Teaching Structural Analysis Using Math Cad Software

Students in the ABET accredited 4-year Civil Engineering Technology program at Georgia Southern University are required to take three courses in the structures area Structural Analysis, Steel Design, and Reinforced Concrete Design. In the Structural Analysis course, for analysis of simple statically indeterminate structures (beams and frames), students learn two classical methods slope-deflection method and moment distribution method before they are given an introduction to the matrix method which is used in computer-aided analysis. Since slope-deflection method forms the basis of the computer-aided analysis, the importance of a thorough understanding of this method can not be overemphasized. Through the traditional way of lecturing and having the students work on related assignments, a good number of students do not seem to quite comprehend the underlying principle, even though by following the procedure rather mechanically, they obtain the correct answers to the problems.