After WinSTRUDL is installed, click on the icon: to load WinMaster.  The following dialog box appears:

Select or type the file name 'demo1'. This is a sample input data file. When specifying the input data filename, be careful to select the one without any file extension. Next, click 'Open' to bring up the 'Job' dialog box. This is the most important dialog box in WinSTRUDL. All the WinSTRUDL options are here.  

After the input is prepared (Edit) and executed (Run), click on

Click the 'Plot' button to take a look of the model.   Here is the picture:

click the button twice to display the joint numbers and the button once to display the member numbers.   

Form the picture below and the picture above, we know that this model has ten joints (red numbers, 1 to 5 and 11 to 15) and 9 members (brown numbers, 11 to 14 and 1 to 5).  member 1 connects joints 1 and 11, etc.....  

From the numbering of the joints and members, it is obvious that the numbering of joints and members need not to be consecutive.

Let's look at the contents of each part of the input. 

Part 1)  Geometry Definition (line #2 to #40):

Line #2 defined the type of the structure
Line #3 define an optional tile of the problem. 
Line #8 is the beginning of the definition of the joint coordinates.  If we look back at line #6, the coordinate is in feet. 

Define Joint Coordinates (lines #6 to #17):
Line #10 defines joint #1's X coordinate to be 0' and Y coordinate to be 0'
Line #11 defines joint #2's X coordinate to be 25' and Y coordinate to be 0'
etc...
Line #15 defines joint #11's X coordinate to be 0' and Y coordinate to be 60'
Line #16 defines joint #15's X coordinate to be 100' and Y coordinate to be 60'
Line #17 specifying '11 to 15'.  This input ask WinSTRUDL to  take the coordinates of joint #11 and #15 and linearly interpolate these two coordinates to create the coordinates of  joints #12, #13, 1nd #14 .

Define Supports (lines #19 and #20):
After all the coordinates are defined, next step is to define which joint(s) are the supports. 
Line #30 'Joint Release' starts the definition of supports. 
Line #31 says that joints #1 to #5 (joints #1, #2, #3, #4, and #5) are supports.

Connect Members (lines #22 to #31):
Next, we would like to connect members. 
Line #22 is the beginning of the definition of member connectivity (Member Incidence). 
Line #23 connects member #1 with joints #1 and #11.  Joint #1 is the starting joint, and Joint #11 is the ending joint of member #1.  
Line #24 connects joints #2 to #12 as member #2. 
etc...

Define Member Properties (lines #33 to #35):
Next is to tell WinSTRUDL what is the section properties of the members. 
Line #33 starts the 'Member Property' definition. 
Line #34 defines the section properties of members 1,2,3,4, and 5 (columns) are W36X300. 
Line #35 defines that all the roof members (Members '11 to 14' is the short hand of specifying '11, 12, 13, 14'.) are made of TS8X8X1/2.  These two sections are standard AISC sections and their properties are stored in the section library of WinSTRUDL.

Define Material Properties (lines #37 to #39):
Finally, we need to define the material properties of the members. 
Line #37 define the units used. 
Line #38 and #39 says that all the member are made of A36 steel with the E value of 4320000 ksf (kip per square ft) and the density is .489 kip per cubic ft.  Keyword 'All' means all the members.

Part 2).  Loading definition (lines #40 to #59)

WinSTRUDL use "load tag" to separate different load cases.  In the sample problem, we have two load cases and one load combination.   Each load requires an unique load tag.  The "load tag" must start with a alphabet with less than 9 characters.
Line #42 defines a load case and labeled as 'dl'.  
Line #46 defines a load case and labeled it as 'WindLoad'. 
Line #57 defines a load case 'Comb1' which is a load combination of load 'dl' and 'WindLoad'.  

