BeamWB for FreeCAD
⚠️ ALPHA VERSION WARNING ⚠️

This workbench is currently in the ALPHA stage of development.

Features may be incomplete or subject to change.

Bugs and stability issues may be present.

Validation Required: Always independently verify results with hand calculations or established commercial software. Do not use for critical production engineering without rigorous verification.

🏗️ Overview
BeamWB is a custom Workbench for FreeCAD dedicated to 1D structural beam analysis. It provides a seamless interface between FreeCAD's parametric environment and the PyNite Finite Element Analysis (FEA) library.

Designed for structural engineers and students, BeamWB allows you to model, analyze, and perform design code checks on beam structures directly within FreeCAD.

✨ Key Features
🔧 Pre-Processing
Geometry Creation: Intuitive tools to create and modify Nodes and Beams.

Section Management: Define standard structural sections (I-Shape, HSS, Rectangular, Tubular) with parametric properties.

Material Library: Custom material creation including isotropic properties (E, G, Yield Strength).

🌪️ Loads & Boundary Conditions
Supports: Flexible boundary condition creation (Fixed, Pinned, Roller, etc.).

Load Types:

Nodal Loads: Point forces and moments.

Member Loads: Distributed loads along beam elements.

Acceleration Loads: Global acceleration (e.g., Gravity/Self-weight).

Load Combinations: Create load combinations (ULS/SLS) with custom factors.

🧮 Analysis & Solver
PyNite Integration: Utilizes the open-source PyNite library for reliable 3D static linear elastic analysis.

Solver Management: Dedicated solver object to manage analysis runs and store results within the FreeCAD document tree.

✅ Design Code Checking
Integrated Design Checks: Perform unity checks on structural members.

Standards Support: Currently includes implementation for Eurocode 3 (steel design).

Result Envelopes: Automatically calculates envelopes for multiple load cases.

📊 Post-Processing
Visual Results: 3D visualization of shear, moment, and deflection diagrams directly in the 3D view.

Detailed Logs: Inspect detailed calculation logs and unity check values per member.

Data Reporting: Tabular view of node and beam results.

🚀 Installation
Download the repository.

Place the BeamWB folder into your FreeCAD Mod directory:

Windows: %APPDATA%\FreeCAD\Mod\

Linux: ~/.local/share/FreeCAD/Mod/

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/FreeCAD/Mod/

Restart FreeCAD and select BeamWB from the workbench dropdown.

🛠️ Dependencies
FreeCAD (v0.20 or later recommended)

PyNite: included

NumPy

🤝 Contributing
Contributions are welcome! Since this is an Alpha release, please report any bugs or feature requests via the Issues tab.