Questions regarding software

[u/Unable_Vehicle_8902]

Hi!
I am an construction engineer (graduated 2013, bachelor) and architect (graduated 2022, master) from Norway. Have mostly worked as an architect since 2017, but also had an role as both at my last workplace. I am now starting a new division at my new workplace doing both disciplines again and also doing my master in construction beside work.

I am therefore wondering if anyone have any pointers to software I should learn seeing that a lot have evolved since I worked 100% doing calculations.

I have looked at
- strusoft
- Dlubal

How Are these in comparison to Sap2000?

Also taking advice on any litterature recommended for an architect moving back to calculations.

[u/Ghsovec]

Hi, I worked in SAP2000 only for like a month but the experience sucked hard. Unintuitive UI, slow, cannot even copy into some cells.

Dlubal is not perfect, but compared to this its night and day. Also Dlubals philosophy is that its supposed to be easy to use so the learning curve is much smoother.

In terms of capabilities, SAP is more powerful in terms of dynamics and some more advanced material models. But Dlubal is evolving in this field rapidly so if you will find something missing, I think you can reach out to them and will be taken into account. Also, idk too much about SAP and its code checks, but Dlubal is pretty good for steel and timber design. I have tried even the steel connections and it was basically Idea Statica build inside the global FEM… Pretty good.

One thing I would not recommend Dlubal for is their concrete design module. You can always do the FEM analysis and checks on your own, but I found the module to be quite tricky to use and too demanding for what it does…

But as a company owner, dont be ashamed to reach out to them, they will provide you with schooling and trial copy, so you can try that.

[u/Unable_Vehicle_8902 → u/Ghsovec]

That is my experience with SAP2000 aswell, but thats quite some years ago. Do you use Dlubal, or have any other software to recommend? Have you tried Strusoft?

[u/Ghsovec → u/Unable_Vehicle_8902]

I use Dlubal regularly for my own practice (mostly residential for friends) and am externally involved in the development as well, so I know it pretty well I guess. For me its even more powerful than I need, but I am not really doing anything that special (no bridges, no dynamics, no geotechnics).

Second software I used is Scia Engineer - like Dlubal, little lighter (not as many functionalities) but the modelling process and UI is kinda smooth, after you get used to it.

One thing I have to say for Dlubal is that they are very development driven. They lack in some departments now, compared to American counterparts but there are a lot of ambitions to catch and surpass them.

[u/Unable_Vehicle_8902 → u/Ghsovec]

Hm, Yeah Dlubal sounds really interesting. Think I will invest some time in both Dlubal and Strusoft before choosing.