Finite element software? In college I was taught how to do those
calculations by hand.
>
> He "boxed in" the 6 or 8 trusses over the stall with plywood, and at
> the top of each, cut a 2" radius semi-circle. Then put up a 4" OD
> steel pipe spanning all of them. But he staggered the depth, so with
> no load the pipe was sitting on the outer most plates. At the
> calculated flex of the pipe under full load (1100 lbs??) it would
> deflect and be roughly in contact with all the plates, hopefully
> distributing the load fairly evenly across all the trusses.
>
> It was "seat of the pants" engineering, and I don't think anyone had
> FEA software then, but it seemed sound.
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