I am pleased to announce the release of the latest SELECT series version of STAAD.Pro V8i
Along with the usual collection of minor fixes and enhancements (all of which are documented in the Release Report), this release is the first that adds the ISM functionality that is becoming a central part of the structural applications in the Bentley portfolio. ISM is designed around models defined by physical entities rather than the analytical entities that are the basis of a STAAD.Pro model. However, using the StrucLink technology developed for the integration to ProSteel, this difference in modelling has been addressed for the segmental members in STAAD.Pro so that they can be associated to the equivalent single physical entities required in a typical modelling or detailing environment.
In the last release, STAAD.Foundation was added to the installation and a specific STAAD.Foundation mode added. It has had such a growth in popularity that we have now provided in this release, the most common foundation types from STAAD.Foundation (pad foundations, strip foundations and pile caps) which can be designed directly with the STAAD.Pro license.
For those want or need a more comprehensive foundation solution, then I suggest getting the new STAAD Foundation Advanced application.
Many STAAD.Pro models are built to assist engineers design structures to the meet the specific requirements of the offshore environment. STAAD.Pro has provided some rudimentary tools such as STAAD.Offshore, but the recent addition of the SACS product range to the Bentley Portfolio has given the offshore engineers a fully comprehensive set of tools to deal with the demands of this challenging environment. Where an initial design in STAAD.Pro needs to be moved to SACS for the fuller design, then that is now possible without requiring a complete rebuild of the model thus saving time and effort.
The wind loading module has been updated to meet the specific requirements of the 2010 version of the ASCE 07 code.
The steel design module of IS 800:2007 used extensively in India, originally built to meet the general limit state requirements, has been enhanced to provide engineers to design to the alternative working stress design method.
The growing adoption of the Eurocodes both in Europe and other locations means that the complexities of all the combinations of loading that need to be considered by more and more engineers. A new macro tool added in this version of the program allows the categorisation of primary load cases to be used to classify permanent and variable actions and combine them to according to a chosen rule to quickly create 10s if not 100s of combinations at the click of a button.
More Eurocode 3 National Annexes have been added along with an option to see the basic bar requirements in a concrete slab to Eurocode 2 in the Concrete Design mode. For a complete design for slabs to Eurocode 2, RAM Concept (which can have slabs extracted directly from the STAAD.Pro model) should be your tool of choice.
There are plenty of other new features and enhancements, so I recommend that you download and start using this newest version of the world’s number 1 structural analysis and design application.