Knowledge Base

Useful Program Features

The Knowledge Base contains technical articles on “Structural Analysis” which may support you in your daily work.

Furthermore, you get handy tips and tricks for your work with RFEM / RSTAB, the add‑on modules as well as the stand‑alone programs.

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New 001516 Technical Article Steel Structures Steel and Timber Connections RFEM RF-/JOINTS Modeling | Structure Eurocode 3

Modelling and Design of Pinned End Plate Connection

RFEM offers the following possibilities to design a pinned end plate connection. Firstly, there is the possibility in RF-JOINTS Steel - Pinned to enter the corresponding parameters quickly and easily to receive a documented analysis including graphics. It is also possible to model such a connection individually in RFEM and then to evaluate or manually design the results. In the following example, the particularities of this modelling will be explained and the shear forces of the bolts will be compared to the corresponding results from RF-JOINTS Steel - Pinned.
New 001515 Technical Article Building Information Modeling (BIM) RFEM RSTAB RF-COM/RS-COM Import / Export & BIM

COM Interface in VBA | 5. Creating a Tool to Copy and Move Guidelines

RF-COM/RS-COM is a programmable interface which allows the user to expand the main programmes RFEM and RSTAB by customized input macros or post‑processing programmes. In this article, a tool to...
New 001514 Technical Article Towers and Masts RFEM RSTAB Modeling | Structure Eurocode 3

Modeling of Tower with Block Manager

Lattice towers represent typical applications in steel construction. Examples for this special type of truss structures are antenna and overhead line towers, or columns for wind power stations, cable cars, and supporting frame constructions. The modelling can be done individually in RFEM and RSTAB by entering various tower elements. Furthermore, you can use different copy functions and parameterized input options. However, this procedure normally requires considerable effort. It is more comfortable to model such structures using pre-fabricated catalogue elements provided by the Block Manager. Those elements are automatically stored in the database during program installation. Thus, you can use tower segments, platforms, antenna brackets, cable ducts et cetera as parameterized building blocks for generating diverse tower structures.
New 001513 Technical Article Piping Systems Stress Analysis RFEM RF-/STEEL EC3 RF-PIPING General

Pipes Under Internal Pressure Load

Pipe systems are exposed to a large number of loadings. Internal pressure is one of the most governing loads. Therefore, this article describes the stresses and deformations resulting from a pure internal pressure load in the pipe's wall and for the pipe respectively.
New 001512 Technical Article Steel Structures Stability Analysis RFEM RF-/STEEL EC3 RF-STABILITY Design Eurocode 3

Lateral Torsional Buckling of a Principal Beam with I-Section According to EN 1993-1-1

This example is described in technical literature [1] as example 9.5 and in [2] as example 8.5. A lateral-torsional buckling analysis must be performed for a principal beam. This beam is a uniform structural member. Therefore, the stability analysis can be carried out according to clause 6.3.3 of DIN EN 1993-1-1. Due to the uniaxial bending, it would also be possible to perform the design by the general method according to clause 6.3.4. Additionally, the determination of the moment M_cr is validated with an idealised member model in line with the method mentioned above, using a FEM model.
001511 Technical Article Dynamic and Seismic Analysis RSTAB Add-on Modules Eurocode 8

ZPA Method in Response Spectrum Analysis

In a multi-modal response spectrum analysis, it is important to determine a sufficient number of eigenvalues of the structure and to consider their dynamic responses. Regulations such as EN 1998-1 [1] and other international standards require to activate 90 % of the structural mass. This means: to determine as many eigenvalues that the sum of the effective modal mass factor is greater 0.9.
001510 Technical Article Steel Structures Nonlinear Analysis Stability Analysis RFEM RF-MAT NL RF-STABILITY Design Eurocode 3

Plate Buckling Analysis of Steel Shell Structures Using MNA/LBA Concept

Shell buckling is considered to be the most recent and least explored stability issue of structural engineering. This is less due to a lack of research activities, but rather due to the complexity of the theory. With the introduction and further development of the finite element method in structural engineering practice, some engineers no longer have to deal with the complicated theory of shell buckling. Evidence of the problems and errors to which this gives rise is very well summarized in [1].
001509 Technical Article Building Information Modeling (BIM) RFEM RSTAB Import / Export & BIM

Interfaces and Relevant Features for BIM-Oriented Planning

This article discusses the most common BIM interfaces. During the transition to the structural branch-specific model, adjustments are often necessary. The occurring tasks and tools for their successful and fast solution are presented.
001508 Technical Article Timber Structures RFEM RF-/TIMBER AWC Add-on Modules ANSI/AWC NDS

Design of Curved Glulam Beams According to ANSI/AWC NDS

RFEM offers the possibility to model also curved beams. To do this, a curved line must be created first (see Figure 01).This line can then be assigned a beam with a cross-section. The advantages over modelling with beam segments are the easier handling during the modelling as well as the clearer results output of the internal forces.
001507 Technical Article Tensile Membrane Structures RFEM Modeling | Loading

Ideal Gas in Structural Analysis

In theory, an ideal gas consists of freely moving mass particles without extension in a volume space. In this space, each particle moves at a speed in one direction. The collision of one particle with another particle or the volume limitations lead to a deflection and a change in the speed of the particles.