Volvo CE has ordered an ExcelCalcs training course specifically developed for their personnel. I’ll be reviewing the material with their management team next week before delivering a 5 day course in France in April. Specifically we’ll be using XLC and the ExcelCalcs site and apply them to the design of construction equipment. The underlying concepts will be explained using PowerPoint, videos, quizzes, tutorials and experiments. The attendees will end the week with some role-playing exercises to solve some challenging engineering problems based on case studies from my consultancy work. Please enquire about a tailor made coarse for your organisation.

New Calculations from Alex Tomanovich
We are very lucky to have Alex Tomanovich as a member, I really cannot extol his virtues enough and I am very grateful for all his hard work. His spreadsheets are numerous and of outstanding quality. Alex has updated some of his work and released some new calculation too (see Repository News below). You'll be interested to know that Alex sells software for Structural Engineers that runs on HP Handheld calculators (HP50g, HP49G and HP49g). Click for further Details.

Can you help another user?
ExcelCalcs user shawnmor was very grateful to philstunell for solving his repository request. Phil provides engineering and management services via www.stunnel.com. Can you solve a problem for someone else? Or do you think someone could solve one for you? Please use the forum to discuss.

New Version of XLC Out Soon
I have been a little quieter than usual recently because I have been working away of the next version of XLC. The equation renderer is substantially upgraded to provide increased functionality particularly regarding the rendering of exponents. Currently XLC only renders single numbers or single letter names to be rendered as exponents. The next version will allow whole expressions and multiple letter names with subscripts to be rendered as exponents. It working well for me at the moment but I am just doing some final debugging before it is release towards the end of the month.

What I have been doing this week - I saw ‘There will be Blood’ (very different and interesting but is it a great performance or a piece of pantomime from Daniel Day-Lewis?). I read “Born Standing Up”, Steve Martin’s autobiography (a good light read). I finally got a Windows Vista machine - I like it but I still prefer Office 2003 to Office 2007 (does this make me a Luddite?).

Repository News

ASCE705I.xls	New! - Determine ice loading due to freezing rain on structural steel members per the ASCE 7-05 Code. Author Alex Tomanovich.
ASCE705S.xls	New! - Flat roof snow loading analysis for buildings and structures per the ASCE 7-05 Code. Author Alex Tomanovich.
UGTANK.xls	New! - Analysis and design of anchorage for underground storage tanks. Author Alex Tomanovich.
AISCProp13.0.xls	Updated by Alex Tomanovich.
AISC 13.0 Properties Viewer.xls	Updated by Alex Tomanovich.
ASCE702W.xls	Updated by Alex Tomanovich.
BEAMANAL.xls	Updated by Alex Tomanovich.
WELDGRP Metric.xls	New! - This is a modification of Alex Tomanovich's spreadsheet "WELDGRP.XLS" It has reworked for metric units.