GT STRUDL Version 29.1 & 29
New Features and Enhancements
Version 29.1 New Features
• The GTSES sparse equation solver, first implemented under the STIFFNESS ANALYSIS GTSES command in Version 29, has been implemented as a stand-alone program. When executed as such, the GTSES sparse equation solver is able to allocate all available virtual memory to its own execution process, thereby increasing the efficiency of the equation solution beyond the improvements already made by the STIFFNESS ANALYSIS GTSES command.
The STIFFNESS ANALYSIS GTSES command also stores the results of the analysis (joint displacements, member and finite element forces, finite element stresses and strains, reactions and resultant joint loads) in files in the current working directory, further increasing the size of static analysis models that can be solved and the efficiency with which they are solved.
• An example of a large model execution which completed in Version 29.1 but ran out of memory in Version 29 is shown below:
Number of Joints
40042 Number of Members
3055 Number of Elements
41332 Number of Loadings
50 Number of Loading Combinations
48 Average Bandwidth + Standard Deviation
584
Time to solve using GTSES for 240,252 degrees of freedom = 197 seconds
Total STIFFNESS ANALYSIS GTSES time = 767 seconds
• The AREA LOAD command has improved geometrical error detection and reporting. In addition, the total area and applied load are now printed as an additional verification tool.
• The output from the DESIGN SLAB command was modified to display a full listing of elements selected and used in the computation of the total moment acting on a cut section, for both the Wood & Armer and element force algorithms. The DESIGN SLAB command remains a prerelease feature in Version 29.1.
Additional
Features Added to Version 29
GTMenu – Display Model
• Display Model will now display a member’s length, the K factors (KY and KZ) and the effective member lengths (LY and LZ).
GTMenu – Plastic Hinge Results
• We now label the percentage of plastic hinge formation at the ends of members. (This was omitted from the Version 29 Release Guide)
GTMenu
• As requested at the last year’s User Group meeting, we now label member names, member releases, section names, and other member information parallel to the member.
• An option to reset the following items to their Default Settings has been added to the Set Display Options dialog:
Default Settings – color, font, and display options Color Map Redraw Solid options Arrow Key increments
• Redraw Solid will now draw I-GIRDER and PLATE GIRDER prismatic and variable member cross sections which were specified in the Member Properties command.
• The Moving Load dialog has been modified to make the Diagram option visible when the dialog is opened.
• The model is no longer redrawn when selecting a filename or when entering the View menu.
• When editing ID’s of joints, members, or elements, the tab or arrow keys may now be used to move the cursor between names in the ID list.
• The “i” hotkey now produces an isometric display.
• When creating a joint at a line intersection when the endpoints of the line are points, the user is now prompted to enter “Points”.
• When splitting a member using the Variable option, the cursor is now automatically positioned in the Number of Members input box.
• When labeling reactions using the “All” mode, the labeling is now confined to joints in the current window.
• The box indicating the currently active independent load on the Button Bar now has the title “Independent Load”.
• When creating three-dimensional solid elements, the text input box for an element’s thickness is now omitted.
• The number of members or elements now appears in the prompts when a user has requested the member volume or slenderness ratios or the element aspect ratios to be output from the Check Model dialog.
• The structure is now immediately redrawn when the Z-up checkbox is selected in the View dialog.
• When members with variable properties are selected by right clicking in the Graphics Window, the Inquire Output window now shows the Property Groups and segment lengths for each segment of the variable member.
• Steel Parameter information has been compressed in the GTMenu Generated Input File.
GTSTRUDL Output Window
• The Dynamic Analysis Eigenvalue Analysis Data dialog now has an option to use the new GTSELanczos Eigensolver.
