Structural Engineering Blog: Structural Engineering Apps

Top Free Structural Engineering Apps

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​Mobile applications are becoming increasingly prevalent. More and more structural engineering mobile applications are being developed for both design and construction uses. These structural engineering mobile applications can be downloaded easily through an app store and used conveniently and anywhere on a mobile device. These applications for structural analysis and design can produce quick calculations and determine immediately whether members or connections at stake are adequate. Decisions on structural designs and construction methods can be made instantly.

Because of the many benefits, there is a huge market for structural engineering applications. In the app stores, a variety of free mobile applications for structural engineering can be downloaded. You will have to rely on reviews of past and current users or you will have to download them and test them yourselves. Therefore, selecting the right application is a cumbersome process.

We have tested different structural engineering apps and came up a list of applications that we felt were some of the best in the structural engineering category.  These applications were selected based on the following criteria:

• Quality
• Presentation
• User friendly and efficient interface
• Clear engineering methods (have clear working formulas to show the steps to the result)

Like all software and mobile applications, there are some limitations. It is your own engineering responsibility to check whether the results are valid.

AISC/ANSI 360

R.C. Analysis ULS Circular Section demo

Bearing Load Free

​Application	Description	Input	Output
Bearing Load Free	​This app designs for the design and allowable bearing pressure for shallow foundations.	​ Type of soil (clay, silt, gravel, uniform sand, well graded sand, silt) Soil parameters (density of soil, compaction of soil, friction angle, density of backfill material if necessary) Undrained or drained Footing type (strip footing or pad footing) Footing dimensions	​ Allowable bearing capacity Design forces
Beam Design	This app produces displacement values, moment, shear, and normal diagrams, and reactions of steel beams.	​ Location of members, struts, and hinges Support conditions Applied loads (point loads, moments, distributed loads) Types of load cases Load combinations Material properties (E, fy, Y) Steel size/profile (moment of inertia, area of steel profile, etc) Location of nodes and members	Displacements in horizontal, vertical, and combined directions Rotations Internal forces and stresses (moment, shear, normal, and reactions) Stiffness matrix
RCC Slab Design​	This app designs for the required reinforcement sizes and spacings needed for RC slabs.   Extra feature: Includes an optimization chart for slab thickness vs reinforcement where the limitation of its use is for slab thickness < 120	Thickness Imposed loads Span length Slab type (interior panel where all slabs are supported in all directions, # of edges continuous  or discontinuous) Concrete and steel grade and properties Clear cover Reinforcement size	Center to center reinforcement spacing Slab deflection check Bar bending schedule (including weight of beam and figure of beam)
RC Analysis ULS Circular Section demo	This app designs for circular concrete sections by checking for bending moment, with or without axial force, under ULS state. This app uses the NTC 2008 code and Eurocode 2. This app is only limited to circular diameters of 50 cm and even number of reinforcement bars.   Considerations Neglect tensile strength of concrete Bond between steel and concrete is perfect Max strain  in outermost compression fiber= 0.0035 Cross section have symmetrical geometry, reinforcement, and materials Forces and moments at the centroidal axis	Applied force in tension and compression and internal bending moment Number of reinforcement bars Diameter of reinforcement bars Distance between center of steel bar to concrete surface, c = cover + d/2  Fy characteristic yield strength of reinforcement Fc, characteristic compressive cube strength of concrete	Moment capacity Ratio of design moment/moment capacity Neutral axis depth E values M-N interaction diagram
AISC/ANSI 360	The app is for the design of steel members and is based on AISC/ANSI 360-10 (LRFD or AS). However, different steel sections from different countries are included, including user defined sections. These steel sections include I-shapes, channels, tubes, hollow sections, etc.   The app provides a set of worked formulas for the design checks and the formulas have references to the chapter of the code.	Fy characteristic yield strength of reinforcement Cb, Cmx, and Cmy values Effective length KLx, KLy Applied forces and moments	​ Applied loads, shears, and moments Shear or moment capacity Slenderness check Section properties Tension check Compression check (including web axial stress) Axial check (including flexural torsional) Shear check Local buckling in flexure check (compact or noncompact, flange b/t ratio, web h/t ratio)
​Section Calc	This app outputs the section properties of a given type of section with given properties and dimensions.	​ Different types of sections (rectangular, hollow section, T-section, L section, circle, hollow circle, channels, I section, Z section) Dimensions of section	Cross sectional area Moment of inertia about xc axis and yc-axis (Ixc, Iyc respectively) Polar moment of inertia, Jzc Distance of centroid from y or x axis (cx and cy respectively ) Radius of gyration about xc, yc, and zc axis (kxc, kyc, rzc respectively) Elastic section modulus about xc and yc axis (Sx and Sy