truss/frame FEA freeware or shareware wtd. in 2004

[amorrison]

There is a 5 yr. old thread on this but most sites are dead.
What do you recommend in 2004?

 

[AJUK]

If you are in the UK, Ireland or North America

http://www.issrobot.co.uk/robot_freeware.htm

 

[Lutfi]

Enercalc offers Fastframe free. I have a copy but I never used it. It appears to be a nice program. I use STAAD Pro or ETABS V 8.0 for all of my analysis and design needs and complex trusses. This software is two dimensional only. Virtually all wind frames can be modeled as 2-D.

http://www.enercalc.com/products/fastframe.asp

Good luck

 

[CSEllc]

I ike Risa-2D for simple "wind" frames. (

http://www.risatech.com)

RAM International Advanse is good also. (

http://www.ramint.com)

 

[drawoh]

FElt is a Free Software finite element program which comes with source code. I am not a PEng structural engineer, so I cannot vouch for its accuracy.

http://felt.sourceforge.net/

FEA seems to me to be a good argument for Free Software (

http://www.gnu.org).

You should not be treating this application as a black box.

JHG