info@simulate-software.com Antwerpen, Belgium
v1.0.0 — Live Support
Features

From design table to site bracket —
in one signed file.

Tray sizing, support, seismic, cable pulling, ductbank thermal and route design. Until now: six tools and a stack of Excel sheets. With SimulATe: one project, one calculation chain, one approved deliverable the crew on site can actually use.

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Cable Tray Support 3D Modelling Seismic Cable Pulling Thermal Ductbank Route Designer Reports
The Category

The first software for end-to-end cable containment.

Until now, every link in the chain has been a different tool, a different file, and a different chance for an error to slip past sign-off. Here is what changes.

Today's reality
The SimulATe workflow
✕Tray sizing in an Excel sheet — one engineer's logic
✓One project file. Tray sizing drives every downstream calculation.
✕Support drawings hand-drafted in AutoCAD
✓Geometry flows from the calculation. Bracket positions auto-aligned.
✕Seismic verification — if a sub-consultant gets to it
✓ASCE 7-22 and Eurocode 8 built in. Every bracket checked.
✕Cable pulling tension rarely calculated
✓Sequential capstan, segment by segment, before the cable drum is ordered.
✕Ductbank thermal in a 1980s textbook or a paid Neher-McGrath tool
✓IEEE 835 · Neher-McGrath · IEC 60287 — inside the same project.
✕Report assembled by hand, screenshots stitched together
✓Sign-off-ready PDF with QR audit trail. Every number traceable.
✕Site team asks 'which version was signed?' — no one can answer
✓Crew scans QR on the drawing, sees the exact calculation behind it.
The Modules

Every module, every clause, every export.

Built by professional electrical engineers, for the engineers and design firms who need their calculations to survive site installation, auditor review and a phone call six months later.

Cable tray live calculation view Cable tray 2D calculation
IEC 60364 · NEC 392 · BS 7671

Cable Tray Calculation

The calculation engine that drives every downstream decision.

  • Change tray width, ambient temp or fill rate once — derating, voltage drop and seismic load update across the whole project
  • Auto-expand width to target fill rate (NEMA VE-1 / IEC area + width) — no more manual width trial-and-error
  • 10+ tray brands incl. AFCMETAL, OBO, EAE, Niedax + custom catalog import
  • Multi-tier perforated / ladder / solid / trunk / mesh, with per-tier load tracking
  • Full IEC 60364-5-52 B.52.17–21 grouping (ed. 3.0:2009), earth cable rules, extended 1000 mm² support
Per-bracket BOM Support static analysis
Bracket · Binrack · Threaded Rod

Support Static Analysis

Calculations the contractor can actually install.

  • Every support sized against strut profile, anchor SWL and L/200 deflection — geometry that fails the field check is never produced
  • Span, profile (41×41×2 strut, 41×62, custom), per-tier load and partial UDL correction (M = q·a·(2L−a)/8)
  • Bolt count rolled up to full BOM: n = 2 × tiers × sides, per bracket, per floor, per zone
  • Auto SWL anchor check — concrete drop-in / wedge / steel — with manufacturer datasheet integration
  • Output ready for the site team: torque spec, anchor type, quantity, position
Live 3D walkthrough PyVista 3D modelling
GPU accelerated · Real-time

Interactive 3D Modelling

See it before the crew sees it.

  • Rotate, pan, zoom through real geometry — rod position, anchor placement, cable bundle from any angle
  • Catch clashes in design, not at 11 PM on site
  • Textured cables with cross-section colour coding, wall-arm / trapeze / threaded-rod / binrack support types
  • 2D ↔ 3D geometric consistency (rod, bracket aligned to the millimetre)
  • Ground-truth ceiling / wall / floor reference plane, PNG export for reports
Two-spectrum verification Seismic design
ASCE 7-22 · Eurocode 8

Seismic Design Analysis

Both the US and the European spectrum, one calculation.

  • Built for data center, hospital and refinery contractors who deliver in both code regions
  • Fp = 0.4·ap·Sds·Wp·(1+2z/h)/(Rp/Ip) — full ASCE 7-22
  • ap = 2.5, Rp = 6.0 for cable tray (per ASCE 7-22 Table 13.5-1)
  • EN 1998-1 Type 1 / Type 2 horizontal and vertical spectrum
  • Anchor pull-out, shear and combined check — per bracket, transverse and longitudinal bracing
Segmental tension map Cable pulling analysis
IEEE 1185 · Sequential capstan

Cable Pulling Analysis

Know which pull will fail before you order the cable drum.

  • Tension and sidewall pressure along the entire routing — segment by segment, not the over-conservative single-equation shortcut everyone learned in school
  • T = µ·W·g·L · ∏ e^(µ·θᵢ) + W·g·h — full segmental capstan
  • Sidewall pressure limit 7300 N/m (IEEE 1185)
  • Weight correction factor (IEEE 1185 §6.4), friction decay model for lubricated pulls
  • Trefoil and single-core grouped configurations
Expansion & fire panel Thermal expansion
EN 1993-1-2 · DIN 4102-12

Thermal Expansion & Fire

Cover the gap and the steel — both problems, one panel.

  • Linear ΔL = α·L·ΔT for steel and aluminium tray, with expansion joint spacing recommendation
  • Steel fire reduction ky / kE per EN 1993-1-2 Table 3.1
  • DIN 4102-12 fire rating compatibility check — German tender ready
  • Coupled with support analysis: a fire-degraded modulus updates the bracket capacity automatically
Mutual heating, ρ-layered soil Ductbank thermal analysis
IEEE 835 · Neher-McGrath · IEC 60287 NEW

Ductbank Thermal Analysis

Underground ampacity, finally in the same project file.

