A dynamic teaching system to support the design of structural steel members

Advanced computer programs used for structural analysis and design have become widely used, however, classical and easy-to-use tools, such as design charts and tables, are still preferable by students, who need simple tools instead of sophisticated and time-consuming programs. These tools help students electronically retrieve section properties-related information and use this information in the design of structural members. It is, therefore, clear that design charts, tables, and section properties should be made electronically available to engineering students. In this study, Microsoft Visual Basic, a widely-used and easy-to-use programming language, was used to develop a system that provides students with the ability to create powerful forms that can be used for different steel sections and their properties. The system was developed to produce steel section properties provided in the AISC and CISC Manuals of Steel Construction and needed in the design charts. This paper describes how the system was developed and presents some real-world examples to illustrate its ease-of-use and powerful capabilities over current practices. Comments and recommendations pertaining to future developments in the field are then presented in the conclusions.