In this lecture, we'll cover the following:

• Adding a range (clipping) slider to control which shear values are displayed on a contour plot.
• Implementing a boolean mask to filter values within a specified range.
• Creating and configuring a float range slider widget, including bounds, step size, and update behaviour.
• Adjusting widget layout and styling for improved usability and presentation.
• Contextual discussion of shear visualisation in slab analysis and its practical relevance.

In this lecture, we extend our plotting tool by introducing a range slider that allows us to clip the displayed shear values within a specified interval. We implement this by defining a clipping range and constructing a corresponding boolean mask that filters values outside the selected bounds, replacing them with NaNs so they are not visualised. Along the way, we configure a float range slider widget, set appropriate limits and step sizes, and refine its behaviour using options such as disabling continuous updates to improve performance.

We also troubleshoot a common issue with conditional logic placement, reinforcing the importance of correctly structuring mask calculations. Finally, we make small improvements to the layout and styling of the interactive controls to enhance usability. We conclude by reflecting on the role of shear visualisation in slab analysis, noting its relative importance compared to bending, and preview a utility function to be developed in the next lecture for extracting stress resultants at arbitrary coordinates.

Next up

In the next lecture, we will build an interpolation utility function that allows us to query finite element results at any arbitrary point within the slab.