Question

If a rib is part of a nonlinear design or is rigidly connected to following walls, a surface should be used for the modeling instead of a member. So that the rib can still be designed as a member, a result member with the correct eccentricity is required, which transforms the surface internal forces into member internal forces.

If you read out the results of a surface by means of the COM interface, you get a one-dimensional field with all results at the FE nodes or grid points. To get the results on the edge of a surface or along a line within the surfaces, you have to filter out the results in the area of the line. The following article describes a function for this step.

When editing elements via the COM interface, selecting elements is often a problem because it cannot be carried out visually via the work window. The selection can be particularly difficult for models that have been created via the program interface and are then to be modified using a separate program. Apart from the exception, when the selection was made previously via RFEM, there are several alternatives for programming.

• Structure generator for typical geometries with loading and combinations
• Importing and exporting data from spreadsheet programs such as MS Excel and MS Access
• Connection to various programs compatible with COM, for example, B. CAD systems
• Customized pre- and postprocessing modules
• Processing and results of data in user-defined formats

Using RF‑COM/RS‑COM, it is possible to create RFEM/RSTAB models and write data. The same applies to load cases, load combinations, and result combinations.

RF-COM/RS‑COM consists of an instruction set that can be embedded in common programming languages, such as Visual Basic, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), Visual C++ (also .NET). The instruction set includes objects and methods that allow access to the RFEM/RSTAB data.

To be able to use RF-COM/RS‑COM, you only need an editor, a compiler, and basic programming knowledge. The supplied object library is easy to integrate into the editor. For example, in the case of Microsoft Excel, you have everything you need as a VBA editor included in this software.

The RF-COM/RS‑COM interface requires valid licenses for RF‑COM/RS‑COM, as well as for RFEM/RSTAB and the respective add‑on modules whose data is to be used.

Use the "Independent mesh preferred" option in the FE mesh settings to create an independent FE mesh for the integrated objects. This allows you to generate a significantly more detailed and precise FE mesh for individual objects that are integrated into one another.