Test the optimality of your structural
intuition
Assigned: Oct. 14th, 2005
Due: Oct. 18th, 2005
Points: None but there will be a prize for the
winner!
Download the Matlab files by clicking here . Run "trussdesign.m". A window will pop up. It will show some menu buttons and a nominal truss. It is fixed at two points on the left side and the right side. It has two upward vertical forces in the middle of the bottom. Read the instruction in the window. It is mostly self-explanatory. You can add and remove element, see the deformation, enjoy the animation, evaluate the performance, and see a K'nex rendering.
Here is what you need to do: design the stiffest truss using only 40% of the elements shown in the figure. That is, you should make the strain energy (SE) as small as possible while keeping the used elements below 40%. If you click on "Performance" button, it will show you the percentage of the elements you have used and the value of the strain energy in the command window.
Hint: Analyze how your candidate structure is deforming. Change SF (scale factor for deformation) in the command window if it is necessary. See which parts are stiff and which are flexible. See what elements you can remove without increasing the strain energy much.
When you get a good design and you want to save it, type "save