RFEM (Dlubal) question

[ThomasH]

Hello,

I don't know if there are any RFEM users in the forum but I ask anyway . The company I work for is considering RFEM as a tool for timber design. We have heard from colleagues that it is a good tool for this type of structure. Does anybody have any experience that they can share, especially regarding timber design?

Another question is how often the software is updated? When I see how the licensing is set-up I notice that over time it can be costly to have an up-to-date software avaiable.

Thank you

Thomas

 

[jayrod12]

I've never heard of it. However that doesn't mean anything. Does it do just the analysis, or design as well? If design, does it design to the code you require? Do you have a program that you currently use that you could maintain a license long enough to compare analysis between programs?

 

[snipit]

A really good one. With great services.

 

[SJBombero]

Unless you have a wildly complex structure, FEM is not going to save much time on timber design. The resource intensive portion of a timber design is going to be the design of the connections. Very few FEM programs touch this portion of the design.

 

[jayrod12]

And to be completely honest, the reason most programs suck for wood connection design beyond basic ones is 75% of wood design is knowing what a constructable detail looks like before you even start running the numbers. Timber, in my opinion, is one of those materials that really takes experience to be "good" at, no amount of studying books will suffice.

 

[ThomasH]

Hi again,

From the information I have RFEM should do both the design and also design connections. We will obviously test it before we buy it.

@snipit
Is your comment based on first-hand experience? If you use the software, do you know how often they update?

We have had contact with a vendor but they went into "sales mode" so I ask here instead.

 

[snipit]

@ThomasH

I used it when I was an intern at a facade consultant firm. It's more popular in Europe than US, but as they're trying to expand the US market, they got a team in US also. I think it's Philly-based. So, yea, it was a first-hand experience, but a short one.