STAAD.Pro has a new feature to auto-calculate the Effective Length Factors (KY, KZ etc), for the members to be designed as per AISC-ASD Code.

To make use of this feature, the user needs to go to the Design | Steel page. Select the Country Code as AISC ASD. Select the member for which the Effective Length Factors are to be calculated. Click on the Define Parameters button and select the parameter KY or KZ.

The following dialog box will appear.

The only difference from the previous version of STAAD.Pro is the addition of the Calculate button as marked in the figure.

On clicking the Calculate button, the program will ask whether the braced or un-braced effective length of the selected member is required.

After getting confirmation from the user, the program will calculate and display the value of the Effective Length Factor in the Edit box.

Now, click on the Assign button to associate this value of the respective Effective Length Factor with the selected member.