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IES VisualAnalysis 10.0 Introduction

Overview: VisualAnalysis is a structural engineering package for structure, frame, beam, and finite element analysis. This tutorial will walk you through modeling a frame and applying a basic load.

Open VisualAnalysis. Go Start, all programs, IES, VA 10.0 Edu.

1. Let’s start by sketching a frame up, using several different ways to create members. a. The first way to sketch a member is to click, hold, and drag the mouse

i. Click and hold the mouse on the origin, then drag it upwards until the member is 20 feet long and snaps to the default grid.

ii. If you want to change the grid spacing, select the ‘grid’ tab. The grid spacing can

be edited by changing the values under ‘spacing’.

b. The second way to create a member is to use the ‘Quick Add Member’ tool. i. Click on the ‘Create Members’ button (see the following screenshot).

ii. For the start of the member, either select an existing node or manually enter the X, Y, Z coordinates. For this example, let’s select an existing node.

iii. For the end of the member, you have the option to end at an existing node, end at a specific coordinate, or specify a length and angle of member. For this example, let’s specify an end coordinate of (40, 20, 0).

iv. Click ‘Create Member’

c. A variation on the ‘Quick Add Member’ tool is to specify the members length and angle

i. Click on the ‘Create Members’ button (see the following screenshot). ii. Select Node N003 for the beginning of member

iii. Choose the length and angle option 1. Enter a length of 20 feet 2. Enter a Z-angle of 270 degrees

2. Your model frame should now look like this:

3. Now lets add a lateral brace to the frame.

a. Using the click and drag method of creation, add the following member. i. (Select the ‘Draw Member’ tool; click and hold on the upper left corner of the

frame, then drag to bottom right corner).

4. Now that we have this nice two-dimensional frame, let’s talk about modeling in 3 dimensions.

5. This is what your viewport should look like:

6. Though it can be tricky, I like to sketch in the isometric view. 7. Rotate your grid 90 degrees in the Y-orientation so we can sketch more easily.

8. Now let’s sketch some members on the YZ plane as shown below:

9. Now we can introduce you to copy paste in Visual Analysis. a. While holding the ‘ctrl’ key on the keyboard, select (by clicking on) the following three

members:

b. Now use the ‘ctrl+C’ command, or go to ‘editcopy.’ c. Next use the ‘ctrl+V’ command, or go to ‘editpaste.’

i. This window should come up

d. Hit next, then fill in the fields as follows. Be sure to use -20 ft!

e. Your model should now look like this:

10. Now let’s sketch in some final members:

11. Now that we have modeled our frame, we need to define the connection and support types. a. Left mouse click the node on the origin b. Under the ‘modify’ tab, under the ‘support’ subsection, change the ‘type’ to ‘fixed’

12. Let’s now define all the other support types as shown below:

13. Now that we have the model of our frame modeled and it is statically determinant, let’s analyze it by adding a point load to this node:

14. To apply the load to this node: a. Left mouse click the node you want to apply the load to b. Now right click it c. Select ‘Apply Nodal Load(s)…’ d. You should have a screen that looks like this:

15. Let’s apply a 50 kip load in the -Y direction:

16. Click ‘ok’ a. Visual Analysis should have drawn in the applied force and your model should now look

like this:

17. Now let’s view the results from this load case a. The tabs on the bottom of the window allow you to change between model, result,

design, and report views. b. Click the ‘Result View’ tab to view the qualitative model deflection

c. Click on the ‘Design View’ tab to check for failed members: