Abstract

 In this article, you will find out what geometry possibilities are available for selected Advance Design reinforced concrete modules – RC Beam, RC Column and RC Footing.

Keywords: Advance Design, Reinforcement, Beam, Column, Foundation, Geometry

Introduction

One of the characteristics of good and universal design software is flexibility in the range of supported geometry types. Indeed, what if our software allows a full range of analysis, if it supports only one or two basic geometric types. Therefore, Advance Design reinforced concrete element design modules offer a wide range of geometry types and a large range of their modifications. Let us take a look at the capabilities of 3 of the modules in this regard: RC Column, RC Beam and RC Footing.

RC Column

Advance Design RC Column module allows you to perform reinforcement analysis of reinforced concrete columns. One of the basic geometric settings is the selection of the column section. There are eight types to choose from:

It should be noted that the type and distribution of reinforcement in the elements shown in the above and next images are only examples, as in practice they depend on many factors (starting from the load, through the individual settings of reinforcement parameters, to the standard conditions for the given country).

In the case of RC columns, it is also worth mentioning the possibility of specifying the beams and columns above, which affects the configuration of the starting bars.

RC Beam

Advance Design RC Beam module allows you to perform reinforcement analysis of reinforced concrete beams. Apart from the possibility of defining a beam as a multi-span beam, the main geometry modification possibilities concern the cross-section as well as openings and depressions.

Let us start with the cross-section of a typical beam – a simple cast-in-place rectangular section.

The next types of configurations available are cross sections in which part of the section is prefabricated. We can define different types of configurations with prefabricated beams, slabs, and cuts.

There are also various possibilities for modifying the beam’s elevation, including the possibility of defining lower and upper depressions on any part of the span, as well as defining rectangular and circular openings.

As with all other types of geometry, even for such an unusual beam as in the image above, the reinforcement is calculated automatically, taking into account all standard requirements.

In addition, the RC Beam module enables the definition and analysis of corbels, which can have fixed or variable heights.

RC Footing

Advance Design RC Footing module allows you to perform reinforcement and geotechnical analysis of concrete isolated and continuous footings.

The basic possibilities of modification for continuous foundations are the ability to specify bevels, i.e. the possibility of obtaining a trapezoidal cross-sectional shape. In addition, we can freely modify the position of the supporting element (wall).

Finally, it is worth mentioning that in addition to modules for RC beams, columns and foundations, Advance Design also includes other design modules, including reinforced concrete walls and shear walls, which allow many types of geometry. But that’s a topic for a separate story.

Learn more about Advance Design!

Visit website – https://graitec.com/advance-design/
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Abstract

 In this article, you will find out what impact the changes made in the latest version of Advance Design have had on computation time.

Keywords: Advance Design, 2023 release, Performance, Calculation time

Introduction

The latest version of Advance Design brings a great number of changes and enhancements in many fields of the program. One of the most visible changes are improvements related to the speed of computation and the way data is stored. This short article will show the impact of these changes.

Description of changes

To help increase productivity time in Advance Design, we have worked hard to improve several areas, which translate into much faster calculation times, as well as reduced file sizes of the results.

Three areas have been changed:

• Improvement of the calculation solver and program architecture

These changes consisted in the optimization of operations, thanks to which the speed of the FEM calculations has been increased.

• Changed the way results for combinations are calculated

Previously, the results for each linear combination for each node were determined and saved to a file during the calculation. Now the results are calculated while displaying the results, which has dramatically reduced the size of the project on disk as well as significantly reducing the computation time. At the same time, the increase in the generation time for graphical results is unnoticeable.

• Optimization of verification procedures for steel and timber elements

These changes concern the design procedures for steel and timber linear elements, resulting in a significant reduction in design time. Although some changes and improvements are common to all standards for steel and timber design, special attention has been given to design procedures for members according to Eurocode 3 and 5.

Examples

Below are 5 examples that illustrate the changes between the current and the previous version of the program regarding FEM calculations, steel/wood design and the weight of the result files.

 The average increase in performance

The above models represent an approximate range. However, the effect is global and independent of the nature and size of the model. The table below, shows the aggregate results for the decrease in the required time, as well as the decrease in size of the project file compared to the previous version of the program for a sample of 15 various models of different sizes and computational range.

