STAAD User Tool: Extract Member Forces from STAAD

User Tool: Extract Member Forces from STAAD

Created by: Surojit Ghosh

Description:

          This is an excel based OpenSTAAD macro which can extract member force values directly from STAAD model. If you open any complete STAAD model with proper modelling information (load, support, section property, analysis command etc.), analyze the model and run this excel macro, then depending on the selected inputs, section forces are extracted in the excel for selected members and load cases.

This User Tool can extract member forces for –

  • All or selected load cases
  • All or selected members
  • All 6 force components or selected force values
  • Specified division, distance, or section, along with force at start and end of the member.

Pre-requisites:

  1. You need MS Excel to open and run this macro.
  2. This macro is supported only in STAAD.Pro CONNECT Edition V22 or higher version. It is locked for all other STAAD.Pro versions.
  3. Before using this user tool, check whether a single STAAD model is opened or not. If multiple STAAD files are opened, then from the first instance of STAAD, member forces are extracted. If no STAAD model is opened, then process terminates with error message.
  4. Analysis data must be available. If analysis is incomplete, then member forces are not available, and extraction process terminates with warning.
  5. OpenSTAAD functions work with Base unit setup. Check and select Base unit from STAAD for the unit of extracted member forces.

How to Use:

 Step 1: Open a STAAD.Pro model first.  

 Step 2: Open the Extract Member Force from STAAD_v1.2.xlsm file (macro enabled excel file).  If prompted, enable the macro, and enable the content.

 Step 3: In the user tools interrace, first provide the inputs in the Input Block, then click on the Get Member Forces tab to extract all the member forces from that STAAD.Pro Model.

 You can clear the extracted results before the next run using Clear Results tab.

 For more information about this user tool, click on the Help tab.

Video Tutorial:

Check the following video tutorial to know more about this code and about different inputs and output values.

User Tools: Extract Member Forces from STAAD

Check the following video tutorial to know more about excel based macro.

Linking STAAD to Excel: An Overview

Help document file is uploaded in the following location.

Help Manual

Warnings:

          I have included several warning messages to inform the user about any possible incorrect input values. Check the warning and accordingly specify input values or modify STAAD model.

Note that, if any incorrect inputs are provided, then extracted member forces will be incorrect.

Revision History:

Version 1.0 – Publish date: 23rd July 2021.

Version 1.1 -- Publish date: 13th March 2022 (Minor Update - With "Selected Force" option, if no force components are selected, then process terminates with error message)

Version 1.2 -- Publish date: 3rd October 2022 (Minor Update - Exact member length, rounded up to 3 decimal places, will be reported in the table. Intermediate distance is also rounded up to 3 decimal places.)

Version 2.0 -- Publish date: 16th June 2023 (Major Update - Two new member selection options are included, "All Member with Material" and "Member Group". Report format for Distance and Section list with single entry has been updated)

 

Disclaimer

This macro is not a part of the standard Bentley implementation process and has not gone through the standard QA procedures. This macro has been created by technical team for their own purposes and sharing for the benefit of the Bentley Structural Users. User of this tool should validate the results produced by the macro with their own test cases and responsibility of results produced by this macro does not rest with the technical team.

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