Developing Excel-VBA Spreadsheet for Truss Element

Analysis and Design

Abdalla Eissa1,*
1 Civil Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Red Sea University, Sudan
* Corresponding author Abdalla Eissa (e-mail: [email protected]).
Article history: Received 31 March 2020, Received in revised form 4 November 2020, Accepted 11 November 2020

ABSTRACT In this paper EXCEL Visual Basic application spreadsheet has used in analyzing and
designing truss elements. EXCEL spreadsheet was developed to draw and analyzes different type of
truss elements for tension and compression forces. The truss members were tested under dead,
imposed, and wind load. Members capacity was provided according to BS 5950. Different type of
joints connection was designed and recommended for support and internal joints.

Keywords: Analysis, Design, MS Excel, Truss

tension capacity is evaluated as follows

1. INTRODUCTION
(1)
An Excel-VBA computer program is developed Where
to analyze truss element structures using stiffness Ae is the effective area for tension
method. Trusses are fabricated from various steel py is the design strength
sections available which jointed together by Compression capacity evaluated as follows
welding or bolting. Loading on trusses consist of
dead load, live load and wind loads, dead and (2)
live loads act directly in gravity direction As in Where
Fig. 1, and wind loads are act normal to truss Ag is the gross area for compression
inclination As in Fig. 2. Combination of load Pc is the design compression strength
according to type of code applied gives a The primary reason for using Excel is that it is
maximum effect of forces in individual members. generally available software, and it comes with
every computer system (both PC and Mac) with
Microsoft office installed. VBA is a programming
environment that comes with Excel and greatly
enhance the capabilities of excel spreadsheets [2].
Spreadsheets are characterized by arrays of
Fig. 1. Nodal forces for Dead load and Live load in gravity direction. cells in which data are input either as numbers or
text or as formulae. Comments on data in the cells
can also be input and hidden if desirable [3].
Because of the mathematical nature of
engineering studies, the use in which spreadsheet
allows for numerical computations and for
creation of good charts makes it the favorite tool
Fig. 2. Nodal forces for Wind load normal to truss inclination.
for engineers [4].
A. Tension and compression members
Most truss structures resist direct axial force 2. MATERIAL AND METHODS
that result in tension or compression effect on
One of the strong points of Excel is its macro
truss members. According to BS 5950 Part 1 [1]
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FJES Abdalla Eissa Abdelkarim: Developing Excel-VBA Spreadsheet for Truss Element Analysis and Design

capability of using macro programming language

to shorten and simplify the repetitive works. VBA
can also serve as a programming language to
solve many problems, iteration and the analysis
of civil structures that are not easily or cannot be
done rely on the built‐in functions and
spreadsheet standard commands.
A. Theory/calculation
A truss 16-meter span and 3.2 meter in height is
analyzed using vba program shown in figure 6.
The input data required for analyze the truss
structure is listed below: Fig. 5. Unequal angle section properties.
Number of joints are 15, Number of members
are 27, number of supports are 2, and number of
jointed loads are 9 as shown in fig 3.

Fig. 3. Plane truss structure analyzed using vba program.

The sheet named geometry calculate member

length, member angle and coordinates to plot
truss shape fig 4. The truss member designation
properties are selected from sheet named section Fig. 6. Part of Excel VBA program.
properties according to BS 4848 part 4[5] fig 5. All
members are analyzed for same material having E Total dead load including cladding and
equal to 210 GPa and constant cross-sectional insulation is 0.12KN/m2 and self-weight assumed
area. After inserting truss coordinates the to be 8 KN, the total live load is 0.75 KN/m2, for
program calculate length of each member calculating wind load a sheet named wind
according to its coordinates, three sheets are pressur is used , according to BS 6399 [6] .Angle
prepared and linked with vba program by the data are stored in a list for user selection using
following command ActiveSheet.Select fig 9,fig 10 data validation property as shown in fig 7 the
and fig 11 this command order the program to external wind coefficients are selected from table
run selected sheet in the workbook. for zero and 90 degree direction the vertical
lookup function is used to find coefficient values
by the lookup command VLOOKUP(lookup
value, table array, column index num, lookup
range). The maximum wind pressure coefficients
are shown in figure 8 which give a value of 20.97
KN outward wind forces on truss members are
shown in fig 10. Forces are combined together to
give worst case according to BS 5950, since
member forces due to wind result in opposite
action, all truss members are tested to satisfy
tension and compression code requirements.

Fig. 4. Part of truss geometry calculated in geometry sheet.

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FJES Abdalla Eissa Abdelkarim: Developing Excel-VBA Spreadsheet for Truss Element Analysis and Design

Fig. 7. Data validation for storing range of cells in one cell.

Fig. 10. Live load force result.

Fig. 8. Wind pressure coefficients calculation.

Fig. 11. Wind load force result.

Combination of load cases are tabulated in fig

12. Section properties for unequal angles are
stored in the first column of fig 13 so by clicking
on any cell in the column a list of all angle sizes
appear and other properties of dimension,
thickness, radius of gyration and area are change
automatically .Compression capacity for each
member were calculated from table 27 (c) of BS
Fig. 9. Dead load force result.
5950 which stored in sheet named section
properties in the workbook, the slenderness ratio
(λ) was exerted from table by lookup command as
in fig 14 column one , compression strength pc
and compression capacity Pc calculated in
column two and three of fig 14 .The affective area
of tension members and tension capacities are
stored in column six and seven of fig 14.

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FJES Abdalla Eissa Abdelkarim: Developing Excel-VBA Spreadsheet for Truss Element Analysis and Design

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Bolt and weld capacities are stored in sheet
named section properties and called to design
sheet by selection size of weld or bolt in design
sheet. Tension and compression capacities are
stored in cells with a conditional formatting test
that if member capacity less than force calculated
light red color shade the cell to notice user that
the section that selected is not satisfactory .Weld
length due to tension and compression members
are calculated and the maximum of two cases is
selected , fig 15. According to bolt size selected
Fig. 12. Load combination effect. number of bolts end each member joint is
provided limiting a minimum of two in each
member as shown in fig 17. The total weight of
truss is calculated by multiplying each member
length by section weight kg per meter called from
section properties sheet.

Fig. 15. Bolt and weld sizes and capacities.

Fig. 13. Section properties.

Fig. 16. Shaded cells for failed angle selected.

Fig. 14. Tension and compression capacities.

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FJES Abdalla Eissa Abdelkarim: Developing Excel-VBA Spreadsheet for Truss Element Analysis and Design

Fig. 17. Connection type and member weight of truss.

4. CONCLUSIONS
An Excel-VBA spreadsheet was developed to
analyzed truss structures the developed program
was tested for 16 m span truss, the member size
and connection type were adopted according to
BS 5950.

REFERENCES
[1] Structural use of steelwork in building BS 5950-1:2000.
[2] VICTOR J. Law, Numerical methods for chemical engineers Using
Excel, VBA, and MATLAB, New York.: CRC Press 2013, ch. 1,
pp. xiii.
[3] Abdalla Eissa Abdelkarim “Excel Visual Basic Application
‘VBA’ for Beam problems Calculation “Red sea university
Journal of
Basic and Applied Science Vol. 2 Special Issue (1) - March 2017
[4] G Pangaribuan An Introduction to Excel for civil Engineers
Jakarta, November, 2015.
[5] Structural Sections to BS 4848; Part 4 1995
[6] Loading for buildings Part 2: Code of practice for wind loads
BS 6399-2:1997

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