Application Areas

The structural FEA software RFEM and the frame & truss analysis software RSTAB are the ideal solution for structural analysis and design of planar and spatial structures made of reinforced concrete, prestressed concrete, steel, aluminum, timber, masonry, and other materials.

The design can be performed according to Eurocodes (EN) and many international standards.

RFEM is the ultimate 3D structural engineering software for finite element method (FEM) analysis.

Due to flexible modeling of structures consisting of member, plate, wall, folded plate, shell, solid, and contact elements, the software can be applied to all possible tasks of structural design.

RWIND 2 is a wind simulation program for numerical simulations of wind flows (digital wind tunnel) around buildings or any other objects by means of CFD simulation (Computational Fluid Dynamics).

The wind simulation can be performed for simple or complex structures. The generated wind loads acting on these objects can be imported to RFEM or RSTAB.

Structural FEA software RFEM and the frame analysis software RSTAB perform stress analysis of planar and spatial structures. In RSTAB, stress analysis is performed for member cross‑sections and in RFEM, also for surfaces and solids.

In addition to normal and shear stress, contact stresses can be calculated in RFEM.

In the structural analysis programs RFEM and RSTAB, it is possible to consider member nonlinearities (for example failure at compression/tension, slippage, tearing, creeping) as well as support and release nonlinearities such as failure, creeping, friction support, and more.

In addition to linear static analysis and second-order analysis, there is also large deformation analysis available (for cable design, for example). Moreover, RFEM supports the consideration of material nonlinearities such as plastification, concrete in cracked state (state II), and many others.

Stability analysis is necessary particularly for structural components subjected to compression and bending. Stability analysis is usually performed in the corresponding add-ons for the relevant material (for example in Steel Design for RFEM 6 / RSTAB 9 for steel members).

Furthermore, RFEM and RSTAB provide powerful add-ons and add-on modules for plate buckling design, buckling analysis, and much more.

In addition to linear buckling analysis, RFEM also allows for nonlinear buckling analysis using the Finite Element Method.

Geometrically and materially nonlinear analysis with imperfections included (GMNIA) represents the "real" structural behavior in this case.

Especially for unsymmetric steel cross‑sections (for example channel sections, angle sections, and so on), it is possible to perform flexural-torsional and lateral‑torsional buckling designs according to the second‑order analysis with 7 degrees of freedom.

Typical application areas for dynamic analysis are seismic design, vibration design of buildings, calculation of machine foundations as well as natural frequency analysis of bridges and chimneys.

The FEA software RFEM and the structural frame analysis software provide a wide range of powerful add-on modules for dynamic analysis.

RFEM and RSTAB allow for nonlinear dynamic analyses performed for time history analysis. For this task, the nonlinear analysis method is available.

Among others, it is possible to consider nonlinear member types (tension and compression members as well as cables), member nonlinearities (failure, yielding, and so on), support nonlinearities (failure, friction, and so on), and release nonlinearities.

Pushover analysis is a nonlinear structural calculation for seismic analysis of structures. The load pattern is inferred from the dynamic calculation of equivalent loads. These loads are increased incrementally until global failure of the structure occurs. The nonlinear behaviour of a building is usually represented by using plastic hinges.

In RFEM, the plastic hinges according to the definition of FEMA 356 are available for the material of steel. You can easily generate pushover curves with the load increment option in RFEM and calculation diagrams.

Structural engineering software RFEM and RSTAB provide various options for form‑finding and cutting patterns of membrane structures as well as form‑finding and analysis of cable structures. Both programs perform the calculation according to the large deformation analysis.

Numerous spectacular cable, tensile, and membrane structures (e.g. Allianz-Arena in Munich, Germany) were analyzed with the structural analysis programs by Dlubal Software.

For RFEM and RSTAB, there are powerful add-ons and add-on modules for the design of steel connections.

It is possible to analyze steel connections using an FE model or design rigid and hinged beam connections, column bases, hollow section and tower connections in steel structures according to Eurocode 3.

The RFEM and RSTAB add-on modules for the design of timber connections allow you to design the connections where timber members are connected indirectly with steel plates or directly with slant screws.

BIM (Building Information Modeling) is a modern way of planning and carrying out construction projects. The advantage of this concept is that all partners involved in a project are connected, sharing one single data source. All relevant building data is digitally maintained within a three-dimensional model, which is then used in all planning stages. In this way, various CAD and structural analysis programs use the same model, which is directly transferred between the programs.

Dlubal provides an option for structural planning according to the Building Information Modeling (BIM). This is primarily achieved through the numerous interfaces for data exchange in RFEM and RSTAB.

For many other application areas, the Dlubal programs RFEM, RSTAB, RSECTION, and others are the ideal structural analysis and design solution. For example:

• Masonry Design
• Cold-Formed Sections
• Soil-Structure Interaction
• Facade Design
• Foundations and Foundation Engineering