Time Distance – Acceleration

Overview: Computes detailed information on the Speed, Distance and Time of a single acceleration event.

Entry into Module:

This module of the program is normally entered by clicking on the REC-TEC block in the upper left of the REC-TEC Window causing the drop-down menu to appear. Place the cursor on the Time - Distance block and click on Acceleration – Single Surface on the sub-menu to initiate this module.

Under certain circumstances, the user may choose to use the Files block instead of the drop-down menu approach. Selecting any file with a .TDA extension in the Dialog box accessed from either the Open Single File or Open Multiple Files block opens this module.

Selecting AutoLoad [ON] from either the Setup Menu or the AutoLoad Icon on the upper right side (third line) of the REC-TEC Window automatically loads the scenario that was on the screen when the module was closed, either individually, or when the program was closed. With AutoLoad [OFF] on the main REC-TEC Window, modules will start without loading a file.

Data Entry:

This module contains the following data entry blocks within the leftmost frame:

· Acceleration - required

· Distance

· Time

· Speed (Initial)

· Speed (Final)

Entry of Acceleration plus two of the four remaining variables in the data boxes is sufficient to generate a solution and causes output information to appear in the Output frame. As the input data is changed, the output data is automatically updated without the need to tell the program to update the output. The user is instructed to decrease the inputs if three or more variables are input.

Output:

The output from this module consists of the repeated input variables plus all of the unknowns that were not entered into the left Input frame expressed in the primary and secondary configurations. If the acceleration either as entered, or as computed, was not from an initial speed of zero, the times and distances are shown for both the event as defined with the input variables and from a stop.

Options:

Several Command Buttons appear in a frame located at the lower right corner of the module Window. The Command Buttons allow the user to engage options including the option to Open and Save the data required to generate the scenario shown on the screen at the time the file was saved.

· Open .TDA File – Calls up a Dialog box, which Opens any pre-existing .TDA file and displays the output results.

· Save .TDA File – Calls up a Dialog box, which Saves data on the screen to files with any user-selectable filenames. This is independent of the automatic saving as “LastFile.TDA” of the data at the close of this module or the close of the program.

· Formulae – Opens a word processor (set by the user in Setup) with a file showing the basic formulae used in this module of the program. While the user may add to or modify the information in this file, it does not change the formulae imbedded into the program.

· Formulae* - Toggles a frame displaying the formulae for computing the unknowns in this module. In addition to the basic formulae, the frame shows intermediate steps with the actual input data shown in the computation.

· Graphics – Displays the graphics curves for Time (with scales) on the upper half and Distance (with scales) on the lower half of the screen. The right and left scales show the Speed. [Esc] to Exit

· N – This button toggles a graphical number pad on the screen that can be used to enter data into the input boxes without using your keyboard number pad. This may be useful for presentations as data entry can be accomplished using a wired/wireless mouse.

· Iteration / FDA Menu – Calls up a frame that permits the user to input the minimum and maximum values for selected input variables along with the interval for Iteration. If Finite Difference Analysis (FDA) is selected, the resulting analysis computes the uncertainty level for the specified range of the input variables.

For a more in-depth description of Finite Difference Analysis, see the Finite Difference Analysis Section of this Manual – Press [F2] from any Active module of the program.