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The U. S. Military Academy at West Point was the first school in the U.S.

to off er a formal program of instruction in engineering. You can select a member in two different ways: (1) click the member itself on th e Drawing Board, or (2) click the corresponding entry on the Member List on the right-hand side of your screen. You can select several members by holding down the CTRL key. Use this technique to change the properties of several members simultaneously. You can sort the Member List by member number, by member properties, or by load test results. Just click the button at the top of the appropriate column in the list. You can select several members simultaneously by dragging a box around them with the mouse. To speed up the design process, you can run the Load Test without displaying the animation. Click the Test menu, then click Load Test Options, then uncheck Dis play the Animation. There are two ways to delete a joint or member: (1) select the object(s) you wan t to delete, then click the Delete button on the Main Toolbar; or (2) click the ERASE tool on the Design Tools palette, then click the object you want to delete . You can use the GO BACK button to return to a previous design iteration. In the load test animation, deflections of the bridge are exaggerated by a facto r of 10 to help you better visualize how a truss carries load. Real bridges don 't bend as much! You can display the Load Test animation without exaggerated deflections, without color changes in the members, and without the background. Click the Test menu, then click Load Test Options, then uncheck the appropriate boxes. For a given weight and type of material, hollow tubes are somewhat more expensiv e than solid bars, but tubes carry compressive member forces much more efficient ly. Therefore, it is generally better to use tubes for compression members. For a given weight and type of material, hollow tubes and solid bars carry tensi le member forces with equal efficiency. Since tubes are somewhat more expensive than bars, it is generally better to use solid bars for tension members. In the Load Test animation, tension members turn blue, and compression members t urn red. The intensity of the color is directly proportional to the intensity o f loading. If you make a mistake while creating or editing your structural model, just clic k the Undo button. The cost of your bridge is the sum of four parts: (1) the material cost, (2) the connection cost, (3) the product cost, and (4) the site cost. Click the Report Cost Calculations button to see how the total is computed. If you are just learning how to use the Bridge Designer, use a Standard Truss Te mplate to show you how to position joints and members to create a stable structu ral model. On the Drawing Board are 3 labels for the Floor Beams, Concrete Deck, and Asphal t Road Surface. If they cover part of your structural model, you can drag them out of the way with your mouse. The DELETE key on your keyboard performs exactly the same function as the Delete button on the WPBD toolbar. You can move a joint by dragging it with the mouse. You can move a joint by selecting it and then pressing the appropriate arrow key on your keyboard. The drawing grid has three different resolutions. Use the high-resolution grid to make small adjustments to the position of joints in your structural model. If you want to ensure that the shape of your structural model is symmetrical, sw itch on the Symmetry Guides.

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