Why was CBFEM created?
To empower structural engineers to overcome the biggest pain in designing steel projects - connection design
The idea of CBFEM
Component-based Finite Element Method (CBFEM) is a method to analyze and design connections of steel structures. It is a synergy of the standard approach to connection design (component method) and finite elements. This allows engineers to code-check steel connections of immense variety. CBFEM overcomes the limit of calculation possibilities in connection design while keeping engineers on the safe side.
Who benefits from CBFEM?
Research, education, live application
Engineers
Complex connections and their structural design have been a pain for decades. CBFEM provides insight into connection behavior according to the code not just for the easy connections but also for the complex ones. CBFEM opens up possibilities for engineers to redesign their approach to steel and connection design.
How was CBFEM tested?
Validation and verification
Every new approach in engineering practice has to be properly validated (compared to experiments) and verified (compared to analytical models).
Process of CBFEM testing started in 2014 resulting in a huge scope of validation and verification studies and articles, showing the CBFEM calculations and resulting code-checks are accurate and reliable.