FEMCalc

Model a building and analyse it

1. On Building, create or load floor levels and assign each slab its geometry. Use a DXF as a traceable plan underlay where useful.
2. Work on one slab level at a time to draw slab boundaries, place columns and walls, and set their sections, elevations and connections. Inspect selected objects in plan, section and 3D.
3. Check transfer columns and, where upper supports are outside the model, enter their external actions with a clear source. Confirm columns and walls connect to the intended levels.
4. Set slab material and stiffness properties, mesh controls, loads and load combinations. Run Analysis to solve all populated above-ground slab levels together.
5. Inspect contours, displacements, reactions, integrated cut results and mesh diagnostics. Compare successively refined meshes in Report where convergence sensitivity matters.

Building-wide features

• Multi-level floorplates linked by vertical columns and walls in a shared global model; the working level controls editing while visibility controls what is shown.
• DXF underlays, plan/section/3D views, selectable geometry, object copying and level-aware elevations support coordinated editing.
• Transfer-column footprints can constrain the slab mesh, and external column actions can represent supports whose upper structure is omitted.
• Finite-element contours, report provenance, solver and equilibrium diagnostics, cut strips, and refined-mesh comparisons help expose how the results were produced.

Construction stages and compression-only props

In Method, name the construction stages and assign each load case before or after snug prop installation. Existing loads and self-weight act before late props are fitted to the deflected structure. Bilateral springs remain the default.

Select Compression-only props under Temporary prop behaviour for finite point and line springs that cannot carry tension. Each authored combination is directly solved as its own two-stage history, with its existing-load factors applied before installation and its additional loads afterwards. Use service-load factors for the actual installation path. Separately solved contact cases must not be added together.

Reactions and captured reports show bearing or open contacts. Displacements separates existing and additional movement at the same nodes. Rigid supports and RC members remain bilateral. Use Standard load-case analysis; permanent/temporary comparison methods are unavailable in this mode. Gaps, preload, prop removal and concrete-age effects remain outside this mature elastic-slab scope.

Analysis scope

FEMCalc reports linear-elastic slab bending and shear demand. It does not calculate reinforcement capacity or certify a slab design. The model is a laterally braced gravity analysis with pinned foundation ends; review the documented solver assumptions and support-face qualification limits.

Physical slab thickness, concrete density and elastic modulus are distinct from effective membrane, bending and transverse-shear stiffness modifiers. Confirm the values and factors used for each floor. Refined-mesh changes are observed sensitivity measures, not guaranteed error bounds or a pass/fail result.

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