M. To check for and remove duplicate entities
To detect the presence of and remove instances of nodes, beams, plates, etc. which are duplicates, use the following procedure.
One definition of duplicate nodes is that they are 2 or more nodes, having distinct node numbers, but the same X, Y, Z coordinates. For example, if node number 5 has coordinates of (7, 10, 0), and node 83 also has coordinates of (7, 10, 0), node 5 and 83 are considered duplicate. However, STAAD.Pro allows you to expand the definition of this term to include nodes separated by any distance. When this menu is selected, the following message box pops up, asking the user to specify a tolerance.
Duplicate members are 2 or more members, having distinct member numbers, but connected between the same 2 nodes. For example, if there are 3 members, say, 17, 46 and 75, all connected between the nodes 105 and 117, those 3 members are considered duplicate. The order of the node incidence is disregarded during this check. For example, if member 17 has 105 as its first node, 117 as its second, and member 46 has 117 as its first node, 105 as its second, they are still treated as duplicate.
A similar definition is applicable for duplicate triangular or quadrilateral plates. Plates are considered duplicates if they share the same vertex nodes, regardless of order.