SARGON - WHAT IS
Born in 1991 due to young structural engineers, coming from the
Politecnico di Milano with a passion for computational mechanics,
and with the desire to develop an original Italian software-tool
able to compete with abroad softwares, Sargon is able to ease
the design, the drawings,
the computation and the checks of steel structures.
Sargon is able to manage very general problems like framed structures
(shelves, buildings, scaffolds, industrial structures, pipe
racks, tower and masts, etc.), tanks, silos, shells,
solids, in civil engineering, mechanical engineering,
industrial engineering and naval engineering.
Initially (1991) the program was just a pre and post processor and had just 1D finite element.
Afterwards (since 1993) new fem solvers have been written (new and not derived from SAP) which exploited
the new available technologies. Starting from version 3.0 2D elements have been added to Sargon
(plate-shell and membranes) and since version 8.0 the solid elements
(current version at January 2010 is 9.38).
Sargon is in Windows environment since may 1997, when the version 4.0 came out. It can work under
all the 32 bit NT technologies operating systems, from Windows NT 4.0 to Windows 7 (NT, XP, Vista, 7). It also works in
32 bit sub system of 64 bit operating systems like XP 64, Vista 64 and Windows 7-64.
The program had a fast grow and a good diffusion among the experts in Italy since its coming out.
Sargon has been furnished from the beginning of a specific graphic interface,
which makes it extremely easy to use and at the same time very powerful. It has been written entirely in C and, since 1995-1996,
re-written in C++ using OOP (object oriented programming) techniques. Since academic year 1999-2000 a limited version
of Sargon,
is used by the students of the Course Theory and Design of Steel Structures (Prof. Giulio Ballio)
of the Politecnico di Milano. Since 2001 this limited version is sold within the pakage
E.Str.A.D.A.
(Education to Structural Assisted Design and Analysis) coproduced by Castalia s.r.l. and the Politecnico di Milano.
Since 2003 this limited version of the program has been embedded in a CD placed inside the book "Calcolo
Strutturale con gli Elementi Finiti", EPC LIBRI, Rome. This book, written by Eng. Paolo Rugarli, was aimed at the explanation of the finite element
method in a clear way, so as to allow a better understanding of the problem by people not having a deep
knoledge of the matter, while anyhow needing to use fem softwares.
Recently (January 2010) the English translation of the book has been accepted for publication by
Thomas Telford, a well-known and highly specialized London publishing house. The book also refers to the
limited version downloadable from this page.
Since its birth Sargon has been equipped with a set of features that make it internationl: the units
of measure can be changed at any time, the listings can be produced in the preferred language,
the programs and procedures to which Sargon is interfaced are spread worldwide, the standards are international (Eurocodes,
AISC, BS).
Sargon is specifically fit for the study of steel structures,
to be checked according to different standards, in an international or national context.
In the field of Eurocode 3 (EN 1993) a very deep work, lasting several years, has been done.
Some trace of this work can be found in the two
publications referring to cross-section classification
and to the introduction to Eurocode 3 (presently in Italian). Many improving proposals of the norm, and many
published tests
are among the results of this work.
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