STAAD(X) SELECTSeries 2 Release

The latest version of STAAD(X) V8i has been released and available to download.

This latest version comes with a whole heap of great enhancements.  Its general analysis functionality is relevant for use around the world, but the design aspects are focused on the requirements of the Australian engineers, principally working in the plant industry.

 

The enhancements can be categorised into the following sections:-

  • Structural Entities
  • Loading
  • Analysis
  • Results
  • Design
  • Reporting

Structural Entities

Based on physical entities, means that the engineer is free to work on the main structural components and let STAAD(X) decompose the physical model down to analytical components.  The engineer defines the surface and the STAAD(X) crteates the finite elements.  To ensure that adjacent surfaces and members are properly connected, surfaces are collated into Surface Groups which can be used to control a number of key properties such as the element type to use.

Panels have been introduced to allow loading to be applied to areas away from the main frame, but then resolve the loading back onto the structure.

Tables of material and section properties have been added along with an ever increasing range of standard profiles.  Tapered wide flange shapes can be created and used, typically to model haunches.  Reusable user defined tables of prismatic profiles can be created. 

Concrete beam and column design often needs to consider multiple spans, thus design of beams and columns is based on continuous members which are automatically created or can be manually created as required.

 

Loading

A large rearrangement of the loading has taken place with load groups now characterised as either basic or special, but also categorised so that they can be quickly used to create load groups.

Load combinations have been enhanced with 2 generators, a basic rule based generator similar to that found in STAAD.Pro, but also a managed combination generator which uses the classification of the load cases to ensure that combinations according to the rules in AS 1170 are followed.

The new panel entities are used to create non structural wind loading surfaces or floor loading.

 

Analysis

The analysis solver has been further streamlined and more structured user information is provided during the analysis process.  Major enhancements have taken place in the modal dynamics including the linear time history and response spectrum analysis and allowing simple eigen solutions to be created on the basis of a defined mass model which can either be from defined mass tables or load groups.

 

Results

The results tables in the Model Explorer have been restructured to allow quicker access to the information which is required and presented in tables which can be customised sorted, filtered in almost anyway imaginable.  Along with the new format of result graph provides clear accurate representation of the analysis results.

This version has seen the addition of animation of a selection of analysis results including the displaced shape, the mode shape or even the deformation of the model over the loading cycle of a time history.

The contour maps of the results of surfaces have been cleaned up and now are much clearer.

 

Design

The Australian AS4100:1998 steel design has been added along with some very nice additions.  The ability to automatically calculate the effective lengths of members based on defined restraint conditions at the ends, defined node points or any arbitrary position.The design automatically creates the output ready for inclusion in a report in the summary format, but can be expanded to an extremely detailed set of calculations. 

The beam and column concrete design to AS 3600-2009 runs through to create rebar using collections of available bars (Bar Stock) and can result in a fully rendered 3D layout including the development lengths/anchorages, then passed on through the design process as part of the physical model in an ISM repository.

 

Reporting

As the engineer has to often create various reports for different reasons, the enhancements made in this latest release allow for the additional flexibility often requested.  A report can now include external documents in RTF or TXT format or even simple images. 

 

There are many more changes that I wont go into here, but strongly recommend that you check out the installation that is now on the SELECT server.  Remember that to use STAAD(X) and a basic analysis, you simply need to have a STAAD.Pro license.  If you want to try out the design capabilities you will need to have a suitable STAAD design code license.  To use the advanced meshing options, you will need to have the STAAD Advanced License (if the STAAD License is available, STAAD(X) will automatically use the advanced solver during an analysis).

We are continuing development for the next version which will have some exciting features I will be announcing in due course. I am always looking for comments and suggestions, so feel free to contact me with your thoughts when you have tried this latest version of STAAD(X).  

 

Enjoy

 

Carlos Aguera

STAAD Product Manager 

 

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