Current Revision posted to Structural Analysis and Design Wiki by jeremyhoesly on 7/25/2013 9:26:48 PM
(12.18.2012) Bentley- Structural Software Solutions: Year in Review eSeminar Attendee Questions
eSeminar,RAM,STAAD,structuralanalysis,structuraldesign,RAMSteel,STAAD.Pro,STAAD(X)
This eSeminar was originally presented on Dec. 18th, 2012.
You can view the recording online at our BeConnected site (Click Here!).
The following are the product-related questions and corresponding answers from the eSeminar.
- Q: Pertaining to offsets in RAM Structural System, to what are the offsets referenced?
A: Members are offset relative to the point(s) at which the member was originally placed in the model. Once a member is placed, offsetting can be done in an absolute sense (by specifying new coordinates for the member or member ends), or by specifying a translational offset for the member as a whole. - Q: Are you working on the foundation module for RAM SS?
A: The enhancements made to RAM Foundation have tapered in recent years no doubt. But the module remains a key part of the RAM Structural System suite. In 2013, we look to add new design codes, specifically ACI 318-11 and AS3600. - Q: Is AECOsim part of ISM or is it a third party product?
A: AECOsim is a stand-alone Bentley product. It requires a single installation and a single license. It is ISM-compatible and this is the means of interoperability of AECOsim with Bentley’s structural applications. - Q: The ISM portion of the seminar showed coupling beams with reinforcement dead-ending at the side of the opening. Also, the diagonal bars did not show.
A: Concerning the longitudinal bars that stop at the edge of the coupling beam: this is simply the way we show the bars, as to minimize visual clutter when reviewing the design in the View/Update dialog. We nonetheless assume full development of the bars within the coupling beam for purposes of the design calculations. Diagonal reinforcing still needs to be added to the RAM -> ISM transfer and hence the reason it did not appear in the ISM model. This will happen early in 2013. - Q: Has there been any implementation of open web steel joists and joist girders per SJI 2010 Specifications?
A: The RAM Structural System has the ability to select steel joists from the joist tables and to designate joist girders. The capacity tables that the program uses are valid for the SJI 2010 Specification. - Q: When will STAAD.Pro be capable of handling accidental torsion for seismic analysis in accordance with the Canadian design codes?
A: We are looking to update the Canadian codes in the next commercial release. The focus is on the steel and concrete codes, but we will also look at the seismic module and may look to add the accidental torsion after reviewing the requirements. - Q: Is there an editor in STAAD.Foundation Advanced similar to the one in STAAD.Pro?
A: STAAD Foundation does not have a text editor like STAAD.Pro, but Excel interoperability can be used to serve the same purpose. All project related data can be exported to an Excel file and after editing can be brought back to STAAD Foundation Advanced. - Q: Do you have any plans to add vibration analysis resulting from large equipment, fans, pumps, turbines, etc.?
A: The next version of STAAD.Foundation Advanced will have foundation analysis and design for vibrating equipment such as pumps and turbines. - Q: Will STAAD(X).Advanced be available on the existing license?
A: STAAD(X) Advanced is being developed to use the Advanced license that is currently available to activate the advanced functionality available in STAAD.Pro. - Q: Which product will provide structural steel beam web penetration reinforcing?
A: This is done in the steel beam design module within RAM Structural System. Both rectangular and circular penetrations can be designed with or without stiffeners. - Q: Is there an ISM 4.0 due out, and what will the enhancements be?
A: ISM 4.0 is tentatively scheduled for October 2013 with the addition of curved surfaces, substructure grouping and IFC import. - Q: Have there been any advancements in STAAD(X) for importing.dxf files?
A: The real benefit of STAAD(X) when interoperating with a CAD model is using ISM where the physical entities such as the section profile are defined along with any alignments and surfaces are identified and decomposed internally into finite elements rather than having to define the individual elements in the CAD system. - Q: Can STAAD.Pro handle rotational velocity and acceleration? We use it for LARGE mobile equipment.
A: There is a separate module called STAAD.Offshore which is designed for creating offshore loading on STAAD.Pro models including wave loading and forces from model motions, translational and rotational, of the self-weight and other given masses. - Q: What is the testing procedure that you use before launching/adding new features/modules for structural design?
A: The procedures vary between products and features. Great effort is taken to perform exhaustive tests on new features. These tests include comparisons with the results of other Bentley programs as well as other commercial software, extensive comparisons of design and analysis results from the program before the changes were made with the results after the changes are made (to ensure that what was working before still works), comparison with published examples (e.g., AISC design examples), and hand calculations. Our efforts are not always perfect, for which we apologize. Bentley Technical Support is excellent, when program errors do occur they can help resolve the problem, or help clients work around the problem, generally very quickly. - Q: What is the difference between RAM Steel or Pro Steel for steel structure?
