STIFF teaching and learning software

The STIFF teaching and learning software is a Microsoft Excel-based (VBA) two-dimensional framework program. STIFF is designed on the one hand for the quick and targeted assessment of the behavior of structures and their usability, and on the other hand for the verification of manual calculations. It is used in conjunction with the courses. The central component is a graphical user interface, which is used for both display and intuitive input. The underlying spreadsheets can be used to query detailed values of the internal forces as well as properties of the elements (e.g. element stiffness matrices) and the system (e.g. system stiffness matrix). The STIFF framework program is a very intuitive structural analysis program that can be used in a variety of ways in teaching: For students to check their own solutions, to create their own structural systems and to work on homework; for lecturers for live calculations in lectures, to illustrate the influence of various parameters and to demonstrate various structural methods.

The STIFF teaching and learning software was developed at the Chair of Structural Analysis at the Technical University of Munich. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the former chair holder Prof. Dr.-Ing. Kai-Uwe Bletzinger and the current chair holder Prof. Dr.-Ing. Roland Wüchner for providing the program and tutorial videos for teaching at the University of Kassel.