Spreadsheets

[autigre]

I am a young engineer working on making my own spreadsheets. I have yet to find inexpensive software that is useful to my particular designs. Most of what we do is industrial building foundations, industrial machinery foundations, structural steel machinery supports, and structural access/walkways and catwalks. Most of the designs are no brainers, but I am trying to develop good spreadsheets to prevent repetitive design. Any suggestions?

 

[ishvaaag]

I have been using Mathcad for similar undertakings and found it be more efficient. Documentation, legibility and maintenance is far easier. System of units can be used at anyone's choice. Have a lot of worksheets posted in its Collaboratory Civil Engineering Folder, some of which can be of your interest.

 

[phuduhudu]

I have used both Excel and Mathcad but I found Mathcad a little limited in calculations in places though the format was better so checking and layout was easier and neater. However now I use Excel only. It is very useful for the kind of calcs you mention. I suggest you also go to the Spreadsheets forum. There are also several sites out there with free spreadsheets for downloading. However I often find that if you develop them yourself you have a much better understanding and are less likely to make errors. It is important to always double check the results because mistakes are less obvious with spreadsheets. Carl Bauer

http://www.bauerconsultbotswana.com

 

[Zulak]

I've been doing spreadsheet calculations with Excel for several years now, and I haven't come across any calculation that it couldn't handle. It's a powerful spreadsheet that's gotten better with each version. Also agree with developing spreadsheets yourself, since there are so many "embedded" calculations that you don't see.