Thanks for the fun meeting yesterday. I hope everyone enjoyed breaking those coupons as much as I did.
We discussed using ABAQUS to model and iterate our designs. Here is a link to the FREE student version of the program. You will need to register for a "DS Passport" which involves a scanned image of your student ID card or a school issued email address. Once registered you will need to be approved and then you can download the software. Please download the software and start playing around with I beam designs. When you mesh your model don't worry about the limited number of nodes in the student version. We have access to the full version so when you have a model that you want to run, we can run it on one of our lab computers.
Here is a link to a tutorial for creating a 3D model in ABAQUS. It should be a good way to cut your teeth.
The deadline for downloading ABAQUS student version is TUESDAY the 27TH of November. It takes some time for you to get approved to download the software so please do it ASAP.
We also divided into groups to work on bridge ideas. You can start getting together and working with ABAQUS or searching the web for bridge designs before next meeting. The groups that we decided on are as follows
Brooks, Tian, George, and Will
Greg, Andrew Reha, and Vincent
Chris, Varun, Preetam, and (tentatively) Peter
For the rest of you, please come to the meetings and we will include you in one of the groups.
Our next meeting is November 27th @ 4:00 Stay tuned for the place as we are trying to reserve the conference room in Sloan 245. Bring your laptop with ABAQUS and we will go through some training.
Email me with any questions.
-Greg