  • The calculation that today still leaves most teams reaching for a 1980s textbook or a separate paid tool — now part of the project, not a side errand
  • Soil thermal resistivity (ρ) modelling per backfill type, with layered native-soil profile
  • Multi-conductor mutual heating with load diversity factor
  • Concrete envelope and native soil layered modelling — direct-buried, tile, PVC and HDPE conduit configurations
  • Coupled with the Route Designer: the duct geometry comes from your DXF, not a re-typed schedule
Click-to-place routing Route designer
Native CAD · DXF I/O

Route Designer (CAD)

Native CAD inside the project. No AutoCAD licence required.

  • Click-to-place routing with rubber-band preview, ortho mode (F8), snap grid (G), undo (Del), finish (Esc)
  • AutoCAD-style UCS origin axes and crosshair cursor — familiar in 30 seconds
  • DXF import and export via ezdxf — round-trip with any CAD shop
  • IEC 60617 symbol library (original Python canvas code)
  • Tray width from the calculation auto-applied to the route. One source of truth.
Signed deliverable A4 PDF report
PDF · Excel · DXF · QR

Reports & Audit Trail

Defendable six months from now — not just sign-off-ready today.

  • Every number in the report traceable to the standard clause that produced it — clause-by-clause cite list
  • A4 PDF report (ReportLab) with cover, table of contents, project metadata
  • Excel BOM export with bracket-level breakdown — straight to procurement
  • DXF support drawing (ezdxf) for the installation team
  • QR code signature for downstream verification: site team scans, sees the exact calculation
  • Full audit trail (audit_log.py) — who changed what, when, why
From design to installation

Built to be built.

Most cable containment calculations end at the engineer's PDF. SimulATe's end at the bracket on the wall.

Bracket-level BOM

Every support listed with bolt count, anchor type, torque spec and quantity — rolled up per floor or zone, exported to Excel for procurement.

Buildable geometry

Support spans never exceed strut profile limits or anchor SWL. If the geometry is not safely installable, the system refuses to produce it.

Installation drawings, not just calculation drawings

The DXF export shows what to install, where, and in what order — not just where the cables go.

Re-verification on as-built

Site team scans the QR, marks deviations. The system flags whether the change still passes seismic, fill and pulling limits. No paper trail loss.

One project. Three jobs done.

Whichever side of the project you stand on.

The same project file serves the engineer, the firm and the field — without any of the three having to wait on the other two.

For the design engineer

Get home before 7 PM.

Stop re-entering the same cable list into four tools. Change one variable — tray width, ambient temperature, fill rate — and watch the whole chain update. The calculation that used to take a day now takes a coffee.

For the design firm principal

Defendable signatures.

Traceable calculations. No dependency on a junior engineer who quit with the project state in their head. Standards-update protection: a new IEC edition refreshes the whole project, not six Excel sheets.

For the contractor on site

No phone calls to the office at 11 AM.

Every bracket on the drawing has a bolt count, an anchor type and a torque value. Scan the QR on the page — you see the exact math behind it. No guessing, no waiting for the office to answer.

Risk management

Engineering offices don't lose money on bad calculations.

They lose money on calculations that can't be defended six months later.

Clause-by-clause traceability

Every number in the signed PDF links to the standard clause that produced it. When the auditor asks, the answer is in the report — not in someone's memory.

QR-verified signature

Years later, the site crew scans the QR and sees the exact input set, version number and signatory. The "I thought we agreed that change was approved" conversation ends.

Single-source standards updates

IEC 60364 ed. 3.0 → ed. 4.0? Change the standard version on the project. Every dependent calculation re-evaluates. Six Excel sheets do not need to be hunted down.

All bundled. No add-on packs. No paywalls inside the app.

More inside the box.

Tools that mature engineers actually want — included from day one, not unlocked module by module.

Brand Library

Pre-built catalogs for Draka, Lapp, Nexans, Prysmian, AFCMETAL, OBO, EAE, Eupen, HES, Öznur, Vatan, Pipelife & more — Europe, MENA, Turkey.

Batch Calculation

Run hundreds of sections in one pass from an Excel circuit list. Console output, progress bar, per-row diff report.

Conduit Fill

Single- and group-cable conduit fill against NEC Chapter 9 Tables 4 & 5 and IEC 61386 series — area, dimension and bend-radius checks.

Bend Radius Validator

Per-cable minimum bend radius from manufacturer datasheet, MV cable factor multipliers, route geometry check.

Reactive Applied Factors

Change ambient temp, method, tiers or insulation and watch derating, voltage drop and load bar update live.

Current Check (Caneco-style)

Voltage drop, ampacity, short-circuit — the calculation muscle European engineers already know.

24-Language Interface

ar, bg, cs, de, el, en, es, et, fa, fr, hi, hr, hu, it, ja, ko, nl, pl, pt, ro, ru, tr, ur, zh.

Project Backup & Restore

Automatic snapshots, restore points, signature trail. Never lose a verified calculation again.

Command Palette (Ctrl-K)

Fuzzy launcher for every command, dialog and recent project — VS Code-style speed for power users.

Build with confidence. Sign every page.

Designed in Antwerp for engineers and design firms building cable containment across Europe, MENA and Asia — at standards both the auditor and the foreman can read.

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