Merge Specifications in STAAD

Is there a way in STAAD to merge specifications, similar to what Merge Properties on the Tools menu does?
For example if I have a big model and I finish assigning the End and Start Releases. On my specification window I only have 2 lines one for the end release and one for the start release.

Now if I save and close the program and then open it, the 2 Specifications will be split into 4 or 5 each so I end up with 4 or 5 End Releases and 4 of 5 Start Releases. Now if I continue to assign releases with any of the 5 specification lines that showed up, and do the same process of saving, closing and opening the model it will again keep splitting the lines. So I may end up with 10 End Releases and 10 Start Releases that do the same thing but are assign to different members.


So I would like to merge them back to only 1 End Release and 1 Start Release. Any sugestions?

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  • To me, the larger issue is why does STAAD do this in the first place? I've had the same issue and it's very annoying. I thought SKLose was on to something until I checked my configuration and found that "Member" is unchecked in my setup, yet I sometimes have the same problem that diegui mentions.

    Yes, I know how to manually merge it as described but I'm guessing diegui meant is there a way to automatically merge the commands, to which I'm guessing the answer is "no".

    By the way, what does "Write Expanded List" mean in the dialogue box shown above? Notice the help button is greyed out?

  • If You use the expanded format all the joint nos. with joint coordinates will be recorded in the editor file,otherwise the format could be as under in the editor file.

    Example 1

    JOINT COORDINATES

    1 10.5 2.0 8.5

    2 0.0 0.0 0.0

    3 5.25 0.0 8.5 6 50.25 0.0 8.5

    In this example, X Y Z coordinates of joints 1 to 6 are provided. Note that the

    joints between 3 & 6 will be generated with joints equally spaced from 3 to 6.

    274

    — STAAD.Pro

    Hence, joint 4 will have coordinates of 20.25 0.0 8.5 and joint 5 will have

    coordinates of 35.25 0.0 8.5.

    Example 2

    JOINT COORDINATES

    1 0.0 0.0 0.0 4 45 0.0 0.0

    REPEAT 4 0.0 0.0 15.0

    REPEAT ALL 10 0.0 10.0 0.0

    Here, the 220 joint coordinates of a ten story 3 X 4-bay structure are

    generated. The

    REPEAT command repeats the first input line 4 times,

    incrementing each Z coordinate by 15. Thus, the first 2 lines are sufficient to

    create a "floor" of twenty joints.

    The above lines are copied from Staad Tech Ref Manual

  • Here are examples of these options

    Write Commands in Single Line Format ---> Off

    MEMBER INCIDENCES

    1 1 3; 2 3 7; 3 2 6; 4 6 8; 5 3 4; 6 4 5; 7 5 6; 8 7 12; 9 12 14;

    --------------------------------------

    Write Commands in Single Line Format ---> On

    MEMBER INCIDENCES

          1         1         3

          2         3         7

          3         2         6

          4         6         8

          5         3         4

          6         4         5

          7         5         6

          8         7        12

          9        12        14

    --------------------------------------

    Write Expanded List ---> Off

    MEMBER PROPERTY AMERICAN

    1 3 4 TABLE ST W14X90

    --------------------------------------

    Write Expanded List ---> On

    MEMBER PROPERTY AMERICAN

    1 TABLE ST W14X90

    3 TABLE ST W14X90

    4 TABLE ST W14X90

    -----------------------

    In the Tools menu, there is a "Merge Properties" tool if the same property name is assigned for different sets of members.

    I suppose if you use a combination of the manual method proposed by Arunkumar, and, keep the "Write Commands in Single Line Format" as well as "Write Expanded List" in the Off setting, the problem shouldn't recur.

  • Thanks for the info, that's good to know. I played around with it a little bit and found that once you turn on "Write Expanded List" and then save the file, turning it back off does not restore the file like it was. Only subsequent entries are back to nonexpanded list.