Is it possible to define all of your load combinations in an external text file and have STAAD read that file? I have a model w/ +10k load combinations and opening/saving/editing the file is too time consuming.
If you can read and edit std files that STAAD used, the answer yes. Read the examples that comes with STAAD they are all used std file commands.
Have you looked into the Automatic Load Combination generation feature of the GUI? It comes built-in with rules for a few standard codes used in US, Britain, etc. The attached document describes the procedure for using it.
If you are looking to create your own set of rules, here are the steps. Let say that we want to create one called "Norwegian".
1) Go to Commands | Loading | Edit Auto Load Rules. The ‘Edit Loading Rules for Auto Load Combination Generation’ window appears.
2) Click on ‘New Code’ and in the ‘Code Name’ specify the name of the Norwegian design code and click on ‘OK’.
3) Then, click on ‘New Category’ and specify any ‘Category Name’. Also, specify the ‘Number of Rules’ which refer to the number of possible load combinations. Click on ‘OK’.
4) In the table that appears (where number of rows is equal to the number of rules specified and number of columns is equal to the number of possible load cases: coloured yellow), provide the load factors for the particular load cases for consideration in the load combinations. You can also add additional load combination factors by clicking on ‘Add Row’.
5) Click on ‘Update Table’ after you have finished and then click on ‘Close’.
After that, if you go to Commands | Loading | Automatic Load Combination, you can select the Norwegian code under the drop-down list of ‘Select Load Combination Code’ and also select the category name under the ‘Select Load Combination Category’ drop-down list. Click on ‘Generate Loads’ after making the selections.
Hi Kris is there a way to edit the code description that the user created if one make a mistake on the spelling for example? I have created a new code description and later found out that the spelling is wrong and it seems to me that there is no way we can edit that description.
Your feedback is very much appreciated.
When you create a new file with its associated code name, tables and factors, STAAD stores that file in the "X:\SProV8i\STAAD\Language\USEnglish" folder. That file will have a .INI extension.
Using Windows Explorer, go into that folder, and locate that INI file. It will be among the most recently modified files. If you double click on it, it normally opens in NotePad. Search and Replace all instances of the wrong strings with the correct ones.
You have used the phrase "Code Description". In the "Auto Load Comb Rules" dialog box in STAAD.Pro, I only find the terms "Select Code" and "Select Category". If it is the name of the code that you are trying to change, that name is embedded in the File name, and if so, you may just have to correct that file name, and make a corresponding change in another file called Codes.ini in the same folder.
To guard against the possibility of irreparably damaging those files, you may want to keep a backup before you make these changes.
I didn't know that about the autoload generation, that will be helpful in the future. However, I used the moving load generator and this is the reason why have have lots of load combinations. The autoload will not do this for loads created using the moving load generator, correct?