Release Date: September 2, 2014

Current and past RAM Concept releases can be downloaded at Bentley SELECTservices Online at:

http://selectservices.bentley.com

After signing in to Bentley SELECTservices, click Software Downloads. Once on the Software Fulfillment page, RAM Concept installers can be located by performing a search on "RAM Concept", or by selecting Brand -> RAM. Note that although there are multiple listings for RAM Concept (RAM Concept, RAM Concept Post Tension Module, etc.), each of these takes the user to the same list of installers as all features of RAM Concept require only one installation.

Recommendations:

RAM Concept V8i Release 5.2 is recommended for all projects, except those that are nearing final design.

Installation Instructions:

RAM Concept V8i Release 5.2 can be installed side-by-side with previous release versions of Concept. There is no need to uninstall previous release versions.

 

New Features in RAM Concept V8i Release 5.2

In addition to minor error corrections and enhancements, RAM Concept V8i Release 5.2 has the new features discussed below.

User Transverse Reinforcement

This release includes user defined transverse reinforcement. The user may now place transverse reinforcement and convert program transverse reinforcement to user reinforcement. In past versions of the software, transverse reinforcement was created only by the program and was done so during the design routines only if determined to be required for fulfillment of code provisions.

User transverse reinforcement, as with user concentrated and distributed reinforcement, is compatible with the Integrated Structural Modeling (ISM) framework. User transverse reinforcement is among the objects that are transferred to an ISM model when creating or updating an ISM model from RAM Concept. In addition, shear reinforcement objects in an ISM model (such as rectangle parallel rebar), are transferred into RAM Concept when creating a RAM Concept model from an ISM repository.

A wiki on the user transverse reinforcement feature is available on BE Communities at the following link:

http://communities.bentley.com/products/structural/structural_analysis___design/w/structural_analysis_and_design__wiki/13771.user-defined-shear-reinforcing-in-ram-concept.aspx

ISM Substructure Interoperability

The ISM interoperability in RAM Concept has been enhanced to incorporate the substructure identifier in the latest version of ISM. When creating an ISM repository in RAM Concept, or when updating an ISM repository from RAM Concept, the user may now specify a substructure with which the selected geometry is to be associated.

 

Error Corrections in RAM Concept V8i Release 5.2

This release of RAM Concept contains minor error corrections discussed below.

Torsion Check for Longitudinal Torsion Tension

A correction was made to the calculations in “check” mode, where in rare cases it was possible that no design failure was reported when an insufficient amount of longitudinal steel was specified to reinforce for longitudinal torsion tension. In these cases all the longitudinal reinforcement provided would be removed (for torsion demand) before the flexural capacity check, which would generally result in a flexural capacity check failure. But in some cases with high axial compression or very low bending demand, the capacity could still be incorrectly reported as “OK”. Calculations in normal design mode were not affected.

Note: "Check" mode refers to the setting Check capacity of user reinforcement without designing additional program reinforcement under Calc Options.

Load History Deflections

An inconsistency was corrected that affected cases where cracking occurred in a sustained load history step. This most often occurred with the use of the “Shrinkage restraint %” feature. In these cases, the section is expected to crack at some intermediate time within the load history step. The time at which this cracking actually occurs affects the creep predictions, as this strain change should be accounted for in the strain history. In order to simplify RAM Concept’s calculations, the assumption is made that the cracking in a sustained step occurs at the beginning of the step (which could over-predict creep deformations), or at the end of the step (which could under-predict creep deformations). In prior versions there was an inconsistency in these assumptions which may have resulted in an under-prediction of creep deflections in some load history steps. A correction was made to eliminate the inconsistency and always assume that cracking in a sustained load history step occurs at the beginning of the step. This should normally result in an over-prediction of the creep deformations.

The magnitude of this effect can be minimized by breaking up the sustained load history steps into multiple steps with shorter durations. Load history deflection calculations that experience high loads early in the load history that would cause significant cracking before the first sustained load history step (such as RAM Concept’s default load history that uses full service loads for the first step) will be minimally affected by this issue. It is recommended that any cases where cracking was not expected to occur early in the load history, and/or where deflections are critical, be run in the new version to evaluate the impact of this change.

 

Pre-Concept V8i Release 5.2 File Compatibility Warning:

RAM Concept V8i Release 5.2 can read all previous file formats, but writes files in a format that cannot be read by previous versions.