SkyCiv Users Q&A

[skyciv-sam]

Hey Everyone!

Hope your designs are all off to a great start! Since we have quite a lot of participants making the most of our Science Olympiad offer (https://skyciv.com/olympiad) for the competition, we thought we'd open up a Q&A thread to help answer some of the common questions you might have about the software.

In this thread, we will also be sharing some useful resources for how to design using SkyCiv software. Here are some articles we've written in the past that might help:

1. How to model a Boomilever - https://skyciv.com/docs/education/scien ... oomilever/
2. Common failures and how to test for them - https://skyciv.com/docs/education/scien ... ad-design/
3. Model Templates to start from - https://skyciv.com/docs/education/scien ... templates/

We can't help with your actual designs (that's up to you!) but if you have any questions with how to model or how to use the software please let us know, we're here to help

[skyciv-sam]

To start off, here are some common Q&As we've had in the past:

Can we share access? Accounts can be shared by up to 4 students. Each team only has to purchase 1 license, and the account can be logged in by all 4 team members simultaneously. Designs can be saved to the cloud file storage and students can view each other's models.

How do we add nodes? There are a few ways to do this. (1) Click Nodes, and add them one by one by entering the x,y,z coordinates. (2) You can open the datasheet under Nodes to enter them like a spreadsheet. (3) Use our Pen Tool to simply plot and draw your nodes/members by clicking. Learn more about adding nodes in our documentation at https://skyciv.com/docs/structural-3d/modelling/nodes/

What should I enter as my member end fixities? Normally a truss structure would be connected by pinned connections (FFFFFR). But since the members are glued together and the connections are quite rigid, I think a more realistic fixity is the default "FFFFFF". This is known as a Fixed Connection, and will mean your members will have internal bending moment forces, especially at the joints.

[sourpatchkids]

Hi! What should we use as the torsion constant for American Balsa Wood?

[MadCow2357]

To start off, here are some common Q&As we've had in the past:

Can we share access? Accounts can be shared by up to 4 students. Each team only has to purchase 1 license, and the account can be logged in by all 4 team members simultaneously. Designs can be saved to the cloud file storage and students can view each other's models.

How do we add nodes? There are a few ways to do this. (1) Click Nodes, and add them one by one by entering the x,y,z coordinates. (2) You can open the datasheet under Nodes to enter them like a spreadsheet. (3) Use our Pen Tool to simply plot and draw your nodes/members by clicking. Learn more about adding nodes in our documentation at https://skyciv.com/docs/structural-3d/modelling/nodes/

What should I enter as my member end fixities? Normally a truss structure would be connected by pinned connections (FFFFFR). But since the members are glued together and the connections are quite rigid, I think a more realistic fixity is the default "FFFFFF". This is known as a Fixed Connection, and will mean your members will have internal bending moment forces, especially at the joints.

What's the advnatge of using this over SolidWorks force simulations?

[skyciv-sam]

Hi! What should we use as the torsion constant for American Balsa Wood?

A section's Torsion Constant (J) is calculated based on the section dimensions and is irrespective of the material used. For instance, a rectangular section's Torsion Constant can be calculated by:


a is the length of the long side
b is the length of the short side

(Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torsion_constant)

Alternatively, you can use SkyCiv's Section Builder to calculate this value. If you're designing through SkyCiv Structural 3D, you can add sections via the Builder so that these results are handled for you. Otherwise, you can use the Section Builder to just compare the results to your calculated values.
https://skyciv.com/docs/skyciv-section- ... d-results/

Hope this helps!

[skyciv-sam]

What's the advnatge of using this over SolidWorks force simulations?

Pros and Cons to using SkyCiv Structural 3D over SolidWorks Force Simulation (or any other 3D element simulation software):

Pros: Easier and faster. SkyCiv uses 1D linear analysis which is a simplified model and faster way to design frames. It would typically take 20mins to design a simple frame and get results that are 90% accurate - SolidWorks and other 3D analysis software can take 6+ hours for the same analysis. It is a lot harder to modify and change the model too. Structural Engineers are more likely to use this 1D elements, because for their application they don't need that level of detail offered in 3D elements.

Cons: Not as accurate. 3D element analysis software uses 8 node elements (little cubes), so is a lot more accurate. You can look closer at stresses. This is useful if you want to drill down on a particular area (say a connection) and look at the internal stresses at this location. 3D software is particularly useful for Mechanical Engineers designing smaller parts that might not follow a typical frame structure.

More details here:
https://skyciv.com/technical/comparing- ... -elements/