PyCBA reaches 1.0

PyCBA, our free and open-source Python package for continuous-beam analysis, has reached version 1.0. It started as a fast tool for the everyday beam problems of design, assessment and teaching, and it has grown into a dependable engine that does a good deal more.

PyCBA solves 1-D continuous beams by the matrix stiffness method, with a deliberately small set of dependencies. Version 1.0 gathers, in one place:

• linear and elasto-plastic analysis, the latter traced through to collapse;
• moving-load bridge assessment, with influence lines, response envelopes, and built-in code load models from six countries (Australia, the USA, Europe, the UK, Canada and China);
• free-vibration modal analysis;
• a post-tensioning preprocessor that converts tendon profiles into equivalent loads;
• Euler-Bernoulli and Timoshenko elements, variable-EI members, springs, and beams on a Winkler foundation;
• publication-ready figures, including an interactive Plotly backend.

The aim throughout was a tool small enough to trust and complete enough to use in earnest: for a student’s first influence line and for a real bridge assessment alike. It is released under the AGPL.

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