Mathematical Functions in AutoCAD

AutoCAD is very good drafting software for making arcs and lines, but sometimes this simple view of things is not sufficient to represent typical engineering graphics.

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Jose Manuel

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Mathematical Functions in AutoCAD

AutoCAD is very good drafting software for making arcs and lines, but sometimes this simple view of things is not sufficient to represent typical engineering graphics.

Uploaded by

Jose Manuel

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

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Sometimesengineersloseoneoftheirmostpowerfultoolswhentheyuseoneoftheirmostpowerfultoolsthe

mathematicaltoolthat'srightinsidethesoftware.
AutoCADisverygooddraftingsoftwareformakingarcsandlines,butsometimesthissimpleviewofthingsis
notsufficienttorepresenttypicalengineeringgraphics.Forexample:ifwehaveacablesupportedbytwotowers,
weneedtodefinecatenarycurvetorepresentthecable,yetAutoCADdoesn'thavea"catenary"command.Also,
ifyouneedtoanalyzeabeamdeflectionthereisn'taneasywaytodoit.
TherealCADtoolpoweristhepossibilityofusingCADwithageometriccalculator,notonlyformeasuringareas
anddistances,buttographcomplexfunctions.ThisarticlebringsyouasmallAutoLISProutinetodemonstrate
howtographmathematicalfunctionsandparametricequations.
IfyouknowAutoLISP,skipthenexttwoparagraphs.Ifyoudon'tknowAutoLISP,you'llneedtounderstandhow
towritemathematicalexpressionsinAutoLISP.
Firstrule:AllAutoLISPexpressionsarewrittenbetweenparentheses.
Secondrule:allmathematicalexpressionsarewritteninprefixnotation.
Thirdrule:mathematicoperationsbetweenrealnumbersproducerealnumbers,betweenintegersproduce
integersandbetweenintegers,andrealproducereal.
Examples:
1+3is(+13)inAutoLISP
1+2/4is(+1(/24))inAutoLISP

(+13)=4
(+1.03)=4.0
(/53)=1
(/5.03)=1.66667
Tounderstandindepth,seeyourAutoLISPmanual.
EVALUATINGFUNCTIONSINTHEXYPLANE
Typically,AutoCADusersworkintheXYplane,XvaluesincreasinglefttorightandYvaluesincreasingbottom
totop.Inthegraphfx.lspfile,theGraphFxAutoLISPfunctionevaluatesamathematicalexpressionintheform
Y=F(X)andreturnsasortinglistwiththeevaluatedpoints.
TheAutoLISPfunctionhasfourarguments:themathematicalfunctionY=F(X)inAutoLISPterms,thefirstX
value,thelastXvalueandtheincreasingvaluetoX.
TheAutoLISPfunctionPrintpntlstgraphsa3DPOLYLINEusingalistwithsortedpoints.
Forexampletogeneratealistwithevaluatedpointsusingthetrigonometricfunctionsin(x)between0and10
increasingxin0.1,youneedtowritethefollowingexpressionintheAutoCADcommandline:
(graphFx'(sinx)0100.1)
Toprintthepoints,write
(Printpntlst(graphFx'(sinx)0100.1))

sin(x)graphic
Also,youcangeneratemorecomplexandpracticalgraphs.Forexample,thefollowingequationdefinesthe
deflectioncurveforaproppedcantileverbeamwithauniformload(q):

toexpressthelastequationinAutoLISPyouneedtowritethefollowingline:
(*(/(*qxx)(*48EI))(+(*3LL)(*5Lx)(*2xx)))
Ifthelength(L)ofthebeamis10mandsimplifyingandscalingtheexpressiononlyfordemonstrationwehave:
(printpntlst(graphFx'(*xx0.0005(+300(*50x)(*2xx)))0100.1))

Deflectioncurveforaproppedcantileverbeam
EVALUATINGPARAMETRICFUNCIONSINTHEXYZSPACE
Ifwehaveagraphdescribedbythreefunctions,oneforXcoordinate,oneforYcoordinate,oneforZcoordinate
andacommonparameterwecanusetheGraphParAutoLISPfunction(graphfx.lsp).
ThisAutoLISPfunctionhassixarguments:threemathematicalfunctionsX=F(q),Y=F(q)andZ=F(q)inAutoLISP
terms,thefirstqparametervalue,thelastqparametervalueandtheincreasingvalueofq.
Forexample,wecandescribesuchparabolicmotionwithparametricequationsintheXYplaneusingatime
parameterqmeasuredintimeunitsfromtheinitialprojectionpoint:

ExpressingthelastequationsinAutoLISPwehave:

(+X0(*Vx0q))
(+Y0(*Vy0q)(*0.5gqq))
0
Ifqstartin0andendin200,X0=0,Y0=0andsimplifyingandscalingtheparametricfunctionwehave:
(printpntlst(graphpar'(*100q)'((*100q)(*qq))'002001))

Parabolicmotion
THECABLEPROBLEM
Oneofthemosttypicalproblemsinengineeringistofixacablebetweentwopoints.Thefunctiontodescribethe
shapeisacatenary.Themathematicalexpressionis:

Wherewistheweightperunitlengthofthecable,tisthetension
developedinthecable,andy0istheminimumheightofthecable.
AutoLISPdon'thavethehyperboliccosine,butthatisnotaproblemsincewecandefineitwiththefollowing
function
(defuncosh(angles/angles)
(/(/(+(expangles)(exp(*angles1)))2))
)
Inthecatenary.lspfilewehavearoutinetoprintacablebetweentwopointsdefinedthepointsinAutoCAD,the
weightperunitlengthofthecableandthetension.Thefilehasthreeadditionalfunctions:hyperboliccosine
(cosh),hyperbolicsine(sinh),andarchyperbolicsine(arcsinh)
BelowwecanseethegraphFxAutoLISPuseinthec:catenaryfunction:
(printpntlst(graphFx'(+(*global_c((cosh(/(xglobal_xv)global_c))1))global_yv)x1x21.0))

Cablebetweentwopoints
CONCLUSION

WiththeGraphFxandGraphParAutoLISProutineswecangraphicmathematicalfunctions,alsowecaninclude
theroutinesinsideothersroutineswithinweliketohaveonlythekernelofaspecificproblem(i.e.Thecable
problem).