Abstract
This article presents a complete guide from the linear static finite element theory to the software development of the educational finite element software for truss structure (EFESTS). First, linear static formulations of truss structure are summarized, including the element formulation, element assembly and solution. Object-oriented programming is introduced to design the software architecture. Furthermore, the relations between the classes and their instances are clearly described using the static class diagram and the dynamic sequence diagram, respectively. Finally, the linear static solver is intuitively verified by the deformable configuration and stress contour of a 50-bar truss structure. More importantly, a visualization of graphical user interfaces is developed to dynamically assemble the element matrix into the truss matrix, which used to be one of the most difficult skills for students to master. Finally, this software is free for educational research and can be downloaded from the website: http://www.zuowenjie.net/efests.html. In the future, we will develop the geometric nonlinear static analysis solver for the truss structure.
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