The learning path

This page is the whole staircase on one screen: every tutorial and worked example in the order they are meant to be read, what each one teaches, and the known answer it is checked against. If you ever wonder "where am I, and what should I read next?" — the answer is here.

The rules of the ladder are simple. The four tutorials are hand-held: one path, no forks, and each ends in a number you can verify by hand. The examples are recognizable structural problems that each introduce one new capability on top of the rungs before them. You don't need all of them — climb until you reach your own problem, then switch to the how-to recipes for the tasks that remain.

Tutorials — the guaranteed path

	Tutorial	You learn	Checked against
1	Your first model in 10 minutes	the whole spine in under 40 lines: geometry → mesh → typed apeSees bridge → solve → results in the browser	tip deflection $\delta = PL^3/3EI$
2	A plate in tension	the same bridge on a 2D solid: nDMaterial, elements by physical group, reading a field, a contour	$u_x = \sigma L / E$
3	A simply-supported beam, the apeGmsh way	the composites — g.loads, g.masses, ops.section — declare on the geometry, resolve at the bridge	$\delta = 5wL^4/384EI$, $M = wL^2/8$
4	Save, reload, view	persistence (save_to / from_h5) and the notebook-safe results loop	the reloaded model reproduces tutorial 3's deflection

Examples — the ladder

Each example names the rung it builds on. Same bridge, same read-side API throughout — every rung adds exactly one idea.

	Example	Builds on	The new idea	Checked against
1	Portal frame (2D)	tutorial 4	several element groups, gravity + lateral patterns, drift	base shear = applied load, exactly
2	Modal analysis (cantilever)	portal frame	g.masses + ops.eigen, modes through Results	Euler–Bernoulli frequencies
3	Fiber sections & moment–curvature	modal analysis	uniaxialMaterial + fiber sections (via apeSteel)	$M_y = F_y S_x$, $M_p = F_y Z_x$, shape factor 1.10
4	Multi-part assembly	portal frame	one Part, stamped three times, addressed by label	each copy exactly $PL^3/3EI$
5	Tie non-matching meshes	multi-part assembly	g.constraints.tie auto-emitted by the bridge	matches the monolithic bar to ~3%
6	STEP import: plate with a hole	plate in tension	CAD import, healing, naming edges by query	stress concentration $K_t \approx 3$
7	Choosing a results strategy	tutorial 4	the same model read via from_native and from_mpco	both agree on the drift to zero
8	Compose modules	tie + assembly	g.compose — build once, save, import twice	each bay drifts the portal frame's exact answer
9	Pushover of a steel moment frame	fiber sections	DisplacementControl to a sway mechanism	$K = 2\cdot12EI_c/H^3$ (2.7%), $V_p = 4M_p/H$ (1.9%)
10	Plane-wave SSI: absorbing soil column	modal analysis	the absorbing-boundary skin and a propagating wave	arrival at $H/V_s$; late motion < 1% of peak
11	Staged SSI: gravity then the absorbing flip	plane-wave SSI	ops.stage — settle under gravity, freeze, then shake	5.6 cm settlement, then clean radiation
12	Moment-tensor seismic source	staged SSI	a double-couple source embedded in the solid mesh	the analytic double-couple radiation pattern

More rungs (shell-on-solid, transient response-history) are landing; each will slot into this table when it does.

---

Next: start the climb with your first model in 10 minutes.