STAAD Foundation Advanced version 7.1 released

A new version of STAAD Foundation Advanced (version 7.1) was just released. Although it was released as a minor update, it contains several important enhancements. Addition of these new features is a strong sign that this product is maturing very fast and becoming a de-facto standard for structural foundation analysis and design. The current update touched and enhanced core design features as well as reporting and drawing capabilities.

Here is a list of core design feature enhancements:

1. “Sliding and Overturning Factors” table

2. Mat foundation enhancements

   1. Grade beam design

   2. Option to edit concrete property

   3. Pile head condition for mat on piles

“Sliding and Overturning Factors” table

One of the assumptions made by STAAD Foundation Advanced (SFA) was to use a common set of sliding and overturning factors for all load combinations. But often engineers need to use different sliding/overturning factors for different load combinations. So, a common request was to add the ability to specify separate sliding and overturning factors for each load combination.

SFA’s implementation of new sliding and overturning factor table is a smart approach to address this limitation. This table is not really a table of safety factors for each load combination rather they are the multipliers to the safety factors specified in design parameter section of each job.

For Example, as described in the image above, if a user specify a multiplier 1.33 for Load Case 1103, the effective sliding factor used for foundation analysis will be 1.5 x 1.33 = 1.995. This multiplier table (as opposed to effective safety factor table) makes sure the program is backward compatible. No change in design parameter input ensures any old files can be opened without a problem and the default multipliers for all load cases set to 1.0. This approach also ensures that engineers don't need to input load case dependent safety factors for each foundation job, rather change it in one table and all jobs (including different foundation types) can take advantage of that change.

Grade Beam Design for Mat Foundation

Mat foundation often includes grade beams. These beams are monolithically cast with the slab. Mat foundation is a FEA based flexible foundation, so during analysis physical beams are broken into shorter analytical beams to ensure proper beam-slab connectivity. After analysis, analytical beam forces are automatically merged to create design forces.

Version 7.1, now goes a step further to design those grade beams. Engineers no longer need to export design forces and design those beams manually (or using a different tool). As expected, a new leaf is now added to “Mat analysis/design options” tree. The new option is called “Beam Designer”, to specify design parameters related to grade beams. Also, it is important to note, old “design parameter” leaf is now replaced with “Slab Designer” leaf, which separates beam design from slab design and obviously makes the work flow clear.

Beam design options include clear covers at top, bottom and side. Stirrup legs can be specified by type of stirrup option. As always, calculation sheet outputs detailed step by step calculations with equations and sketches. However, the current version (7.1) supports only US (ACI 318) code, grade beams cannot be designed for other codes including British and Indian.

Pile head condition (Fixed / Free Head) for mat on piles

A nice addition to extend mat on piles feature is the option to specify pile head condition. An option is added to choose either fixed or free head condition. It is similar to a spring support definition. So, pile spring definition table is now extended to include spring constants for all six degree of freedoms.  By default pile head is assumed to be pinned with no option to define rotational spring values. Choosing fixed head option, input columns for rotational springs get enabled.

Option to edit concrete properties

Mat foundation analysis requires concrete properties such as elasticity, Poisson ratio, density etc. Program assumed default concrete properties for analysis with no option to edit or change. Current version offers flexibility to change concrete properties through INI file and default properties dialog box.

Reporting and drawing enhancements

Version 7.1 got major reporting and drawing enhancements. Here is a list of major enhancements:

1. Table of contents (TOC) for calculation sheet

2. Dynamic sketches for combined footing

3. Pedestal design interaction diagram

4. Advanced options for detailed drawing

Table of Content for Calculation Sheet

One of the most popular feature of SFA is its calculation sheet. It is a detailed and step by step reporting. To facilitate browsing, a table of content (TOC) is now added to help user jump to the section they need to review. This feature will be particularly very useful when a job consists of multiple footings. Instead of scrolling through too many sections, user can jump to a particular section to review design calculations.

Dynamic table of content is also responsive to screen size (resolution). Table of content can adjust its size depending on available screen width. User can hover over the button to get the description of a section.  

Dynamic Sketches for Combined footing

The most popular feature of SFA even got better when “dynamic sketch” was introduced in last major release (Version 7.0). Now, all step by step calculations are complemented by to-the-scale drawing to aid engineers reviewing calculations. The program took a cue from the old saying “drawing is the language of engineers”, to show graphical representations of numbers (calculations). For example, instead of just saying shear plane at a distance of 10 inch form the face of the column, programs draws the shear plane.  This is possibly the most comprehensive foundation design output available today.

Version 7.1, extends that feature to include dynamic sketches for combined footing design. It is implemented for British, Canadian, Australian and Indian Code. Following dynamic sketches are included:

• To the scale plan and elevation view

• Soil bearing contour

• Shear diagram

• Shear locations

• Moment diagram

Note: For dynamic drawing support in SFA, Internet Explorer version 9 or higher is required

Interaction Diagram for pedestal design

The program designs pedestal as a column for axial force and biaxial bending. Many users from different parts of the world requested for column interaction diagram as an output of pedestal design. So, version 7.1, extended an already comprehensive pedestal design output by adding pedestal interaction diagram. However, at the moment it is implemented for US (ACI 318) code only.

Advanced Detail Drawing Options

More and more engineers are now using program generated detail drawing. Naturally engineers need more control to format their drawing. To meet their requirement, a set of options were introduced offering better control over drawing generation. It includes:

• Separate scale options for different views for isolated and combined

• Control over line type and line color

• More options for different paper sizes