JTruss: A CAD-Oriented Educational Open-Source Software for Static Analysis of Truss-Type Structures

A CAD-oriented software (JTruss) for the static analysis of planar and spatial truss-type structures is presented. Developed for educational purposes, JTruss is part of an open-source project and is characterised by complete accessibility (i.e. platform independent) and high software compatibility. CAD methodologies are employed to implement commands for handling graphic models. A student friendly graphical interface, tailored mainly for structural mechanics introductory courses in engineering and architecture programs, is conceived. Accordingly, the standard sequence involved in the software design, namely preprocessing, processing and post-processing, is implemented aiming to improve the structural behaviour interpretation. (C) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Aprol Eng Educ 16: 280-289, 2008: Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI 10.1002/cae.2015