Implementing Steel Design in Educational Software: The Linear Elements Structure Model Program

Resumo

The Linear Elements Structure Model, or LESM for short, is a user-friendly, free-to-use, and open-source educational software for the structural analysis of models composed of linear elements. Aimed at aiding students, teachers, engineers, and architects to understand the behavior of structures better and improve their workflow, its intuitive and straightforward GUI (Graphical User Interface) allows a simple yet effective approach to modeling, running calculations of linear-elastic static and dynamic effects, and visualizing the internal stresses and strains in two-dimensional and three-dimensional trusses and frames. This paper expands upon the capabilities of LESM by detailing the implementation of steel design for bidimensional frames in compliance with the Brazilian steel structure design code, NBR8800:2008, within the current version of the software, building upon previous efforts to enhance LESM's functionality through object-oriented programming in the MATLAB environment. With the feature of steel design initially conceived as an extension for a prior version of the software, the LESM program has since been updated and reworked with more straightforward and quicker user interaction, a more optimized source code, and the addition of new features. By comparing past and current versions of the software and examining the source code of the steel design extension, it was possible to successfully integrate the steel design feature into the latest iteration of LESM, broadening the programs scope of use, both for the academic and industrial sectors in the field of analysis and design.