Knowing the above information, let's read the input:

Define load case 'dl' (lines #42 to #46):
Line #42 defines a load tag of 'dl' for the new load case.  This is the deadload of the structure.
Line #43 defines self weight of the structure.  It reads:  Create a deadload of -1 g acting in the global Y direction.  Upon receiving this command, WinSTRUDL will take the length of each member times its cross section area times its material density to comes up with the self weight of the structure and then applied a factor (in this case -1) of g's in the designated global direction (in this case, Y)

For load case 'dl':
The total self weight = 300 lb/ft (W36X300) X 5 (columns) X 60' = 90,000 lbs plus 100' of TS8X8X1/2 =4.89 kip  => 94.89 kips

Define load case 'WindLoad' (lines #46 to #55):
Line #46 defines a load tag of 'WindLoad' for the new load case.  This load includes JOINT LOAD (Lines #47 to #49) and uniform MEMBER LOAD (Lines #51 to #54).
Line #47 opens the definition of the joint load.  All the joint loads are in global direction. 
Line #48 says:  A global force in X direction of 2 kip is acting on joints 12, 13, and 14. 
Line #49 says:  A global force in X direction of 1 kip is acting on joints 11 and 15.
Line #51 opens the definition of the member load.  Member loads can be in Global or Local (local to the axis of the member) direction. 
Line #52 says:  The current unit is now in feet and pound.
Line #53 says:  A uniform global Y force of -110 lb/ft is acting on members 11 and 14.
Line #54 says:  A uniform global Y force of -200 lb/ft is acting on members 12 and 13.

For load case 'WindLoad':
The total joint load in X direction is:  2 kips X 3 (joints) = 6 kips plus 1 kip X 2 (joints) = 2 kips  => 8 kips
The total member load in Y direction is:  200 lb/ft X 50 ft = 10,000 lbs plus 110 lb/ft x 50 ft = 5,500 lb  => 15.5 kip

Part 3)  Result generation (line #60 to #65)

Line #60 A solitary LIST command does nothing but signifies that all the loads are defined and the solution is initialized. 
Line #61 requests that the output is in kips and inches.
Line #62 requests WinSTRUDL to summarize and tabulate the input data.  This command is a combination of commands 'PRINT JOINT ALL', 'PRINT MEMBER ALL', 'PRINT PLATE ALL', 'PRINT SECTION PROPERTY', 'PRINT MATERIAL PROPERTY', and 'PRINT INPUT'.
Line #63 requests WinSTRUDL to print the result of the analysis and list them load case by load case.  This command is a combination of commands 'LIST JOINT DISPLACEMENT ALL', 'LIST MEMBER FORCES ALL', 'LIST MEMBER STRESS ALL', and 'LIST REACTION ALL'.
Line #64 requests a ASD code check for all the AISC members. 

Go to the technical support of our web site www.civilstructure.com, click on WinSTRUDL's "Knowledge Data Base", and take a look at the sample file 2D_Misc_Frame!

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Where is the output? - How to make a successfully run of WinSTRUDL?

Once the data file is prepared, and you want to solve the problem.  First bring up the WinMatser (below), click on 'File' to open the data file. 

Now the 'Job' Dialog box appears.  Click on 'Run' button. If the model is completely defined without any error, the result of the analysis should be available.  Click 'View Result' button to view the result of the analysis. 

However, if there is an error in your input, there will be no output file.   Instead, the following dialog box appears.  This message instructs you to click on the 'View RunFile' button to examine the error message.  For this example, we have intentionally omitted the Member Property definition of members 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, so that the following message box appears:

Follow the instruction, click 'View RunFile', and move to the end of the log file, below is the error message.  In this log file, WinSTRUDL tells you that Member Property of Members 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 are not defined.  You have to correct all the errors in your input before WinSTRUDL generating an output file.  Note that the information displayed after the '?' mark is the echo of the input data file.

Once all the errors in the input is corrected, you  may click the  'View Result' button to look at the result. 

If not, take a closer look at it! Here is the suggested check list:

Structure problem is nothing but a group of members connected to each other to safely transmit external load to the supports.   So, it is very important to understand how to completely define its basic element - the Member.  The following information summarizes the things you need to know about   a member.

