The interface to Autodesk Revit is installed automatically during the installation of RFEM 5 or RSTAB 8. Subsequent installation of the plug‑in is possible through the execution of Revit-Installer.exe.
BIM is often used when it comes to data management in civil engineering. The individual disciplines of architecture, structural design, construction, and structural monitoring are coming closer together. Building Information Modeling makes this possible.. Dlubal Software provides a wide range of formats for data exchange. The following article explains the details of the interface with Autodesk Revit and, in particular, the export settings.
Webservice is a communication between machines and programs. This communication is provided via the network and can, therefore, be used by any program that can send and receive strings via the HTTP protocol. RFEM 6 and RSTAB 9 provide an interface based on these cross-platform webservices. This tutorial shows the basics using the VBA programming language.
The calculation of structures based on digital twins is becoming an everyday task in the engineering office. If a digital building model already exists, you want to continue to use the information contained in it as seamlessly as possible. This states extensive requirements with regard to modeling and interfaces for BIM-compatible structural analysis software.
In the construction process, it is often necessary to fabricate the concrete elements in sections. A classic example of this production in sections is the use of prefabricated downstand beams, in which the slab is completed in the onsite concrete construction. By creating a new concrete area, interfaces may arise between the already hardened concrete and the fresh concrete. The transfer of the longitudinal shear forces arising between the partial cross-sections must be considered in the design.
This article discusses the most common BIM interfaces. Adjustments are often necessary during the transition to the structural branch-specific model. The tasks that arise and the tools to address them successfully and quickly are presented.
Spreadsheet programs like MS EXCEL are very popular with engineers because they allow you to simply automatize your calculations and quickly output the results. Therefore, combining MS EXCEL used as a graphical interface with Dlubal's WebService API is an obvious choice. By using the free xlwings library for Python, you can control EXCEL, and read and write values. The functionality is described in the following, using an example.
The first part of the post about the COM interface describes opening and closing RFEM. VBA programming language is used in Excel; however, the program sequence is the same as for programming with C#. First, it is necessary to add the corresponding reference in VBA to recognize the commands for the interface. The image on the left shows an example of RFEM 5.
RFEM, RSTAB, and SHAPE-THIN are localized in eleven languages. All languages are available at no extra charge. The language of the program interface can be defined in the menu "Options" → "Program Options".
RF-COM/RS-COM is a programmable interface that allows the user to expand the main programs RFEM and RSTAB with customized input macros or post‑processing programs. A tool to copy and move selected guidelines in RFEM will be developed in this article. It is also possible to copy or move the guidelines to another work plane. VBA in Excel will be used as the programming environment.