here is a screen shot from Structural Synchronizer 11 of a timber beam system exported from AECOsim CE3. Note the brown timber beams and the single green steel tie rod.
attempting to import this into RAM Elements 16.1, all that is shown is the single green steel tie rod, the timber is missing.
I repeat my question-- does SS allow the use of timber?
The timber members are being defined in ABD with LoadResistance = None which means that they are not part of the structural resisting frame and thus Ram Elements is filtering them. ABD needs to change this in order for us to consider them. I'll pass along the change request.
Seth-- thanks for the clue.
It turns out the LoadResistance entry is set by the Family|Part in ABD. For Steel in the Structural Data section of the part, the column "Class" is filled the word "Gravity" or the word "Lateral"; Steel members export properly. But in Framing, which is the only delivered mention of timber members, the Class is listed as "Framing". I replaced "Framing" with "Gravity" for my wood beams, and the export now works. Structural Synchronizer doesn't understand "Framing" and treats it as "None".
This underscores the impression that Bentley is not yet serious about the structural use of timber. I am hoping that a full suite of timber tools and members is in the works and that peer testing by practicing engineers around the world will be part of the process.
David Griffith