Analysis & Design Software for Aluminium and Lightweight Structures
3D Finite Element Analysis and Design
Structural engineering FEA software RFEM is the basis of a modular software system. RFEM is used to define structures, materials, and loads for planar and spatial structural systems consisting of plates, walls, shells and members. The program also allows you to create combined structures as well as model solid and contact elements.
Analysis & Design of Frame/Beam/Truss Structures
Structural frame analysis and design software RSTAB contains a similar range of functions as RFEM. Due to the special attention to beam, frame and truss structures, it is very easy to use.
Wind Simulation & Wind Load Generation
Use the stand-alone program RWIND Simulation for complex structures. This program simulates wind flows around any structures by means of a digital wind tunnel.
The generated wind loads acting on these objects can be imported to RFEM or RSTAB.
Aluminium Design According to Various Standards
The following add-on modules perform all characteristic designs of the ultimate limit state and the serviceability limit state as well as stability analyses for aluminium members and sets of members.
- RF‑/ALUMINUM according to EN 1999‑1‑1 (Eurocode 9)
- RF-/ALUMINUM ADM according to ADM 2020 (American standard)
Form-Finding and Design of Cable and Membrane Structures
RFEM and RSTAB provide various options for form‑finding and design of cable and membrane structures. For example, the RF‑FORM‑FINDING add‑on module can find the shape of cable and membrane structures.
The RF‑CUTTING‑PATTERN add‑on module generates and organizes cutting patterns for membrane structures.
Interfaces for Data Exchange
The structural analysis software provided by Dlubal can be seamlessly integrated into the Building Information Modeling (BIM) process. A variety of interfaces allows you to exchange data from digital building models with RFEM or RSTAB.
Support and Learning
Customer service is one of the fundamental pillars of the Dlubal Software company philosophy. We also offer you all the support you need for your daily work.
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Specific Requirements of Membrane Structures
This paper is focused on the specific aspects of designing membrane structures which have specific requirements such as form-finding and cutting patterns generation. These topics are the focus of many research works and there are many methods proposed to achieve the desired results. However, in this paper these issues will be discussed more from the practical point of view than from the theoretical one. The paper will be followed by examples, which will complement the discussed topic and show the special attention required during the design process.

Automatic Determination of Number of Load Increments
If the check box "Number of load increments" is deactivated, the number of load increments will be determined automatically in RFEM to solve nonlinear tasks efficiently.
The used method is based on a heuristic algorithm.
- How do I determine wind loads on structures of any shape?
- Can I retrace and control the critical buckling value calculated by the internal eigenvalue solver?
- Is it possible to model a semi-rigid composite beam with a line release using members in RFEM?
- Are effective length factors determined automatically from a model in the add-on modules for the aluminum and steel design or do I have to make adjustments?
- How can I get the member end forces to design the connections?
- I would like to design an aluminum or lightweight structure. Is it possible to use RFEM or RSTAB for this?
- Which Dlubal Software programs are required to calculate membrane and tensile structures?
- I would like to analyze cable and tensile structures. Is it possible to use RFEM or RSTAB for this?
- In connection with the calculation according to the large deformation analysis, I get significantly smaller deformations than for the calculation according to the linear static or second-order analysis. How is this possible?
- I have performed a buckling analysis in RF-ALUMINUM. Where can I find the parameters that the module uses for the design?
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