Getting started

ILX Structures (version 0.1.0) is a 3D frame and plate finite-element program with steel, concrete, wood and masonry design, in the browser. Your projects and models are stored in your ILX account on the server; every save is a version you can restore. One plan includes every feature.

Quick start #

1. Create a project. On the Projects page press New project and give it a name. A project holds models, the project information (job number, client, address) and the project's settings.
2. Create a model. In the project press New model and choose:
   • Blank (optionally with the standard load cases D, L, Lr, S, W, E),
   • Template (portal frame, space frame, planar truss, node grid) with its parameters,
   • Worked example (continuous beam, portal frame, simple truss),
   • Import file (.ilxs, DXF, IFC, STEP, IGES, ETABS .e2k, mesh files), or
   • Quickstart wizard (below).
3. Model the structure: nodes, members, plates, supports, sections and materials (Modelling).
4. Load it: load cases, applied loads and the ASCE 7-22 combinations (Loads).
5. Analyze: press F5 to solve every combination with the envelope (Analysis).
6. Look at the results: deformed shape, force diagrams, reactions, tables (Results).
7. Design: Design ▸ Setup, then Run steel design; the members are coloured by utilization and every check is listed with its clause (Design).
8. Report: Report ▸ Report builder, preview, download the PDF or print (Reports).

The first time you open a model a short tour points at these controls; Help ▸ Tour shows it again.

Quickstart wizard #

New model ▸ Quickstart wizard… builds a complete, loaded and analysed steel moment frame in five steps:

1. Building: number of stories (1 to 50), height and seismic weight of every story, bays, bay width, the number of frames that share the lateral load, column and beam W-shapes, fixed or pinned bases.
2. System: steel special, intermediate or ordinary moment frame (R, Cd, Ω0 from ASCE 7-22 Table 12.2-1; Ct and x from Table 12.8-2).
3. Site and wind: Ss, S1, site class, Ie, TL; basic wind speed, exposure and the plan dimensions.
4. Build and run: the wizard computes the ELF story forces (ASCE 7-22 §12.8) and the MWFRS wind story forces (Ch. 27), generates the frame, writes the dead (story weight on the beams), seismic and wind cases on the story levels, generates the LRFD combinations, saves the model in the project, analyses the seismic case and designs every member to AISC 360.
5. Results: base shears, the governing lateral load, the system factors, the story drift from the analysis (Δ = Cd·δxe/Ie against the Table 12.12-1 limit) and the design summary, with Open the model and Open full report (PDF).

The wizard's frame is a starting point: check the loads, add the gravity live load and refine the model in the editor.

Where things are #