Truss Calculators

Started by Medeek, March 12, 2013, 06:33:08 AM

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Medeek

Version 2.0.3c - 10.14.2017

- Added Red Built Red-I™ I-joists: 45, 65, 90, 90H, 90HS.

Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

#701
Version 2.0.3d - 2017.10.15
- Added PinkWood SAFEjoists™ I-joists: PKI 10, PKI 20, PKI 23, PKI 35Plus, PKI 40, PKI 50.



This I-joist manufacturer has a pink protective coating on the ends. The purpose of the end coating is to protect the joist against moisture penetration.

In addition, PinkWood offers Class A and Class B Fire Rated joists often referred to as "SAFEJoists". These joists are protected with an intumescent Fire Rated Coating, and have tan colored coating on the web.

Manufactured in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Now that I've got things configured correctly it is quite easy for me to add in new manufacturers and their entire series of I-joists.  If you are interested in seeing a particular brand added to the plugin please feel free to contact me.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer


Medeek

A request today for the barrel vault truss.  I had been working on the algorithm for this truss type about 18 months ago but the lack of interest caused me to stop.  Below is a matrix of potential configurations:



If anyone has some shop drawings for this truss type that they are willing to share I would be grateful.

I will try and knock this one out next week.  I will probably utilize an html/svg UI since the look and feel of this truss type will be important to the designer (barrel height and barrel width).
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Rys

I'm looking for a parallel chord roof truss for a very open feel. Is this something you will have available in your plug-ins?

Medeek

I've got some direction on how to deal with engineering for beams and joists, not high on the priority list right now but I've been giving it some thought:

https://forums.sketchup.com/t/intersecting-faces-or-edges/53452

At first gathering the geometric information from the model seemed the most challenging aspect of this problem but after giving it more thought, dealing with multi-span beams with various distributed and point loads is also not a trivial problem.  My current beam calculator is very limited in this respect and can only handle very simple loading on a single span.

http://design.medeek.com/resources/beam/beam_calculator.pl

And yet even with the simplicity of the span and loading the logic and calculations required is fairly substantial.  The output of the beam calculator will attest to this.

To properly analyze a multi-span beam with complex loading requires some magic from my engineering texts (ie. matrix analysis).  Since beams and joists are one dimensional as compared with trusses (two dimensional) the math is not nearly as cumbersome but it should prove to be a bit of a challenge.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer


Medeek

Quote from: Rys on October 19, 2017, 01:06:53 PM
I'm looking for a parallel chord roof truss for a very open feel. Is this something you will have available in your plug-ins?

I just need to make a minor tweak to the scissor truss which would allow for a parallel chord truss, I will look at it this evening.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Rys


Medeek

#707
Version 2.0.4 - 10.21.2017
- Added Parallel Chord (vaulted) truss type, configurations: (2/2, 4/4, 6/6).







I will still need to enable structural outlookers and plates for this truss type, but everything else should be there:

- Roof Cladding
- Roof Sheathing
- Gable Wall Cladding
- Gable Wall Sheathing
- Ceiling Gypsum
- Ridge Cap

etc...

View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/1a7064f4-b059-46ff-928b-7b2408185555/Parallel-Chord-Truss-Roof-Vaulted
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer


Rys

Thanks! This is just what I needed. Now if I can just figure out sketch up!   ???

Medeek

Version 2.0.4b - Added the 8/8 configuration:

Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Rys

I was thinking of doing either a 10/12 or 12/12 pitch over a twenty four foot span.
Do you think that would be to steep?

Medeek

I just ran a 12/12 pitch with a 6/6 parallel chord truss with a 24" heel height.  Looks pretty good to me but ultimately the design is dependent on the engineering which will depend on your snow and wind loads (site specific).
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

#713
I don't know if is something I will add in right away but gutters has been added to my list.  I think that making the gutter a solid makes it easier to work with manually and that the top being covered or solid does not really affect the appearance detrimentally.



View model here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/7aa80c75-5183-4aed-b0fb-ee54aa094fe0/Hip-and-Ridge-Medeek-Office

What is the typical distance to drop the gutter from the top edge of the fascia?  I've never installed gutters so my knowledge of this component is completely non-existent.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer


Medeek

I've been contacted by a truss designer who uses Mitek software.  He wanted to know if there was a way to bring my truss models directly into the Mitek Engineering software.  Apparently there is a .mxf file format that is already utilized by a Revit plugin to do this exact thing.  If I can get the specifications of the .mxf file format I can probably setup an export feature which will allow the full truss assembly to be exported directly into Mitek.  This would be convenient for the truss technician, eliminating some of his workload and manual entry.

I've contacted Mitek's support staff inquiring about the the .mxf file format and if they would entertain the idea of my plugin be able to transmit truss designs directly to their software.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

About a year ago I added some code into the plugin to phone home when a new installation occurs.  This tells me the IP address (geographic location) of the installation as well some other data such as the plugin version number and whether or not it is the trial or full version.

Recently I have noticed a number of installations of the full version of the plugin that show a bogus version number (2.8.8 ) and they are all coming from China.  The leads me to believe that the plugin has been hacked and possibly those hacked copies are being distributed but so far not widely.

I guess the upside is that if the hackers are trying to crack the program it must be worth their time and hence I've put together a fairly substantial product.

On the next release I will include some additional error checking which will hopefully thwart these would be hackers.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Don_P

International intrigue... you're in the big time now  :D
Make sure you have good backup.
That would be a win/win for Mitek IMO... I'd think they would want to help out, technically and financially. I take up a fair amount of a tech's time playing "what if". When your program is fully functional and integrated with theirs I can weed out the left field stuff and hand him a pretty narrow field of options.

Under the roof truss advanced option tab, its long enough I can't seem to get to the bottom of it to approve. Can you resize font or make it scrollable... or is it me?

Medeek

The advanced options menu has become too large.  I need to create an html version of the menu that splits it up into two or three tables.  You are not the only one having this issue.  I have a large screen at home so I didn't not notice this issue until I was playing around with the plugin on my old laptop (15" screen).  I will address it.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

SketchUp Essentials has put together a nice overview of the plugin.

https://youtu.be/dKtpJkCn3Cs
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Don_P



Medeek

Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

The half round gutter type (U6):

Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

Version 2.0.4c - 10.30.2017

This sub-release has the gutter menu added to the global settings as well as a new roof layer added for gutters in the layer menu.

You can't actually create any gutters yet but you can test out the new GUI in the global settings and offer any feedback.

I am still working out the algorithm for the downspouts.  My intent is to use the standard rectangular profile downspout material for the K-Style gutter and a round profile downspout for the U-Style (half round) gutter.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

The gutter extension is how much the gutter extends past the rake board on a gable roof, this does not apply to a hip roof or dutch hip roof.



The vertical offset is the distance the gutter drops down from the top edge of the fascia board, the default is zero.

With a metric template the dimensions are given in mm or metres with the grid shown in cm.  In US units dimensions are in inches or feet with the grid shown in inches.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer

Medeek

Preview of the E-Style or "Box Gutter":



Note that I've also added the downspout options and parameters.  The units don't show in this screen shot but they will within the plugin.

This type of gutter is probably more common in commercial applications.
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson, P.E.
Designer, Programmer and Engineer