The next advance in design was the "method of sections," developed by Wilhelm Ritter in 1862.

Frameworks Explains the procedure for analysing a pin-jointed framework by two methods - the method of pin-joint equilibrium and the method of sections.

There are 2 commonly used methods to find the truss element forces, namely the Method of Joints and the Method of Sections.

The problem is successfully dealt with using the concept of "effective hydraulic gradient," a concept reminiscent of the method of sections used to analyze confined 2D seepage problems.

For the analysis of entire systems, this approach can be used in conjunction with statics, giving rise to the method of sections and method of joints for truss analysis, moment distribution method for small rigid frames, and portal frame and cantilever method for large rigid frames.