Software developed at the University of Sheffield has the
potential to enable engineers to make ‘real world’ safety assessments of
structures and foundations with unprecedented ease.
Developed in the Department of Civil & Structural
Engineering, the software can directly identify three-dimensional collapse
mechanisms and provide information about margin of safety, vitally important to
engineers.
A method of directly identifying two-dimensional collapse
mechanisms was first developed in the Department in 2007, and commercialised
through the spinout company LimitState Ltd. This method, for the first time,
fully automated the hand calculation techniques that had been relied upon by
engineers for decades. Software incorporating this method is now used in dozens
of countries worldwide.