Hand methods and modern software side by side — tributary area, moment distribution, and matrix/stiffness analysis, ASCE 7 load combinations, deflection and serviceability limits, and how analysis results actually drive member design.
Structural analysis is the step between load determination and member design: given a structure's geometry, supports, and loads, it predicts the internal forces, moments, and deformations that member design then sizes against. This module works through classical hand methods — tributary area, the portal and cantilever methods, and Hardy Cross's moment distribution — before covering the direct stiffness method that underlies every modern analysis program, because the intuition those hand methods build is exactly what lets an engineer sanity-check software output rather than trust it blindly.
By the end of this module you should be able to explain why a structure is analyzed under multiple ASCE 7 load combinations rather than just the largest-looking one, why deflection and drift limits are checked separately from strength using unfactored service loads, and how a properly reported envelope of forces — not a single convenient load case — is what member design in the concrete, steel, and wood modules actually consumes.