter the constraints is pressing the EDIT or STK menukey. See the description provided by the EDIT and STK commands above for details. Format: { n 3 } real array
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Truss48 library Nconstr node 1 Nconstr node 2 Nconstr node n-1 Nconstr node n Where: n : N : XC : ZC : XCconstr node 1 XCconstr node 2 XCconstr node n-1 XCconstr node n ZCconstr node 1 ZCconstr node 2 ZCconstr node n-1 ZCconstr node n

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number of constrained nodes number of constrained node x-constraint value (1 = yes, 0 = no) z-constraint value (1 = yes, 0 = no)

Entering the nodal loads The Nodal Loads command can be used to enter the nodal loads. Any input that was already defined will be overwritten. When selected and then activated by the ENTER key you will be prompted for the node, load value and the direction of the load (1 = x-direction, 2 = z-direction) of the first nodal load. When entered and confirmed you will be prompted for the properties of the nodal load. This will continue until you have entered the properties of all the nodal loads (the number of nodal loads is selected in the particulars inform menu). During the execution of the inputline interface you can press the ON key twice to abort the entering of the nodal loads. If nodes were already defined they will not be overwritten. An alternative way to enter the nodal loads is pressing the EDIT or STK menukey. See the description provided by the EDIT and STK commands above for details. Format: Nload 1 Nload 2 Nload n-1 Nload n Where: n : N : P : D : { n 3 } real array Pload 1 Pload 2 Pload n-1 Pload n Dload 1 Dload 2 Dload n-1 Dload n

number of nodal loads number of loaded node value of nodal load direction of load (1 = x-direction, 2 = z-direction)

Note: A load in a certain direction (x or z) can be reversed by making the load negative

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6. Performing the Calculation

After entering the necessary input you can calculate the truss with the Calculation command in the main browser interface. When executed you will shortly see the message INPUT VALIDATION on the top of the screen. After this, two things can happen. A. You have entered the input correctly and you will see the following screen:

Figure 8. The calculation status display. What is displayed is the calculation status screen. With this display you can follow the progression of the calculation, as indicated by the arrow on the left side of the screen. When the calculation is correctly finished you will return to the main browser interface. B. You have not entered the input correctly and you will see something like the following screen:

Figure 9. The input validation display. Obviously, you have made some errors while entering the data for the truss. Truss48 gives the following messages: OK: Invalid: Undefined: The data is entered and is also valid. The data is entered but is not valid. The data is not entered.

Please note that it is possible to get an Invalid message while you have entered the corresponding data correctly. In this case you have probably not entered the Particulars data correctly. Things to go wrong during a calculation When you have entered a truss with not enough or badly configured constraints Truss48 will abort the calculation and display the following error message: Calculation Error: Singular [[Stiffness]] (the resulting stiffness matrix can not be inverted). Please note that although the calculation runs smoothly and no input errors are reported it is still possible to have entered a truss with bad properties. Truss48 checks for the most common mistakes but can not detect all possible input errors.

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7. Viewing the Results

When the Results command is chosen from the main browser interface you enter the results browser interface. This interface is shown in Figure 10 underneath. Note that it is necessary to have calculated the truss before you can enter the results browser. A Results Error will be generated if you have not calculated the truss.

Figure 10. The results browser interface. The name of the current file is shown on the top of the screen. There are five calculation results available in this results browser. The Member Deformations, Member Forces, Member Stresses, Nodal Displacements and Reaction Forces. With the up and down key the black choose-bar can be moved to any one of these five results. A calculation result can be viewed by pressing the ENTER key7. These five calculation results will be explained later on. There are also commands available through the use of the menukeys. These commands are STK, SIGN, HELP and EXIT. The STK command makes it possible to export the calculation results to the stack. When this is done the results are tagged with the type of result (e.g. or uX uZ) and the name of the current file (e.g. bridge). The SIGN command displays the used signs and directions in Truss48. The HELP command displays a screen with context sensitive help. This means that the helpscreen is different for each selection. Displayed is the output format of the calculation results. The EXIT command exits the results browser and returns to the main browser interface. Note that the ON key quits Truss48.

Viewing the member deformations The member deformations can be viewed by selecting Member Deformations in the results browser interface and then pressing the ENTER key. Format: member 1 member 2 member n-1 member n Where: n : : number of members deformation of the member { n 1 } real array

Note that this is done with the built-in matrixwriter or, if available and toggled on by means of the MATR command with the configuration settings, the MATRIX v1.2 library by A. Moy . C. Lugtmeier 1998 13

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Viewing the member forces The member forces can be viewed by selecting Member Forces in the results browser interface and then pressing the ENTER key. Format: Fmember 1 Fmember 2 Fmember n-1 Fmember n Where: n : F : number of members force in the member { n 1 } real array

Viewing the member stresses The member stresses can be viewed by selecting Member Stresses in the results browser interface and then pressing the ENTER key. Format: member 1 member 2 member n-1 member n Where: n : : number of members stress in the member { n 1 } real array

Viewing the nodal displacements The nodal displacements can be viewed by selecting Nodal Displacements in the results browser interface and then pressing the ENTER key. Format: uXnode 1 uXnode 2 uXnode n-1 uXnode n Where: n : uX : uZ : { n 2 } real array uZnode 1 uZnode 2 uZnode n-1 uZnode n number of nodes displacement of the node in x-direction displacement of the node in z-direction