A: RAM Steel specializes in the structural design of steel framing to fulfill structural design code requirements. ProSteel specializes in the detailing and documentation of steel framing and connections. Both RAM and ProSteel have a modeling environment, but beyond that are different in the sense that RAM is for design and ProSteel is for documentation. - Q: Can a full gravity and lateral design be performed for a concrete building with RAM Structural System and RAM Concrete, including foundations?
A: Certainly. This is one of the strengths of the RAM suite: analysis and design of all major structural elements for both gravity and lateral forces. - Q: Will there be updates to the Canadian codes, specifically the concrete codes in STAAD.Pro and STAAD.Foundation?
A: We are in the development cycle of adding the updated steel code and a new concrete code for the interactive concrete module which we are planning to release next summer. - Q: When will shear wall design according to the Canadian design code be available in STAAD.Pro?
A: We are currently focusing on updating the Canadian steel and concrete codes for users in the Canadian market. We are constantly reviewing user requests and a shear wall module is a feature that is currently high on the demand list from users and regions around the world and as such has a high priority in our development plans. It is true however, the codes that such a module will support will probably start with the Indian code. In the meantime, I would suggest looking at RAM SS as I suspect you are designing a building structure, where the shear wall module is a major feature. - Q: We are currently researching and testing StrucLink between STAAD and ProStructures, what would be the advantage of using ISM instead?
A: We would strongly recommend using ISM as the basics are the same. STAAD.Pro uses a form of StrucLink, but you also get the benefit of integration with all the other applications that are also integrated into ISM. - Q: I am new to both RAM and STAAD.Could you please highlight the main differences, particularly with respect to ACI 318-11?
A: Generally speaking, RAM Structural System is intended specifically for the design of buildings and places particular focus on design code fulfillment, automated loads, and design productivity. STAAD.Pro is more widely applicable to various types of structures such as plants, towers, stadiums, etc., and has extensive feature sets encompassing advanced methods of analysis. Both products implement the provisions of ACI 318. - Q: What is the difference between STAAD.Pro and RAM Elements?
A: RAM Elements is a program developed around a toolkit of specialist modules such as connection design, wall design, and truss design. As such it has a nice finite element module to create data that can be passed to these modules. STAAD.Pro is a far more powerful analysis and design application that has a greater capacity of analysis options including the AISC Direct Analysis, Dynamic Time History and Geometric Non Linear methods. It also has a number of industry modules for bridge, offshore, and plant industries. - Q: When will masonry shear walls be included in RAM Structural System without manipulating as an other material?
A: We hear this request fairly often. For the foreseeable future though, RAM Elements will continue to provide the solution for the design of masonry walls, with either the direct RAM Structural System – RAM Elements link, or ISM providing the path from RAM Structural System to RAM Elements. - Q: When I import data from STAAD.Pro to STAAD.Foundation, all the load types come in as Dead Load. The resulting automated load combinations are all incorrect since the imported load types are incorrect. Is there a way around this?
A: This was mainly done to be compatible with old STAAD.Pro files which didn’t have an option for load type definition. But load type can easily be changed in the STAAD.Foundation program. These steps can be followed to change the load types. 1) Open “Loads and Factors” page 2) Select a load case 3) Change the type by selecting a value from the loading type drop down selection. - Q: How do we learn more about this year’s Be Inspired Award winner and finalists in the “Innovation in Structural Engineering” category?
A: Bentley is proud to have received a number of great use cases for this popular category. The Structural finalists and winner were outstanding uses of Bentley products for their structural projects. Consider entering your innovative project in next year’s competition, which will be announced in spring 2013! - Q: How do we get the continuing education credits? How can I get a certificate of attendance of CEU's?
A: Bentley Learning Units (BLU), Bentley Institute’s equivalent to Professional Development Hours (PDH), are granted for the live and recorded eSeminar. Within 2-4 weeks of watching the presentation, Learning Units are added to your transcript. To access your transcript, go to www.bentley.com/mylearninghistory. On the "My Learning History" page, there is a detailed how-to guide related to Learning Units and transcripts, in addition to the link to the user’s online transcript. In most states, users can submit their Bentley transcripts for consideration for continuing education credit toward their registration renewals. - Q: How do I view this eSeminar again or share it with a colleague?
A: This event along with the live Q&A were recorded and it is available online at our BeConnected site.