Development of nomographs as quick estimation for engineering solutions

Nomographs, sometimes referred to as alignment charts are graphical calculators that are closely related to the old-fashioned slide rule. Before the advent of handheld calculators, they were extensively used by engineers for design calculations. The PyNomo programming software for drawing precision nomographs was developed to bridge the decline in reliance on graphical methods for the solution of linear and logarithmic equations, caused by the current availability of high speed multi-tasking computer systems. Some parameters needed for engineering applications which include, continuity equation, correction factor for rip-rap sizes, bulk specific gravity of rocks, void ratio, etc., were determined in this work with the aid of nomographs. The results of these parameters on nomographs were easily read by simply placing a straightedge across known values to finding unknown values as quick means of parameter estimations of complicated formulas to a practical precision.