DBX
• A SUPPORTS ONLY option has been added the WRITE JOINT RESULTS command. If SUPPORTS ONLY is specified, joints in the given list that have not been specified as supports will be ignored and not included in the generated file. This will make it easier to export results for foundation design. The syntax of the revised command is shown below:
WRITE JOINT RESULTS (SUPPORTS (ONLY) ) JOINTS list
Dynamics
• Response spectrum analysis now checks the frequency/period bounds of response spectrum curves and issues a warning message if a structural frequency is found to lie outside the bounds of any of the response spectrum curves for the active response spectrum loads.
• The volume of warning messages pertaining to missing results reported by the CREATE PSEUDO STATIC LOAD command has been greatly reduced.
General
• The output for PRINT GROUP has been changed to include quotes (‘) around non-integer names and continuation symbols (-) for multi-line lists. This makes it easy to copy-and-paste from the output into a new command.
Old format:
JOINT NAMES:
99999 A1002 A1003 A1004 A1005 A1006 A1007
A1008 A1009 A1010
New format:
JOINT NAMES:
99999 'A1002' 'A1003' 'A1004' 'A1005' 'A1006' 'A1007' -
'A1008' 'A1009' 'A1010'
• The EXISTING option for member-types, which includes members, finite elements, nonlinear springs, cables, rigid bodies and superelements, has been improved to add the optional subtype filter MEMBERS, ELEMENTS, NLS or CABLES ONLY. This will restrict the generated list to that subtype only, which is helpful when the various subtypes are mixed in the naming scheme. The syntax of the command.
• The CALCULATE SOIL SPRINGS command now allows a joint to be released in the direction of a nonlinear spring (COMPRESSION ONLY option). Previously, a warning message would be generated and the CALCULATE SOIL SPRING command would not be processed.
• The CALCULATE MEMBER ORIENTATION command has been added to allow you to automatically generate a BETA angle by specifying the orientation of a member's local XY or XZ plane. The syntax of the command.
• The GENERATE LOAD command in the MOVING LOAD GENERATOR has three new options and the format of the output has been changed. The first new option allows you to specify a moment arm for generating torsional loads. The second new option allows you to specify an alphanumeric name for the initial load. The third new option allows you to create a group containing the generated loads. The revised syntax for this command.
• The LIST SUM FORCES command has been brought to release status. This command is used to perform a computation of resultant forces along a cut defined by joints which may contain members and elements.
• The RUN command has been brought to release status. In addition, the HIDE option has been added, allowing you to prevent the appearance of the black Windows command window when batch (.bat or .cmd) or console programs are run.
• The ALIGN command has been brought to release status. This command is useful for aligning members which are almost vertical so that they conform to the “Special Case” of the Beta angle.
• The DELETE JOINTS WITHOUT JOINT COORDINATES command has been brought to release status.
• AREA LOAD error checking for illegal member configurations has been improved. An illegal member configuration is one where the areas to be loaded are not simply bounded. For example, X bracing should not be included in an AREA LOAD request, but declared INACTIVE before the AREA LOAD command. In addition, more modeling errors, including overlapping members (where some or all of two members' centroidal axes are co-incident), are detected and reported.
Offshore
• Several new parameters have been added to the FATIGUE MEMBER command. The CHORD LENGTH FACTOR parameter provides for the specification of a chord length factor. The actual chord length that is used in the computation of SCF factors for a fatigue brace member is now computed by multiplying the length of the chord member associated with the brace member by the specified CHORD LENGTH FACTOR. The CHORD LENGTH FACTOR must be greater than 0.0 and is taken as 1.0 by default.
• The CHORD FIXITY parameter has been added to the FATIGUE MEMBER command. The CHORD FIXITY parameter is used for the computation of SCF factors according to the Efthymiou method. The value of the CHORD FIXITY parameter may vary from 0.5 to 1.0 and is taken as 0.7 by default.
• The FATIGUE MEMBER command has been enhanced to include an option to now select the Efthymiou equations to compute stress concentration factors for tubular joints having T, Y, K, and X classifications. Only the Kuang and/or Smedley equations were available in Version 28 and previous versions.
