Free structural engineering calculators

Static Structures is a free set of online structural engineering calculators for students, engineers and designers. The concrete column calculator builds a full P-M interaction diagram by strain compatibility for rectangular tied and round tied or spiral columns, checks slenderness, and magnifies the moments for second-order effects in nonsway and sway frames. The concrete beam calculator gives shear and moment diagrams, design moment strength, stirrup checks and immediate deflection for simply supported or fixed-end beams. The spread footing calculator checks soil bearing pressure, one-way shear and two-way punching shear, and the retaining wall calculator checks overturning, sliding and bearing using Rankine earth pressure. The rebar development length and lap splice calculator gives tension and compression development lengths, standard hook lengths, and Class A, Class B and compression lap splice lengths for every bar size. The one-way slab calculator designs floor and roof slabs on up to five spans with pattern live load, checking minimum thickness, flexural steel and bar spacing, one-way shear and cracked-section deflection. All six follow ACI 318-19.

The steel beam calculator analyzes simple, continuous, fixed and cantilever beams with any of the 2,299 shapes in the AISC Shapes Database, from W-shapes and channels to angles, tees, HSS and pipe. It draws the shear, moment and deflection diagrams, applies ASCE 7-22 load combinations with pattern live loading, and checks flexure with lateral-torsional buckling, shear and deflection to AISC 360-22 in LRFD or ASD. The steel column calculator uses the same shapes to find the available compression strength, including torsional and flexural-torsional buckling and slender elements, and checks columns with axial load and bending about both axes by the AISC interaction equations. The base plate calculator completes the column base: it checks concrete bearing, finds the plate thickness for axial load, moment and uplift, and checks the anchor rods in tension and shear by AISC Design Guide 1. The bolted connection calculator checks bolt groups for shear, bearing, tearout, slip and combined tension, with eccentric loads by the instantaneous center method used in the AISC Manual tables.

The wood beam calculator sizes floor joists, rafters, headers and beams in sawn lumber (Southern Pine, Douglas Fir-Larch, Hem-Fir and Spruce-Pine-Fir), glulam and LVL by the 2018 NDS. It applies the load duration, size, repetitive member, wet service, volume and beam stability factors, checks bending, shear and bearing for every load combination, and reports live and total deflection including creep. The wood column calculator checks posts, wall studs and nailed or bolted built-up columns for axial load with the column stability factor about both axes, combined with wind bending, net uplift and bearing on the plates. The wood shear wall calculator checks blocked OSB and plywood shear walls by AWC SDPWS 2021: it finds the unit shear capacity for the panel and nailing, applies the aspect ratio limits, shares the wind or seismic load among the full-height segments, and gives the hold-down tension, compression post force and deflection. The wood diaphragm calculator checks blocked and unblocked roof and floor diaphragms for unit shear and aspect ratio, finds the chord forces and the reaction to each shear wall line, and shows where lighter nailing can be used toward midspan.

SectionLab is a section properties calculator. It computes area, moment of inertia, section modulus, radius of gyration, principal axes and the torsion constant J for W-shapes, channels, angles, HSS, circles and custom polygons, then reports normal, shear and von Mises stresses. The Florida wind load calculator applies ASCE 7-22 and the Florida Building Code, 8th Edition (2023): velocity pressure, main wind force resisting system (MWFRS) pressures, components and cladding (C&C) pressures by roof and wall zone, story shear and overturning, with High-Velocity Hurricane Zone (HVHZ) checks for Miami-Dade and Broward. The masonry wall calculator designs reinforced CMU walls and parapets for out-of-plane wind using TMS 402-16 strength design, including P-delta effects and the service deflection limit, and the masonry shear wall calculator checks reinforced CMU shear walls under in-plane load for flexure with axial load, shear and sliding. The masonry beam calculator designs CMU lintels and bond beams for flexure, shear and deflection, and the masonry column calculator checks reinforced CMU columns for axial load, bending about both axes, shear and tie detailing.

About Static Structures

Static Structures is an independent project: free calculators with no ads and no accounts, built to show their work. Questions, corrections and ideas for new tools are welcome at staticstructures@outlook.com.