Bentley CONNECT Advisor

Integrated Structural Modeling v6

Bentley's Integrated Structural Modeling has been enabled again in STAAD Foundation Advanced. The program is compatible with v6 of ISM.

Select the application button in the ribbon bar to access the ISM submenu.

Refer to ISM Import and Export for more information on Integrated Structural Modeling.

Automated Updates via the CONNECTION Client

You will be notified of updates to STAAD Foundation Advanced automatically in the Bentley CONNECTION Client application.

This application is installed with the STAAD Foundation Advanced CONNECT Edition and runs in the Windows^® system tray. You can manually check for updates by opening the CONNECTION Client and selecting the Applications tab.

STAAD Foundation Advanced Replaces STAAD.foundation 5.3

When this version of STAAD Foundation Advanced (CONNECT Edition Update 2 build 8.2.0) is installed, it will uninstall the old version of STAAD.foundation V8i SELECTseries 4 (release 5.3).

Also, when you run STAAD.foundation from the STAAD.Pro V8i Foundation mode, that program will open this version of STAAD Foundation Advanced instead. This replaces the free installation of STAAD.foundation V8i which was included with STAAD.Pro V8i. You may now run STAAD Foundation Advanced without a license to perform design of a limited set of foundation types. When you run STAAD.foundation or STAAD Foundation Advanced from STAAD.Pro V8i, you will be presented with a dialog to choose the license configuration.

Refer to the following section on License Configuration for additional details.

License Configuration

STAAD Foundation Advanced can be run with all features with a license. You may also run the program without a STAAD Foundation Advanced license in limited version which allows you to design a limited number of general foundation types.

Refer to Limited Versus Full Licensed Versions for details on the differences between the full licensed version and limited free version.

You can also access the License Configuration dialog by selecting the License Configuration tool in the Settings group on the Home ribbon tab.

Setting Load Case Types in Batch

Setting a load type as Service, Ultimate or Primary for a number of load cases at a time is now possible from the main branch of the Loads & Factors page as shown in the figure below.

For models with hundreds of load cases of these types, users can benefit from this improvement in ease of use of the program.

Refer to To set the load type for a group of load cases for details.

Updated Examples

New examples have been added for modules such as vessel foundation, isolated footings, combined footings, and mat foundations for codes such as European and Canadian. These can be accessed by clicking the Examples link on the Start page.

Miscellaneous Enhancements

1. The STAAD.Pro model created by SFA for mat foundation analysis is now provided in the same folder where the SFA file is kept. Also, after the analysis of the mat is completed, the STAAD.Pro output file for that analysis is automatically displayed enabling you to see if there are any errors or warnings resulting from improper input data for the mat.
2. For mat foundations for which the finite element analysis is performed using the STAAD.Pro analysis engine, the output pane at the bottom of the SFA screen will no longer display tables for node displacements support reactions, and, plate stresses. The reason is that the STAAD.Pro input file is not readily accessible from the same folder where the SFA input file resides, and you can use the facilities of STAAD.Pro to view those results. The benefit that accrues from the removal of these items is that it can lead to a considerable increase in speed with which the results are displayed after the analysis is complete for large models.
3. Effective from this release, calculation sheets are always saved. When you re-open the model, they can be displayed without having to re-analyse the model.
4. For isolated footings, punching shear check per Eurocode is now performed at a distance 2d from the face of the column, as discussed in section 6.4.2 of the Eurocode EC2. The diagram for the punching shear perimeter is as illustrated in figure 6.13 of the EC2 document. In CONNECT Update 1 and earlier (08.00.01.33), punching shear was checked on a perimeter at a distance of d/2 from the face of the support.
5. When SFA reads an input file, if it finds mistakes in the values in the load safety factors, the following rules are applied to correct them automatically:
   • For load cases classified as Primary, the Serviceability factor and Design factor are set to be the same.
   • Loads having the type Ultimate cannot have the Design Factor set to zero.
   • Loads having the type Service cannot have the Serviceability Factor set to zero.
6. Under the Apply Self Weight and Dead Weight Factor table, if service load combinations are found to have the Include option unchecked, the following warning is displayed in the Output Pane.
   

   22:19:11  [WARNING] FOR MAT FOUNDATION JOB M1, THE SELFWEIGHT OF THE MAT IS NOT INCLUDED 
   FOR ONE OR MORE PRIMARY AND/OR SERVICE TYPE OF LOAD CASES OR COMBINATIONS. THIS MAY 
   PRODUCE UNCONSERVATIVE
   22:19:11  [WARNING] RESULTS FOR THOSE CASES FOR MAT FOUNDATIONS. THIS SETTING CAN BE 
   CHANGED FROM APPLY SELF WEIGHT AND DEAD WEIGHT FACTORS TABLE IN THE LOADS AND FACTORS 
   PAGE.
   

   These messages mean that the selfweight of the mat will not be considered to calculate the base pressures and displacements for those service cases. You may avoid this error by checking the Include box described above.
7. Also, the Dead Weight factor cannot be applied as zero if the Include option is checked in the Apply Self Weight and Dead Weight Factor table. That is because it is a contradictory setting - you are asking the program to include selfweight, but using a factor "0" means zero selfweight should be considered.
8. More detailed reporting in the output pane of the causes of failure during design of footings.
   

A number of improvements have been made in the program in areas such as handling of input, removal of defects in calculations for some of the foundation modules, display of output, printing, drawing generation, stability related aspects that resulted in crashes or caused the program to freeze, extensive time taken for analysis of certain modules, etc. For details, see the Revisions History page.