Extensively used in the continuous series of undergraduate structural analysis and design courses, SAP2000 and ETABS have helped the civil engineering students gain real world experience with some of the most powerful software packages available to professionals. Allowing students to learn the software step by step (modeling, analysis, and design) in a sequential approach through successive interrelated core and elective courses (Structural Analysis, Reinforced Concrete Design, and Steel Design), supplies the students with the fundamentals needed to tackle large projects on their own. This paper illuminates the various learning projects that were given to the students in the courses mentioned above. The paper continues with a demonstration to a practical application as civil engineering students used SAP2000 to design a pedestrian bridge for the required capstone senior design course. The project allowed the students to further explore the various design capabilities of SAP2000 while moving past the seemingly simple static load conditions, and proceeding to more complex dynamic and nonlinear analysis of the proposed pedestrian bridge. Using the background from earlier courses and the online help menu provided by the software, the group was able to successfully model, analyze, and design the pedestrian bridge in accordance with the AASHTO-LRFD requirements.
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