Stability Lab looks for mechanisms: any way the structure can move without a member stretching or bending. If there are none, it pushes the structure sideways along X and Y and measures how far it sways.
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Stability Lab is an interactive teaching tool for structural stability. Students build frames, braced frames, walls, floors and bridges on a 3D grid, choosing rigid or pinned joints and pinned or fixed supports, then check the result. The app runs a 3D elastic stiffness analysis to find mechanisms (any way the structure can move with nothing resisting) and animates them. If the structure is stable, it applies a standard sideways push along X and Y and grades the sway, so students can see the difference between unstable, flexible and stiff.
Developed for CENV2035 City Infrastructure Design at the University of Southampton, to help students connect structural systems, connection types, bracing and diaphragms with stability. It checks stability and relative stiffness only. It does not check member strength, buckling or code compliance, and must not be used for design.
Dr Ahmed Elkady, University of Southampton · a.elkady@soton.ac.uk
© 2026 Ahmed Elkady. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). You may use, share and adapt it for non-commercial teaching and learning, provided you credit the author, link to the licence, indicate changes, and share adaptations under the same licence. Commercial use requires written permission from the author. The University of Southampton name and logo are trademarks of the University and are not covered by this licence. Provided "as is", without warranty of any kind.