One year of DCOdes.io presence in the online world of technical software and scripts has been completed! One of the purposes of our platform is to highlight some lesser-known freeware that can prove useful to various categories of engineers and scientists. In the framework of this anniversary, we present you the most popular free software based on the number of views on our website during the last year!
1. LinPro 2.7.5
In the first place is the LinPro 2.7.5 software. It is a simple application for static and dynamic analysis of plane frames. It supports Static, Modal, and Dynamic analysis, using the mode superposition method. The program supports different types of loads, calculates natural frequencies and mode shapes of the structure, and performs linear time-history analysis.
2. ORMAS - Online Rock Mass Strength
Second in terms of views comes the ORMAS software. It is a free software for determining rock mass strength parameters, based on the Generalized Hoek-Brown failure criterion. ORMAS uses the non-commercial javascript libraries jQuery, Highcharts, jsPDF, canvg, and Interpolation.
3. Steel Beam Design Spreadsheet to Eurocode 3
In the third place we have a spreadsheet, especially useful for European engineers. Steel Beam Design can be used for designing steel beams in accordance with the European Standard, now in force throughout Europe. The spreadsheet, due to its form, easy input and clear output reduces time required for designing steel members. It includes lateral torsional buckling check therefore is a comprehensive and an important tool for structural engineers. The spreadsheet has a large database of British and European steel sections.
4. ADONIS
Named after the ideal of male beauty in classical antiquity, ADONIS has some of its beauty. This free Finite Element Software for Geo-Engineers can improve the modeling and computational simulation in geotechnical engineering. It is an easy-to-use yet powerful geotechnical-engineering tool for the linear and nonlinear analysis of geotechnical problems. It features a full graphical user interface (GUI) for pre-processing or post-processing and uses fully automatic mesh generator to create complex finite element meshes. The graphical interface enables a quick generation of complex models, and the enhanced output facilities provide a detailed presentation of computational results.
5. SoFA
Program that calculates safety factors for the ultimate bearing capacity, using several well-known formulas from the literature and design codes. SoFA provides solutions for all three design approaches implemented in Eurocode 7 (but in a totally customizable way), as well as in Eurocode 8 for earthquake loading. Calculations are performed for strip and rectangular foundations, for soil or foundation base inclination, for cohesive and cohesionless soils under static and dynamic loads, and for drained and undrained conditions. SoFA has a simple user-friendly graphical interface and is well documented in order to attract engineers to exploit its capabilities.
6. FLAC
FLAC, or Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua, is a numerical modeling software for advanced geotechnical analysis of soil, rock, groundwater, and ground support in two dimensions. FLAC is used for analysis, testing, and design by geotechnical, civil, and mining engineers. It is designed to accommodate any kind of geotechnical engineering project that requires continuum analysis. FLAC utilizes an explicit finite difference formulation that can model complex behaviors, such as problems that consist of several stages, large displacements and strains, non-linear material behavior, or unstable systems (even cases of yield/failure over large areas, or total collapse).
7. Graphreader
Graphreader is meant to be a simple online tool for extracting values from image-based graphs and plots, and export those data into comma separated values (CSV). Graphs and curves are effective tools for presenting results in reports and publications, however they are also effective means of manipulation since it can be a challenge to grasp and compare the exact values. With Graphreader you can go deeper into those data and carry out real quantitative analysis.
8. Colorado Rockfall Simulation Program
The Colorado Rockfall Simulation Program (CRSP) was developed to model rockfall behavior and provide a statistical analysis of probable rockfall events at any given site. It includes: introduction, previous work and background, methods, results, discussion of results, conclusions, recommendations, use of the CRSP program, references, and appendix.
9. HYRCAN
HYRCAN is a free Slope Stability analysis program for Geo-Engineers. Currently HYRCAN is available for windows only, and is available in the following languages: English, Portuguese, Chinese (Simplified), Italian, Turkish, Russian, and Polish.
10. CloudCompare
The top ten is rounded off with CloudCompare. It is a robust, free to use, open-source project for processing, editing and analyzing various 2.5D, 3D formats, with empasis on Lidar, photogrammetric and terrestrial laser scan 3D point clouds (and 3D meshes). CloudCompare’s main use involves direct comparison between point clouds (or point clouds and meshes) for settlement or elevation change detection, registration and aligning features, and resampling techniques. More advanced tools focus on point cloud classification, surface filters and segmentation algorithms.
