Skip to content

About ForcePAD

ForcePAD is a sketch-based finite element analysis tool developed at the Division of Structural Mechanics, Lund University, by Jonas Lindemann. The application is designed to make 2D structural analysis immediately accessible: users draw shapes with a pen tool, place forces and constraints with mouse clicks, and results are shown interactively.

The conceptual design is based on the same model as consumer image-editing applications. This lowers the entry barrier for students and engineers exploring structural form and topology.

Academic background

ForcePAD has been used in structural mechanics education and research at Lund University. The application implements a plane-stress finite element solver built on a C++ version of the CALFEM framework and the eigen matrix library.

As of version 2.4, ForcePAD also includes a topology optimizer based on the Sigmund filter, allowing automatic derivation of efficient structural shapes from an initial design domain.

Implementation

ForcePAD is a C++ application using OpenGL for hardware-accelerated rendering. The user interface is built with the Qt framework, and the application is cross-platform, running on Windows, macOS, and Linux. The source code is available on GitHub under the GPL-2 License.

Jonas Lindemann, 2026

Positioning

ForcePAD is not intended to replace large general-purpose finite element packages. Its strength is interactive structural understanding: sketch a structure, change it quickly, and immediately see how the finite element result changes.

Typical use cases include:

  • teaching finite element analysis and structural mechanics
  • exploring stress flow and deformation behaviour
  • demonstrating topology optimisation concepts
  • comparing support conditions and load paths
  • creating quick visual experiments before using heavier analysis tools