Site history


This page is intended to help visitors decide whether something of interest to them might have been loaded since their last visit.  (Entries more than a few years old tend to get weeded out.)


12th August 2023:  Released a minor update (version 1.01) to the Draped Beam spreadsheet.  Trivial improvements to the data validity checking.  No calculation changes.

23rd June 2023:  Released a minor update (version 4.09) to the Cross-Section Analysis spreadsheet.  It now includes a rectification process for the rare and random behaviour where the spreadsheet’s command buttons occasionally meander.  No calculation changes.

13th February 2023: 
(1)  Changed the download package for the Beam on Elastic Foundation program to include the executable file with its extension changed from .EXE to .ZZZ in an attempt to thwart overzealous protection systems.
(2)  Rearranged entries on the Software Downloads page in an attempt at more logical ordering.  Perhaps a slight improvement?

29th January 2023:  Released a minor update (version 1.02) to the “Template” spreadsheet.  Only change is in the associated descriptive document, where the question of “auditability” is now discussed.

29th January 2023:  Released a minor update (version 4.08) to the Cross-Section Analysis spreadsheet, involving wording and/or cosmetic changes only.  No calculation changes.

17th January 2023:  Released a minor update (version 5.03) to the Loaded Cable spreadsheet.  No calculation changes.  Main change is a description of the construction of wire ropes and its potential significance.

17th January 2023:  Released a minor update (version 4.07) to the Cross-Section Analysis spreadsheet, involving wording and/or cosmetic changes only.  No calculation changes.

5th December 2022:  Released a small update (version 19) to the “John Clarke Australian Verse” document.

24th November 2022:  Completely new item. A spreadsheet that analyses long beams that are “draped” over a single support point, with each side coming to rest at a different level.

Late October 2022:  Site was updated to a “secure” one (ie https:// rather than http://).

2nd September 2022:  Released a significant update (version 18) to the “John Clarke Australian Verse” document.

2nd September 2022:  Released an update to the “Beam on Elastic Foundation” package.  No change to the software itself, but a change to the User Manual.

21st July 2022:  Released a minor update (version 17) to the “John Clarke Australian Verse” document.

4th July 2022:  Completely new item. A program (not a spreadsheet) that analyses beams on an elastic foundation.  This has been gradually developed over many years.  It accommodates differing foundation stiffnesses, axial compressions, different stiffnesses for upwards and downwards displacements, lift-off, plus many other features.

13th January 2022:  Released a minor update (version 2.05) to the Horizontal Lifeline spreadsheet, having added some comments on a way to accommodate non-rigid anchorages.

14th October 2021:  Released a trivial revision (version 1.01) to the “template” spreadsheet.

6th October 2021:  Released a new spreadsheet.  This new offering uses Monte Carlo simulation in an attempt to determine the likely vibrations that a crowd of randomly walking pedestrians will induce in a flexible pedestrian bridge.

At the same time I released a minor revision (version 5.02) to the “Loaded Cable” spreadsheet.  This reflects some minor refinements and some further tidying up.

18th August 2021:  Released a major revision (version 5.00) to the “Loaded Cable” spreadsheet.  This adds two significant new features:
»  The cable’s endpoints can be supported elastically rather than rigidly.
»  The cable can have different properties either side of the loaded point.
It also corrects a long-standing error where under some rare circumstances the Solver would converge onto a totally (and obviously) ludicrous solution.
[These improvements were “sponsored” by Melbourne’s sixth Covid lockdown.]

11th June 2021: Covid kindly allowed me to refine a rudimentary sort‑of “template” for use in developing future spreadsheets that will be underpinned by the same general interactions.  Version 1.00 of this template is now able to be downloaded, along with a document that explains the philosophy behind it.

23rd March 2021:  Released a new version (3.06) of the “Dynamics of a two-degree-of-freedom system” spreadsheet.  The change in this update is what I hope is a small improvement in the clarity of the graph of the sensitivity analysis.

17th February 2021:  Inspired by my third burst of Covid-induced lockdown, I developed and released a new version (3.04) of the “Dynamics of a two-degree-of-freedom system” spreadsheet.  The main change in this update is the addition of a capability for sensitivity analysis, allowing the user to explore the effect of varying various defining parameters.  This is a significant addition.

11th January 2021:  Released a new version of the “edge of slab on elastic foundation” spreadsheet.  Only significant change is a more detailed discussion of the apparently parabolic deflection contours under the action of a point load at the origin.

4th December 2020:  Released a new version of the “analysis of reinforced concrete cross-section” spreadsheet.  Main change is improved guidance on recalcitrant problems, supplemented by a few cosmetic improvements.

21st October 2020:  Released new versions of the two “slab on elastic foundation” spreadsheets, adding to each the ability to rotate individually the predefined load shapes.
      Edge of slab on elastic foundation, now version 1.05
      Interior of slab on elastic foundation, now version 2.05

16th March 2020:  Released a new version (1.04) of the “Dynamic Buckling” spreadsheet.  The main change in this update is the inclusion of an alternative force-time pulse shape.

5th February 2020:  Released a new version (4.03) of the “Dynamic Analysis of Machinery Foundation” spreadsheet.  The main changes in this update reflect more informative documentation of the Coupled Analysis capability.

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May 2015:  I have at last had an opportunity to check my spreadsheets under Excel 2013.  The checking was relatively superficial, but it suggests that none of them have any problems.

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Nov 2012:  Site created.