Ebook Graphical Analysis of Roof Trusses

The use of Graphical Analysis for the solution of problems in construction has become of late years very wide-spread, and recent discoveries in this line have extended its application in many new directions. The representation to the eye, in one diagram, of the forces which exist in the several parts of a frame, possesses many advantages over their determination by calculation. The accuracy of the figure is readily tested by numerous checks. Any designer who fairly tries the method will be pleased with the simplicity and directness of the analysis, even for frames of apparently complex forms. Those persons who prefer arithmetical computation will find a diagram a useful test of the accuracy of their results. Being founded on principles absolutely correct, these diagrams give results depending for their accuracy on the exactness with which the lines have been drawn, and on the scale by which they are to be measured. With ordinary care the different forces may be obtained much more accurately than the several parts of the frame can be proportioned.

It is advisable to draw the figure of the frame to quite a large scale, as all the other lines are drawn parallel to those of the frame.