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Viewing the reaction forces The reaction forces can be viewed by selecting Reaction Forces in the results browser interface and then pressing the ENTER key. Format: Nconstr node 1 Nconstr node 2 Nconstr node n-1 Nconstr node n Where: n : N : RX : RZ : { n 3 } real array RXconstr node 1 RXconstr node 2 RXconstr node n-1 RXconstr node n RZconstr node 1 RZconstr node 2 RZconstr node n-1 RZconstr node n

number of constrained nodes number of constrained node reaction force in x-direction reaction force in z-direction

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8. Plot the truss

When the Plot command is chosen from the main browser interface the truss is plotted. The resulting plot can be influenced by altering the configuration settings (see Getting started). Note that if you have selected to plot the deformation (DFOR is toggled on) the truss has to be calculated. If this is not the case Truss48 will start the calculation of the truss and, if everything went alright, the truss and the deformation will be plotted. After finishing the plot, Truss48 waits for a keystroke. When a key is pressed you will return to the main browser interface. The only exception to this is the OFF key which turns the calculator off. Underneath a couple of plots are displayed to show you what Truss48 is capable of.

Figure 11. A plot with NCL toggled on and DFOR toggled off.

Figure 12. A plot with NCL toggled on and DFOR toggled off.

Figure 13. A plot with NCL toggled off and DFOR toggled on.

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9. Example
An example is included here to familiarize yourself with Truss48. Given the following truss:

Figure 14. Example. To enter the truss we have to agree on the units and coordinates used. The units used in this example are [m], [m2], [kN] and [kN/m2]. Node 1 is chosen as the (X,Z) point (0,0). The input is as follows: Particulars NODES = 3, SECTIONS = 2, MEMBERS = 3, CONSTRAINED NODES = 2 and NODAL LOADS = 2 Nodes [ [(0,0)] [(15,13)] [(0,13)] ] Sections [ [0.25 150000000] [0.5 200000000] ] Members [ [2 1 2] [1 2 3] [1 3 1] ] Constraints [ [1 1 1] [3 1 0] ] Nodal Loads [ [2 90 2] [3 35 2] ]

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A. Installation
The Truss48 library can be installed in any available port on the calculator. However, it works fastest from a non-covered port, that is port 0 or 1. To install the Truss48 library on your calculator do the following: Transfer the library to your calculator and place the library on the stack Place the port number you wish to store the library in on the stack Press the STO button Warmstart the calculator (press ON and C simultaneously) or shut it off and then turn it on again Purge the variable which still contains the library

If any of this gives you problems you should read the HP manual!

B. Characteristics
Truss48 Version Library number Size Checksum Flags used Language used Description 4.2 1555 12448 bytes # 9325h -20, -21, -22 Sys-RPL / Assembly

The Truss48 file system uses a Library Data object for the storage of the input and the calculation results. Typically, such a Library Data object consists of a list where the first element is the library number. This is also the case with the Truss48 library. After removing the library number from this list, the following objects remain in the list: Element 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Description {#nodes, #sections, #members, #constrained nodes, #nodal loads} Nodal coordinates array Section properties array Member properties array Constrained nodes properties array Nodal loads properties array Member deformations array Member forces array Member stresses array Nodal displacements array Reaction forces array NewResults? (TRUE or FALSE)

During the use of Truss48 this Library Data is stored in the variable T48_par in the current directory. Only when a deliberate SAVE is being performed the data contained in the current file (NoName.T48 by default) is replaced. This T48_par variable is created at startup and deleted when quitting the program.

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The current configuration of the Truss48 library is saved as Library Data as a variable with the name T48_cfg in the hidden8 directory. The command ERASEcfg (found in the library menu of Truss48) can be used to delete this variable. The contents of this Library Data object (with the library number removed) are: Element 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Description Round results?, TRUE or FALSE Use MATRIX v1.2?, TRUE or FALSE Plot nodes, constraints and loads?, TRUE or FALSE Plot deformation?, TRUE or FALSE Deformation magnification, %REAL Export plot to GBUFF?, TRUE or FALSE Sort files in OPEN browser?, TRUE or FALSE

C. Memory usage
A short note on the memory usage of Truss48. The size in bytes of a real array is defined by: 15 + 8 * # of elements Truss48 uses arrays intensively. Probably the most memory consuming is the stiffness matrix. Say you have got a truss with 20 nodes. The global stiffness matrix would have (20*2) 2 = 1600 elements and thus a size of 12815 bytes. A truss with 40 nodes would lead to a global stiffness matrix with a size of 51215 bytes! So, if you would like to calculate large trusses you should have a G+ or a GX (with some free memory).

D. History
Truss48 version 1.0 was written during the summer of 1997. It wasnt a library and I wrote it in User-RPL. Its size was about 3.5 kB. Version 2.0 was released 2 months later and was completely written in System-RPL. Speed improvements of 300% were noted for the main calculation routine. This main calculation routine has not changed much since version 2.0. The reason for this is that its pretty fast considering the fact that it doesnt use any sophisticated factoring methods during the calculations. It just inverts9 the global stiffness array. This speed becomes apparant when the Truss48 library is compared with the Structure13 T1.00 library by Nate Morris. Truss48 calculates more and is still faster than Structure13!

E. Author
C. Lugtmeier Raoul Wallenbergstraat 27 2033 AL Haarlem The Netherlands <c.lugtmeier@bne.ballast-nedam.nl>
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This is a nullnamed directory in the HOME directory. Actually it uses the more accurate internal method available on the HP48. Accessible by the / (divide) key, this is more accurate dan inverting an array and then multiplying it with a second array. C. Lugtmeier 1998 19