Learn more about Advance Design!

Visit website – https://graitec.com/advance-design/
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Abstract

In this article, you will learn about the possibilities of Advance Design for the presentation of final element analysis results in a tabular form. 

Keywords: Advance Design, Finite Elements, FEM, Tables, Results 

Introduction

In Advance Design, we can quickly and efficiently perform the entire design process of a building structure, from modelling to analysis and structural optimization. And an integral part of the design process is the review, evaluation, and documentation of the calculation results. Today we will look at one aspect of this – methods for viewing results from FEM calculations using values in tables.   

Available methods of presenting results with using tables 

Results in tabular form can be generated in two ways – by generating tables during report generation, or using a new mechanism introduced in the latest 2023 version, by generating tables with results directly on the screen. Let’s look at the two methods in turn.   

Report tables 

One of the main components of calculation reports are tables with results. The selection of the template tables that are to be included in the report is made on the Table tab of the report generator.  In case of FEM analysis results, the number and type of available table templates depends on the model, including the type of calculations performed. For example, if no surface elements have been defined in the model, then no templates with results tables for surface elements will be found in the list 

However, before we start to generate a report with a table, especially in case of results from FEA results, it is crucial to properly narrow down the range of results to be viewed. The reason is very simple – the number of results can be huge, especially when we have a larger model and a large number of combinations.  In addition, most tables, such as the internal forces table for linear elements, present results at each node by default. With a relatively dense division into finite elements, this can result in a table that is many pages long for a single beam. So how do I filter the report tables? 

 Let’s start by selecting load cases / combinations. This can be done directly in the generator window using the load cases / combinations filter window. Thanks to the convenient selection options, we can easily set the range of interest. The selection made in this way is common for all tables for which you are generating the report. 

However, if you want to select a different case range for some tables, then you can filter using the properties dialog box for each such table.  

This way is also used for selecting points in which the results are presented. We can increase or decrease the result point density by selecting one of the options from the list. For example, in the table of internal forces of linear elements, by default the results are displayed in nodes of finite elements. We can change this setting so that the results are presented at 3 points – at the beginning, middle and end of the member, for example. 

To have the table contain results for only selected objects, we can also use the table properties dialog box to generate a table for only the items in the selected systems. But we can also easily generate a table for any range of objects, even for a single element. To do so, before generating a table, you should simply select the elements for which you want to generate a report. 

Another important functionality is the ability to create your own table templates. It means that we can decide what information and results should be placed in particular rows and columns of the table. We can put different types of data and results in the same table, of course within the same element type (for example, a linear element). Such templates can then be used to generate tables in exactly the same way as the default templates. 

Tables with results 

In Advance Design 2023, we have the ability to filter and check FEM calculation results even faster. This is all thanks to the new “Results Tables” functionality which allows us to quickly display the results in tabular form directly on the screen. This feature is available  after the FE calculation has been completed and can be accessed directly from the ribbon. 

We can generate tables using default template list, and if we want to narrow the number of displayed columns, we can easily hide the unnecessary.  

But we can also create our own template with specific result columns and settings. For this purpose, a similar mechanism and dialog box is used as when defining report table templates. Saved table templates will be able to be used in all projects or deleted when no longer needed. 

Similar to the report tables, you can narrow the table content to show results for only selected objects as well as for only selected load cases/combinations.  

The tables also have useful features that make it easier to find interesting results in the already generated table. For example in an easy way we can sort values on columns, just by double clicking on headers.  And we can filter the results using special fields below column headers. We can use text filters but also different types of single and multiple value ranges. And what is great is that we can easily use multiple filters at the same time. 

Finally, another great feature of the tables is the ability to export of the contents of the table to an Excel spreadsheet. To do this, just use the export button and the whole process will run automatically. This allows us different scenarios for further external work with results. 

Learn more about Advance Design!

Visit website – https://graitec.com/advance-design/
Visit Advance Design Virtual Stand – https://graitec.com/advance-design-virtual/
Linkedin – https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/advance-design-&-advance-design-connection/
Free trial – https://graitec.com/free-trial/