• For the APILRFD1 code, the reduction for FYLD has been removed as it is not needed for LRFD.
Rigid Bodies
• The TYPE RIGID command now includes a new GLOBAL option for the RIGID PLANE, PLATE, and PIN joint constraints. When this option is given, the planar coordinate systems for these rigid bodies coincide with the global coordinate system.
• The important implication of being able to use the GLOBAL option is that SLAVE RELEASES and JOINT RELEASES (for master joints that are also supports and have no other incident members and finite elements) are more easily specified with respect to the global coordinate system.
Static Analysis
• The new sparse matrix solver has also been extended to the PERFORM NUMERICAL INSTABILITY ANALYSIS command, using a syntax similar to that of the STIFFNESS ANALYSIS command:
PERFORM NUMERICAL INSTABILITY ANALYSIS GTSES
• The statistical output from the GTHCS equation solver has been improved to now output information regarding the number of degrees of freedom, the number of terms in the skyline and the number of hyper-columns.
Steel Design
• A new warning message has been added to the LRFD codes (i.e., LRFD3 and LRFD2 codes) to indicate that nonlinear analysis is required. Load and resistance factor design (LRFD) codes require nonlinear analysis to account for the second order (PΔ) effects of the frame structures.
• Steel grades for pipe and tube cross-sections have been added to ASD9 and 78AISC codes.
• The Summarize command for the critical section prints the summary results for the section that has the highest actual/allowable ratio. When the KL/r actual/allowable ratio is the highest ratio during a code check or design, the Summarize command for the critical section outputs that section’s summary results. In general, prismatic sections have the same KL/r ratio for each loading and section. Since the KL/r ratio value is the same for all sections, when the Summarize command is issued and the KL/r ratio is the highest actual/allowable ratio, the summary results for the last loading and last section are printed.
• In this version of GTSTRUDL, the summarize output for the critical section has been modified to also print the section with the highest stress value. The section which has the highest stress value also has the highest KL/r ratio.
Steel Tables
• European channel (U) profiles from Table “U-Stahl” of the “STAHLBAU PROFILES, 21., neu bearbeitete und erweiterte Auflage, überarbeiteter Nachdruck 1997" have been added to GTSTRUDL.
Utility Programs
• A new utility program, npf2ssc, has been added to convert Neutral Plot Files (NPF) into Scope Editor (.SSC) files. This allows users who generate NPFs with PLOT commands or through GTSelos to use the Scope Editor to view and print their files.
This utility program may be found at the following location after installing Version 29:
<install>\Utilities\npf2ssc
where <install> is "C:\Program Files\GTStrudl" by default
GT STRUDL Version 29
New Feature & Enhancements
Model Wizard
• A “Tangent” option has been added to the Tank Wizard to allow for a smooth transition from the circular to hemispherical portions of the tank.
• Compression Only and In-plane springs have been added to the Rectangular Tank Wizard.
GTSTRUDL Output Window
• You may now save a GTSTRUDL input
file including the Command History. You may also Save the File and
Command History and then Edit the file.
• You can now launch Windows Explorer from the File pulldown.
• The new static solver, GTSES, can now be accessed under the Analysis pulldown.
• The Results datasheets now have an option which allows you to change Units in the datasheets.
• You may now display harmonic analysis results versus frequency.
• The Steel Design Wizard now has an Advanced button. Clicking on the Advanced button will display the options.
GTMenu
• The Button Bar has been revised to include Buttons for Displaying Loads, Displayint the Model and Anotation
• The Display Model button brings up the existing Display Model dialog.
• he Display Load button brings up the existing Display Load dialog.
• The Annotation button brings up the Dimension, Coordinates, and Label dialog.
• The Label Setting button now brings up only the Display and Label Settings dialog.
• Dialogs have changed in appearance.
• The Edit pulldown now includes Move Model and Extrude Model options.
