Your first calculation

Seven steps, start to finish. Nothing has to be set up first, and you can stop after step four if all you want is the number.

1. Start a chat

Open Dlubal CALC and start a new chat. There is no template to pick and no calculation type to choose: describing the problem is the interface.

2. Describe the system

Say what you have and, more importantly, what you want out of it.

Single-span steel beam, span 6 m, uniform load 12 kN/m including self-weight, S235.
Pick the lightest IPE that keeps deflection under L/300 and utilisation under 0.9.
Show me the governing check.

3. Read the assumptions before the number

The answer states what it had to assume. Read that part first: it is where a result quietly becomes wrong, and it is the reason the assumptions are printed at all.

Disagree with an assumption by saying so, and ask again. The conversation keeps its context, so you do not restate the system.

Take the deflection limit as L/250, not L/300, and use the German NA.

4. Check the result

You get the internal forces, the utilisation to EN 1993, the deflection against its limit and the steps in between. The numbers are traceable: every one of them names where it came from, so you can check the path rather than trust the total.

That costs one credit for the message. A search or an RFEM call is billed separately when it happens, and the table is in Plans and credits.

5. Connect RFEM, if you want the model

Everything so far ran without RFEM. To build the same beam as a real model, calculate it there and read the results back, connect RFEM 6 once and ask again.

Connecting RFEM is the setup, and it takes about two minutes if RFEM is already installed. RFEM access is on every plan, the free one included.

6. Ask for the alternative you actually want

The value of the conversation is in the second question, not the first.

What changes if the span goes to 7.5 m and the load stays the same?

Same beam in S355. Does it get lighter, and by how much?

7. Turn it into a report

When the result is right, say so:

Put this into a report: load assumptions, the governing check, and the deflection check.

You get a document with chapters that you can edit before exporting. A PDF export costs 2 credits, editing costs nothing, so iterate first and export once.

PDF reports need Starter or above. On the free plan you can calculate and read results but not generate the document. Reports covers the editor, the cover page and what ends up in the file.

Where to go next

• Connecting RFEM to drive your own RFEM 6.
• Knowledge sources for where a cited rule comes from.
• Reports for the document you hand over.