1. Start Autodesk Robot Structural Analysis Professional.

2. In the Opening Screen, click (Frame 2D Design) or select File > New Project and click

(Frame 2D Design). First, set the preferences to use the Eurocode Regional settings that are
used throughout this tutorial. Once these preferences have been set they do not change during your use of
the software unless specifically modified.

3. In the Menu Bar, select Tools > (Preferences).

4. In the Preferences dialog box, in the Languages area, set the Regional settings to Eurocode, as shown
below.

Note: These preferences control this copy of the software. Additional project specific settings can be set in the
Job Preference dialog box (Tools > Job Preferences).

You are in the Structural Model layout and can now start the process of developing your structure. The first
step is to create a structural axis on which you can build your structure. The axis is only a reference and is not
linked to the structural members. It is not always required.

5. In the Menu Bar, select Geometry > (Axis Definition).

6. In the Structural Axis dialog box, type a name for the custom axis, such as My Structural Axis.

7. Three different types of axes can be used: Cartesian, Cylindrical, and Arbitrary. In this case, verify that
Cartesian is selected as the type of axis.

8. On the X tab, set the Position to 0.00, No. of repet. to 2, and Distance to 7.5 as shown below.
 Note: If the Distance is not displayed as meters (m), close the dialog box, save and close the project, and then
open it again. The software should now be working in metric.

9. When you press <Enter> after entering the Distance or click Add, the new positions are added to the list as
shown below. Because these distances were an equal distance apart you could set a repeat and not have to
enter each axis position.
10. Switch to the Z tab and set Numbering to Value as shown below.

11. Set the Position to 0.00 and click Add.

12. Add positions for 5 and 5.5 meters. Because these axes are at different distances from each other you need
to enter them individually. Additionally, instead of numbers for the labels, the label equals the value of the
position as shown below.
13. Click Apply and then click Close.

14. The structure axis displays on the grid as shown below.

15. Save the project as My Structural Project.rtd.
 Set up bar sections and draw bars

1. In the Menu Bar, select Geometry > (Bars).

2. In the Bars dialog box, the default Bar Type is set to Simple bar and the Section is set to IPE 100 as shown
below. For this practice you need to add two other sections.

3. Next to the bar section, click .

4. In the New Section dialog box (as shown below) , you can specify the sections from a variety of databases
and families . At the bottom of the dialog box, note that the Section Type is set to Steel. This is the default
material that is assigned to new sections. It can be changed to a more specific material later.

5. In the Section selection area, verify that the selected database is Europe and then select IPE in the Family
drop-down menu as shown below.
6. In the Section drop-down menu, select IPE 270 and click Add . Repeat this step and add the IPE 330
section.

7. Click Close .

8. In the Bars dialog box, verify that the Section is IPE 330 , and then go to the graphical pane to start drawing
the posts . Move the dialog box out of the way as needed.
 Note: You can change the Bar type from Simple bar to a specific type, such as Column or Beam at this point in
the design or after the geometry has been defined.

9. To draw each post, click the first and last corresponding nodes on the structural axis that you defined earlier
.
 Note: If you are snapping to grid dots rather than to the nodes of the structural axis you can change the Snap

Settings. In the Menu Bar, click Tools > (Snap Settings). In the Snap Settings dialog box, turn off the
Grid option as shown below.

10. Once you have created the posts , return to the Bars dialog box and set the Section to IPE 270.

11. Draw the ties by clicking the nodes that have been predefined by the structural axis as shown below .

12. In the Bars dialog box, click Close.

13. To display a more realistic visualization of the structure, select View > (Display).

14. In the Display dialog box, select Bars from the list of objects , and then select Section - shape from the list
of attributes as shown below.
15. Click OK. The more realistic view displays as shown below.

Note: You can also quickly toggle the section shape using (Section Shapes) on the View Control Bar.

16. Save the project.

 17. In the Menu Bar, select Geometry > Additional Attributes > (Brackets).

18. In the Brackets dialog box, click (New Bracket).

19. In the New Bracket dialog box, type the Name 0.2 x 1.0 x 1.0 and set the new bracket's parameters as
follows and as shown below.
1. Length: 0.2
2. Height: 1.00
3. Width: 1.00
4. Thickness (Th 1): 1.00
5. Thickness (Th 2): 1.00
6. Position: Down.

Note: The bracket's position is set relative to the Z-axis.

20. Click Add and then click Close.

21. The new bracket displays in the list of brackets as shown below.
22. To keep track of which bar you are working with, in the View Status Bar, click (Bar Numbers). This
is an on/off toggle.

23. In the View Control Bar, click (Local Systems) to display the local coordinate system of the bars
(as shown below), so that you can verify the bar origins. Brackets are only added to the beginning
node of a bar when you are assigning it in the dialog box.

24. Move the dialog box as needed and place the first bracket on the left side of the structure using either
of the following methods:
1. In the Brackets dialog box, select the Bars edit box and type the bar number where you want
the bracket to be attached (in this case, 3 as shown below) and press <Enter> or click Apply.
When you use this method the bracket is automatically assigned to the beginning node of the
bar.
2. In the graphical pane, click the left end of the top left bar. When you use this method you can
select either end of the bar.
 25. Repeat this step to create a bracket on the right side of the structure.

26. Close the Brackets dialog box.

27. Save the project.

Define supports
1. In the Standard toolbar, expand the Layouts drop-down menu and select Supports as shown below or

select Geometry > (Supports).

2. In the Supports dialog box, double-click on Pinned (as shown below) to open the Support Definition dialog
box.
3. In the Support Definition dialog box, on the Rigid tab, verify that the Fixed directions UX and UZ are selected
as shown below.

4. Click Close.

5. In the Supports dialog box, verify that the pinned option is still selected and click the nodes at the bottom of
the structure to apply a pinned support to them as shown below.
 Note: Alternatively, you can enter the required nodes numbers in the Current selection field in the Supports
dialog box.

6. Save the project as Structure-Project-Loads.rtd.