• Edit – Move Model
• Ability to Move all or part of the model
• Move based on distance between two joints or
• Move based on incrementing coordinates in current coordinate system (Cartesian, Cylindrical, or Spherical).
• Extrude Model Dialog
• Extrude frame model with members connecting each extrusion repetition
• Extrude selected 1D members to 2D finite elements
• Extrude all 2D finite elements to 3D solid finite elements
• Uniform or variable spacing
• Add members in opposite direction of extrusion such as below a floor level
• New Mirror Image option on Copy Model Dialog
• Mirror about XY, XZ, or YZ planes
• Planes can be identified as passing through a coordinate value or by selecting a joint
• Option to maintain incidence order
• Added the ability to automatically label the maximum and minimum values on force diagrams and envelopes. To accomplish this, a new check box is added to the Member Forces dialog.
• An entire element is now highlighted when selected.
• When selecting joints, members, and elements in Hit Mode, an element may be deselected by clicking on it a second time.
• Members with variable properties are now displayed by Redraw Solid.
• Time to perform a Redraw Solid on models with 3D solid finite elements has been greatly reduced by eliminating duplicate faces. The time to display contour results for models with 3D solid finite elements has also been greatly reduced.
• The efficiency of rotating large finite elements models using the cursor has been greatly improved. Now, only the boundary lines are drawn as the structure is rotating. The wire frame of the model is redrawn once the cursor is released.
• The Label Settings dialog now has options which allow you to have the display of Loads, Supports, and Member Releases always displayed – you will not need to go to Display Model or Display Loads every time the structure is redrawn.
• Member Releases, member names, and member profile names are now output using a rotated font instead of being drawn.
• This permits selecting and editing the text in the Scope Editor.
• New cylindrical coordinate systems (cylindrical system with the X, Y or Z axis as the axis of the cylinder).
• You may now hit the “Cancel” button on the Check Model question (Yes, No, Cancel) dialog to interrupt a Check Model listing.
• Abbreviations used in the output from Check Model have been removed.
• The Active Units now appear at the top of the output from Check Model.
• The Font used for the output from Check Model has been changed.
• A summary of the maximum and minimum element volume ratio is now included in the Check Model output.
• A summary of the maximum and minimum Aspect Ratio and Included Angle are now included in the Check Model output.
• A summary of the maximum and minimum member volume ratio is now included in the Check Model output.
• Graphically display plastic hinge status.
Other GTMenu Enhancements
• Global Plane menu allows hitting a joint. Previously, the user had to specify a coordinate value.
• The Parameter output in the input file created by GTMenu has been compacted.
• Whenever possible, numerical output in the graphics window will be written in a non-exponential format – it will be written in decimal format except when the numbers are “too large” or “too small”.
• Punching Shear results will be displayed graphically under the Results pulldown
• The following information is now kept in the Registry and will be retained for the next time that you execute GTMenu:
• Font size
• Display label settings
• Color Map
• Color Annotation settings
• Set Display Options
• Redraw Solid Options
• A right mouse click will now interrupt graphical output.
• The screen layout in GTMenu has been adapted to fit wide screen displays.
• When performing an Inquire by right clicking on a joint, member, or element on the screen, the output will now show up to 20 duplicates (entities at the same location).
• The Mode Bar selection "ALL" has been activated for individual load creation.
• An Inquire on a Member Load will now display the input coordinate system and position specifications for the load since they are required for editing the load.
• If a Local member load is displayed in Global components, and then one of the global components is edited, the local load is reformed when the load is stored.
• The default increments for Zoom and Pan have been changed to 0.02 and for Rotate to 2.0.
• The Graphics Display has been made active by default when entering GTMenu.
• The Message Box in GTMenu now shows the 3 latest lines of message text.
Linear Buckling Analysis
• Space truss members can be used in models for linear buckling analysis.
• Space frame members with member releases can be used in models for linear buckling analysis.
