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Free Online Engineering Calculators — Anchors, Steel, Building Components and Pumps, No Installation

Free Online Engineering Calculators — Anchors, Steel, Building Components and Pumps, No Installation

Many everyday engineering calculations do not need heavy analysis software: checking an anchor, designing a steel connection, sizing a railing or choosing a pump. For tasks like these there are now free calculators that run in the browser — no installation, no licence and no IT department. This article collects the genuinely useful ones, by field.

The important difference between calculators is not the interface but which standard it calculates to. An engineer in Israel needs tools that know the Israeli standards — and there are fewer options here than one might think.

Anchoring in concrete

AAS — anchor design

Design of mechanical and chemical anchors in concrete to EN 1992-4, including cracked concrete and seismic design. It covers every failure mode — pull-out, concrete cone, splitting, edge shear — which is exactly the part that is hard to do by hand.

ARS — post-installed rebar

Design of post-installed rebar bonded into existing concrete to EN 1992-1-1, SI 466 and ACI — from defining the connection to the required anchorage length.

INDEXcal

Anchor calculation to EN 1992-4, with modules for rebar into existing concrete, ETICS and railings. It is downloadable Windows software rather than a browser calculator, and it checks only anchors from the manufacturer's catalogue.

Adhesive quantity

VOLSOFT and INDEXmor Cloud calculate how many adhesive cartridges are needed from the number of holes, diameter and depth. A simple calculation, but the gap between theoretical and actual quantity is a constant source of ordering errors on site.

Steel

ConSteelSoft designs structural steel connections to EN 1993-1-8 and AISC, with a wide connection catalogue and 3D display. STEELSOFT calculates connections with bolts and nuts, self-drilling screws and expansion anchors, with a report. The torque calculator gives the maximum tightening torque for a bolt by diameter, strength grade and friction coefficient.

Building components to Israeli standards

This is the area with almost no alternatives — most calculators in the world work to American or European standards only:

FACADESOFT — curtain walls and structural glass to SI 1568. RAILSOFT — railings and their anchorage to SI 1142, with a full report. STONESOFT — stone cladding anchorage to SI 2378 and SI 1872. CEILSOFT — suspended ceilings to SI 5103 and SI 1924. MAMADSOFT — interior cladding in protected rooms to SI 5075. SCAFSOFT — scaffolds and wall ties to EN 12811 and SI 1139. FORMSOFT — formwork to SI 904 or DIN 18218. BALCSOFT — balconies of four types. POLESOFT — power and lighting poles and their anchorage to EN 50341-1.

And for frame analysis: STRUCTSOFT solves 2D frames and trusses in the browser — forces, displacements and diagrams.

Roads, water and pumps

Pavement Designer designs concrete and asphalt pavement structures. PAVEXpress designs asphalt pavements by the AASHTO method — an American method, but one taught and used in Israel too. Hydraulic Institute offers a set of free tools for pumping systems: life-cycle cost, channel flow and supercritical flow in pipes.

Other fields

ChemEnggCalc gathers chemical engineering calculators — balances, heat transfer and heat exchangers. Falstad simulates electrical circuits in the browser and shows current flow in real time. INDEX Solar Fixing selects a mounting system for solar panels by roof type and panel size.

What to check before trusting an online calculator

Which standard, and which edition. A calculator that does not state it explicitly is not suitable for a submitted calculation. Whether it produces a report. A result on screen without the calculation detail cannot go into the file. Whether it is tied to one manufacturer's catalogue. That is not wrong, but then you get product selection rather than a general check. Units and safety factors. Worth checking once against a hand calculation you know.

Disclosure: the owner of this site also owns ADIT, which develops some of the tools in this article.

Further reading

מדריכי AI למהנדסים ולמשרד, ב-5 שפות: adit-ai.com ←