edubeam

Free online structural analysis software for 2D beams, trusses, and frames.
Real-time solver, Timoshenko beam formulation, sharable projects, and fully localized UI—perfect for classrooms, design studios, and hobby labs.

Launch the web app · Read the documentation · Explore example models

Table of contents

• Why edubeam?
• Product highlights
• Launch & try it
• Development setup
• Available scripts
• Documentation & localization
• Contributing
• License

Why edubeam?

Edubeam is a lightweight yet professional-grade finite element environment for 2D structural analysis. Created by civil engineers and educators, it helps you:

• Teach structural mechanics, stiffness matrices, and load paths with a live, visual tool.
• Validate early-stage beam or truss designs without installing heavy desktop suites.
• Share reproducible models via URLs or JSON for peer review, grading, or collaboration.

Under the hood Edubeam combines a Timoshenko beam formulation, axial truss elements, static condensation, and temperature/load tools into a single browser experience. Everything runs client-side, which means zero install, zero license servers, and instant updates.

Product highlights

• Real-time structural analysis – Every edit recalculates reactions, nodal displacements, and internal forces on the fly.
• Comprehensive loading – Point loads, distributed loads, prescribed displacements, settlement, and thermal gradients.
• Rich visualization – Overlay undeformed/deformed shapes, N-V-M diagrams, support reactions, and coordinate HUD to spot issues quickly.
• Timoshenko beams + truss elements – Mix frame members and axial-only elements in the same model.
• Education-ready – Show stiffness matrices, DOFs, and solver details to connect theory with practice.
• Localization & accessibility – Full UI translations (EN, CS, DE, ES, FR, ZH) plus keyboard-friendly navigation.
• Open source & extensible – Vue 3 + Vite + TypeScript front-end, Pinia state management, and a dedicated documentation site built with VitePress.

Launch & try it

1. Open the live app – https://run.edubeam.app
2. Load an example – use the Examples sidebar or jump straight to the gallery.
3. Inspect the guides – the Introduction and User Interface pages mirror the workflow inside the app.
4. Share your work – use Share model to generate a link or download a JSON snapshot for grading and archives.

Edubeam is optimized for desktops/laptops but also runs on tablets with mouse or pencil input.

Development setup

Requirements:

• Node.js 20.x
• npm, pnpm, or yarn (examples below use npm)

git clone https://github.com/janvorisek/edubeam.git
cd edubeam
npm install
npm run dev

The Vite dev server starts at http://localhost:5173 with hot-module reloading.

Production build

npm run build

Assets are emitted to dist/ and can be deployed to any static host. The main branch is continuously deployed to run.edubeam.app.

Available scripts

Documentation & localization

• Docs hub: https://edubeam.app (built with VitePress).
• Guides: introduction, UI tour, essentials, and theory manuals (Timoshenko beam, truss element).
• Languages: English plus localized content for Czech, German, Spanish, French, and Chinese, matching the in-app translations.
• FAQ & examples: curated to help educators drop Edubeam into lesson plans immediately.

If you are improving docs, run npm run docs:dev for live previews.

Contributing

We welcome bug reports, feature ideas, documentation edits, and localisation help. To get started:

1. Check existing issues or open a new one (bug/feature templates available).
2. Fork the repo and create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/your-topic).
3. Commit with clear messages, run tests/linting, and submit a pull request.

Please keep PRs scope-focused (one fix/feature per PR) and include screenshots when changing UI flows.

License

Distributed under the GPL-3.0 license. See LICENSE for the full text.