Static Analysis Performance
• A new STIFFNESS ANALYSIS solver called the GT Sparse Equation Solver (GTSES) has been implemented. The GTSES solver significantly improves efficiency and increases the size of the linear static analysis problem that can be solved in-core. To date, we have successfully solved linear static analysis problems having 330,000 DOF’s in-core.
• Also, a new out-of-core version of the STIFFNESS ANALYSIS solver called GTHCSolver (GT Hyper-Column Solver) has been implemented. GTHCSolver improves efficiency and significantly increases the size of the linear static analysis problem that can be solved.
Dynamic Eigenvalue Analysis Performance
• A new in-core version of the GTLANCZOS analysis solver called GTSELANCZOS has been implemented. GTSELANCZOS significantly improves efficiency and increases the size of the problem that can be solved in-core. To date, we have successfully solved problems having 330,000 .
• Efficiency improvements are being implemented for response spectrum analysis, transient analysis, and harmonic analysis when the USE EXTERNAL FILE SOLVER command is used.
• These improvements include the ability to store and retrieve results data limited only by the amount of hard drive space available. In addition, improvements are also being made to the efficiency of the maximum value file search algorithm used for the LIST TRANSIENT MAXIMUM and CREATE PSEUDO STATIC LOAD FROM MAXIMUM commands.
• You may now Store Time History Velocities and Displacements as a function of time (you may need both accelerations and displacements for multi-support excitation solutions).
• You may now specify transient support motions at different joints in order to perform a multi-support excitation using Physical Analysis.
• Change output format for Response Spectrum and Time History File Data – one column. This will make it easier to bring the data into other programs such as Excel.
• The List Response Spectrum Base and Story Shear capability have been brought to release status.
• The Form Static, Form UBC97 Static, and Form IS1893 Static Load commands have been brought to release status.
General
• The OD, ID, and Thickness of Pipe cross sections from Tables will now be output (PRINT MEMBER PROPERTIES).
• The square root sum of the square stresses is now output for pipes and round bars when using the LIST SECTION STRESS command.
• The LIST SECTION STRESS, LIST STRESS ENVELOPE, and LIST MAXIMUM STRESS commands now have an option which allows the output of stresses for unsymmetrical sections:
• LIST SECTION STRESS UNSYMMETRICAL
• The FORM LOAD specifications are now stored in the database. In addition, a Form Loading may now be updated to account for a loading change such as due to a change in the self-weight.
• A new command has been added to convert Load Combinations to Form Loads.
Nonlinear – Custom Cross Section for Plastic Hinges
• A new command has been implemented which allows the user to define custom cross-section fiber geometry using points, triangles, and quadrilaterals.
Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis
• Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis has been brought to Release status.
• The nonlinear hysteretic spring element, NLS4PH, has been brought to release status.
• New base isolation lead core and friction pendulum elements have been added.
Offshore
• The efficiency of the PSD and DISCRETE fatigue analysis algorithm has been improved significantly by the implementation of a joint-by-joint analysis algorithm. A PSD fatigue analysis for 200 joints and 700 wave loads that once took days only to discover that 2 GB RAM of memory was insufficient to solve the problem can now be solved in approximately 15 minutes on a 3.0 GHz computer having 2 GB RAM.
• Results from the Punching Shear calculations may now be output using the new command:
• LIST PUNCHING SHEAR RESULTS
Reinforced Concrete / Finite Element Analysis of Slabs
• New command to check or design the reinforcement in a finite element model of a slab subjected to bending using ACI 318-02.
• User defines the section (cut ) in the slab by specifying two joints and an element in the plane of the cut
• User can specify the steel and/or spacing
Steel Design
• The K-factor computation has been modified to detect cantilever members and physical members. These are now ignored in the K-factor computation.
• New parameters have been added to the Canadian (CAN97) code to allow code checking for open-web steel joists.
