Real-time, Non-linear, Dynamic Simulation in Teaching Structures:

The paper describes a project to develop software and teaching methods which employ real-time non-linear dynamic structural simulation in topics ranging from introductory statics to advanced steel design and earthquake engineering. The software is called Arcade and its computation method is based on a physics engine, a method which has been widely applied in computer games. The physics engine approach can easily model unstable structures with very large displacements, making it well suited to study post-buckling behavior, cable structures, and plastic collapse mechanisms. The program performs computations in real time, so that models respond instantly to input from the keyboard and mouse with a game-like interface. While the program has proven effective in lecture demonstrations and course assignments for studying nonlinear behavior in an advanced steel design course, its ability to model unstable structures also makes it useful in teaching elementary statics, since it can model the response of free-floating bodies to unbalanced forces. In addition, its visual presentation makes it suitable for nonengineering students, and the program has been used to teach statics in architecture courses. The program is also ideally suited to teaching concepts of structural redundancy and anti-terror design, since it is possible to see the response of a structure when members are removed interactively: e.g. removing a member from a loaded truss by clicking on the member. The paper describes the program and the teaching methods that have employed it, including lecture demonstrations, a homework problem, and a laboratory exercise.