sfere2 is a user-friendly program for analysis of structures.    developed for 1st year students of the faculty of architecture, it is specially suited for use by newcomers in the world of mechanics.

sfere2 applies state of the art technologies to provide a means for

the development of sfere2 comprises the bulk of the work for my thesis which led to my graduation from the faculty of architecture, delft university of technology.

the initial goal of the sfere2 project was to create an easy-to-use, -and above all- easy-to-understand structural analysis program.    apart from achieving this initial goal, sfere2 also provides a means of examining dynamic mechanics and a means of doing Gaudi-like formfinding.
sfere2 differs most from existing structural analysis applications in it's unconditional generation and animated presentation of calculation results. sfere2 uses a background processing method that calculates near realistic movement of the structure, and -importantly- does not require all kinds of abstract conditions to be met before analysis can commence. these features result in a program that allows non-expert users to develop a rudimentary grasp of the mechanics of three-dimensional structures.

the standard approach to analyzing a structure of a building is done in three steps:

1. determining stability. is the structure able to carry the loads without large displacements; loosing it's original form?
2. determining lineair elastic reaction stresses. using simple mathematics and laws of physics, determine what the stresses would be within the structure elements.
3. checking strength. check whether the stresses are larger than the maximum stress allowed (forcing the elements to plastic deformation).

the main problem with standard, 'easy-to-use' structural analysis applications is they focus largely on the 2nd and 3rd step.    it is assumed that the user knows everything about stability; and this assumption is hardly ever true for newcomers to the field of mechanics.

this is where the unconditional calculation of sfere2 comes in:

if an instable structure is entered, sfere2 shows how the structure would collapse; like the structure would in reality.
because of the iterative approach of the calculation methods, sfere2 also shows the dangers of second order effects like buckling, and allows for the analysis of tethered structures. This, in turn, allows the user to interactively design structures using Gaudi-like formfinding methods.

sfere2 uses openGl to display the properties of the structure as clear as possible.

• the actual shape of the elements is drawn using the appropriate cross-section
• materials are indicated by color
• support conditions are displayed using intuïtive symbols
• the deformed structure indicates the size and type of stress by color

a test of using sfere2 within a first-year exercise was a big success.   more information on this test and on the results of the questionaire filled in by the participants will be published shortly.
a number of students are using sfere2 to do form-finding and to experiment with free-form architecture.