• Where the member starts and where it ends.
  You must define the coordinates of its starting and ending joints.  This task involves the definition of Joint Coordinate, and Member Incidence.
• What is the section properties of the member (Member Property command)?
• What is the member made of (Material Property command) ?
• How is the member connected to each other (Member Release command) ?
  Each end of the member is connected to other member (or a support).  The connection details dictates the transition of force and moment. For a frame problem, the default is rigid connection.  If you have a pin or slotted connection, you must use the Member Release command to identify them.
• For 3D problems, you must also know what is the orientation of the member in space (Beta angle).  The defaulted is beta=0 degree and its orientation is documented in WinSTRUDL's manual.  If the orientation of the member is not 0, you must define them.

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Preparation prior to solving your problem

For the first timer, take time to go through the 'WinSTRUDL Tutorial' to get an overview of the program. After that, the  first step of  problem solving is to lay out the problem.  Make a simple sketch of the structure that includes the following:

• Will this problem be solved in 2D or 3D?   If you have any moment connection, use frame.  If you have any plate element (shear wall or concrete slab), use 3D frame. (Type of the structure)
• Make a decision on the location of the datum and the orientation of the global coordinate system.
• Make a sketch of all the structural members and decide on how the members are connected.  
  Sketch the structure members along with the datum and coordinate system. (Joint Coordinates)
  Select the initial section and material properties for each structural member.   (Member Property and Material Property)
• How is each  member connected to others?  Are they rigidly , pinned, or roller connected (Member Release)?
• For 3D frame problems, how is the orientation of the member in space (Beta angle)?
• How is the structure supported?  Where are the supports, and what kind of the supports? (Joint Release)

Now, the geometry of the structure is, if you are anxious to start, you can pause the preparation step here, and start to generate the geometry of the structure.  After the geometry is done, you may come back to prepare and define the loading later.

• What are the load cases? 
• How many of them and what about the load combinations?  
• Make a sketch for each individual load case if you can.

If

• This is the first (or the second) time in the past six months that you use WinSTRUDL. or...
• You feel more comfortable using text editor to create text than using a mouse to create graphics...

No matter which route you take, seldom a problem of less than 100 joints takes more than 2 to 3 hours to solve.  Call us if you are lost for more than 5 min.

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In WinFrame, the customized section (or material) library is stored in a file named "Section.lib" (or "material.lib").  In this file, customized section (or material) properties are kept.  To modify this file, you may use the 'File' option in WinFrame program.   The procedure to add material properties and section properties are similar.   In our example, we choose to add customized section properties.

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How to select, assign, and deselect properties to members in WinFrame?

WinFrame's model building is a two step approach. 

1. The Initialization Step. 
   Initialization step is done at the time when the problem is created.  In this step, user defines the type of the structure, key (grid) coordinates, unit, and defaulted member characters (section properties,  material properties, and connection details of the member).  The initialization step offers a generalized character to the WHOLE structure.
2. The Individual Member Character Assignment Step. 
   Variations to the generalized character is done by manually selecting members and assign attributes to the selected members.  This step allows you to customize your structure any way you wanted. 

• Before selecting any member, make sure to deselect all the members so that you have a clean start. 
  You may deselect all the members by clicking on the 'Deselect'  button located on the left hand side of the Window.
• The selected members are colored RED.   None selected members are in BLACK.
• To select member, click  button located on the left hand side of the Window to bring up the following dialog box
  
  Here, you may click on the first two buttons to use one of the available option to select the designated members.  To select a member at a time, click button 'Click and Select'.  To select a group of members, click button 'Select by Window' and define a Window by click and hold the right mouse button to include all the members within the Window.
• Once members are selected ("RED"), click  button to bring up the above Member Dialog Box again.  Now, click and select the desired operation located under the word 'Then..."' to assign section or material properties to the selected members, or to define how the selected members are connected, or to define the orientation of the selected members in space.

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How to remove a support from WinFrame?

If a joint has been assigned to become a support, and you want to change it into a different type of support. Or, you want to remove a support.   You may accomplish the task by clicking on the button (located at the lower left hand side of the Window) to turn your cursor into  .   Then, move the cursor to the desired joint and click on it to remove the support.  

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