ANYstructure

ANYstructure is a desktop steel-structure design application for plate fields and cylinders. It combines DNV-based rule calculations with structural modelling, load definition, reporting, and weight, weld, and cost optimization.

Core structural design

The original ANYstructure workflow remains the primary way to model and assess a structure. It supports:

• minimum plate thickness, stiffener section modulus, and shear-area checks based on DNV-OS-C101;
• plate buckling based on DNV-RP-C201 and shell buckling based on DNV-RP-C202;
• fatigue assessment of plate and stiffener connections based on DNV-RP-C203;
• semi-analytical buckling through ANYbuckling and machine-learning buckling predictions based on PULS data;
• automatic compartment and tank-pressure generation, plus equation-defined external pressures;
• single and multiple plate/stiffener-field optimization, cylinder optimization, and double-bottom geometry optimization; and
• weight, weld, cost, report, spreadsheet, and 3D shell-model workflows.

Projects can be created and edited graphically, saved for later work, and used to compare structural alternatives. The example below can be opened from anystruct/ship_section_example.txt.

Documentation: https://anystructure.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

Tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/@ANYopenSoft

Current release: 6.4.0

Version 6.4.0 keeps the established structural calculation and optimization workflow at the front of the application while adding the integrated finite- element workflow described below. The coordinated release uses ANYfileio 0.3, ANYmaterial 0.2, and ANYmesher 0.4 without artificial package downgrades.

Project-owned source code is distributed under the Mozilla Public License 2.0 starting with this release. Earlier releases retain the license terms that accompanied them.

Finite-element integration

The optional FE workflow requires ANYsolver>=0.4.1,<0.5. Axial force, bending moment, shear force, torsional moment, pressure, and supported collision controls are mapped directly to the external solver runtime. Current-area follower pressure is available for nonlinear static and arc-length runs on the Static only or Nonlinear static path. Incompatible analysis paths are disabled in the GUI and rejected by the solver.

Arc-length runs retain the selected von Karman or corotational kinematics, and nonlinear prestress/buckling recovery retains committed-state provenance. Solver errors and unsupported configurations remain visible; the GUI does not replace them with a lightweight estimate. Analysis choices are normalized by ANYsolver's public resolve_runtime_analysis() contract.

ANYsolver 0.4.1 repairs qualified-Q4 final-state replay after plastic increments. ANYstructure preserves the qualified Q4 formulation throughout material-nonlinear runs; explicit legacy selection remains available to users.

Model, mesh, and result views support live Automatic, ModernGL GPU, and Tk software renderer selection. The current scene and camera are retained during a renderer change, and a failed explicit GPU switch leaves the working viewer intact. Raised horizontal and vertical dividers allow the input, model, result text, and visualization panes to be resized.

Material controls are backed by ANYmaterial. The Interfaces menu opens ANYmesher and the ANYfileio inspector in the existing Tk event loop. Orthotropic selections are rejected until the legacy scalar material controls can represent their directional properties without loss.

Install and run

Install the published package and start the desktop application:

python -m pip install --upgrade ANYstructure
ANYstructure

From a source checkout, use the active Python environment:

python run_gui.py

The default install includes Excel and machine-learning dependencies for backwards compatibility. Focused dependency groups are available as the core, excel, ml, dev, and all extras, and as requirement files:

python -m pip install -r requirements-core.txt
python -m pip install -r requirements-ml.txt
python -m pip install -r requirements-excel.txt

Excel project import requires a local Excel installation and is not exercised by basic automated tests. The external Excel-sheet DNV PULS calculation workflow has been removed; ML-CL remains available.

Coordinated development setup

ANYstructure is published as the Python package anystruct. For a sibling checkout layout, install each editable project into one environment in dependency order:

python -m venv .venv
.\.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1
python -m pip install --upgrade pip
python -m pip install --upgrade --no-deps -e "C:\Github\ANY3dView[gpu]" -e "C:\Github\ANYmaterial" -e "C:\Github\ANYgeometry" -e "C:\Github\ANYmesh" -e "C:\Github\ANYfileIO[semantics]" -e "C:\Github\ANYsolver" -e "C:\Github\ANYbuckling" -e "C:\Github\ANYtk3D" -e "C:\Github\ANYstructure"
python -m pip install -r requirements-dev.txt
python -m pytest

The default command runs the fast compatibility suite. Run the focused tiers explicitly when changing their owning code:

python -m pytest -m "fem_integration and not slow"
python -m pytest -m release_authority
python -m pytest -m slow

The slow tier contains nonlinear, collision, transient, mode-imperfection, and large external-format qualification and is intentionally opt-in during ordinary development.

--no-deps refreshes editable metadata without forcing pip to resolve stale transitive upper bounds from older sibling releases. run_gui.py reports the exact repair command for its active interpreter when selected source and installed metadata do not agree.

The coordinated compatibility ranges are:

• ANY3dView>=0.5.5,<0.6 (ANYstructure[gpu] adds ModernGL)
• ANYbuckling>=0.1.1,<0.2
• ANYfileio[semantics]>=0.3.1,<0.4
• ANYgeometry>=0.4.2,<0.5
• ANYmaterial>=0.2.0,<0.3
• ANYmesher>=0.4.0,<0.5
• ANYsolver>=0.4.1,<0.5
• ANYtk3D>=0.5.5,<0.6

To select a particular checkout, set the corresponding ANYSTRUCTURE_ANY3DVIEW_ROOT, ANYSTRUCTURE_ANYTK3D_ROOT, ANYSTRUCTURE_ANYBUCKLING_ROOT, ANYSTRUCTURE_ANYFILEIO_ROOT, ANYSTRUCTURE_ANYGEOMETRY_ROOT, ANYSTRUCTURE_ANYMATERIAL_ROOT, ANYSTRUCTURE_ANYMESHER_ROOT, or ANYSTRUCTURE_ANYSOLVER_ROOT environment variable. Invalid explicit roots fail before application imports.

ANYgeometry owns neutral surface geometry. New geometry code should call anygeometry.generators directly. The anystruct.geometry_generators and anystruct.representation_geometry modules retain adapters for established ANYstructure integrations. Structural properties, loads, mesh controls, and solver state remain in their owning packages.

License and contributions

Project-owned source code in release 6.4.0 and later is licensed under the Mozilla Public License 2.0. Original project documentation is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Third-party software, models, figures, standards material, and other attributed content retain their own terms; see the third-party notices. Project branding is covered by the trademark policy.

Contributions and bug reports are welcome through GitHub. General feedback can also be sent to audunarn@gmail.com.