• Solid Round, Rectangular, and Square Bars have been added to the LRFD3 code.
• A new parameter, Class3, has been added to the BS5950 code which allows the user to code check or design based on the Class 3 cross-section classification.
• A new parameter, ALSTINC, has been added to the APIWSD20 and AISI89 codes to allow for a one-third allowable stress increase.
Scope Editor
• Automatic insertion of items from a template
• Date and time
• Title with a prompt for user input
• Allow margin specification on import from GTMenu
• You can now specify margins in the Scope Editor using the Scope Editor Options dialog
Interfaces to Other Programs
• AutoCAD – interfaces via DXF converter
• DSI’s intelliModel
• Intergraph’s Frameworks
• Intergraph’s SmartPlant 3D – CIS/2
• Structural Desktop by Structural Desktop, Inc.
• Tekla
• Other CAD programs which support DXF or CIS/2
Future Enhancements
• Graphically specify joints and elements to be used with LIST SUM FORCES command
• Graphically specify Area Loads in GTMenu
• Allow a 2-point line to be specified using "Start and End" mode, as for Member generation. Currently "End to End" mode is assumed.
• Expand the Member and Element generation Spacing option, "Defined by Line/Curve", to accept an n-point line of up to 500 segments. Currently it is limited to 50 segments
• Multiple windows to allow for result display in a separate window than the model display
• List the contents of a Group in an Inquire box. Currently the contents can only be displayed graphically.
• Add a Display Options capability to the Principal Vector display for principal stress vectors similar to the one shown here for contouring
• Add the option to Split Members to interpolate eccentricities between the start and end of the split members
• Ability to click on a member and have a graphical summary of the results on just that member in a separate Window that can be printed
• Addition of the following items to the input file created by GTMenu:
• Dynamic Loadings
• Eigenparameters
• Dynamic Modal Damping Data
• Nonlinear Effects
• Nonlinear Spring Properties
• Nonlinear Solution Parameters
• Cable Network Data
• Add the ability to graphically display rigid bodies, joint ties, slave releases, and superelement data.
• Latest ACI 318
• AISC 13th edition (“ASD” & LRFD)
• Torsion and Warping check or design for ASD9 and LRFD3 codes.
• Cross-sections considered for ASD9 code are:
• I shapes, Channels, Single Angles, and Structural Tubes
• Cross-sections considered for LRFD code are:
• I shapes, Channels, Single Angles, Pipes, and Structural Tubes
• Add maximum moments and/or forces to the user specified sections for code check or design. User can specify from the maximum of FX, FY, FZ, MX, MY, MZ, or all of them. When user specifies maximum force or moment, the maximum locations are added to the list of sections that the user has already specified.
• Warping stress computations will be based on Cases 1 and 2 of the Torsion Analysis of Rolled Steel Section by Bethlehem Steel or the AISC Torsional Analysis of Structural Steel Members, Steel Design Guide Series 9. The following boundary conditions will be implemented:
• FIX-FIX
• FIX-PIN
• PIN-FIX
• PIN-PIN
• Add maximum moments and/or forces to the user specified sections for code check or design. User can specify from the maximums of FX, FY, FZ, MX, MY, MZ, or all of them. When user specifies maximum force or moment, the maximum locations are added to the list of sections that the user has already specified.
• Add an option to code check and design for a maximum envelope. This means first finding the maximum FX, FY, FZ, MX, MY, and MZ. These maximums are then assumed to act at a single location for the code check or design.
• Continue expanding the model data and results which are available in Datasheets. Use the new datasheets which allow printing and facilitate exporting to Excel.
• Latest IBC and ASCE 7 equivalent static earthquake load
• Hysteretic behavior for plastic hinges and nonlinear member end connections
• Incremental nonlinear analysis to facilitate the use of nonlinear analysis to solve construction sequence problems
• Add models for multi circular spirals in rectangular columns for pushover analysis
• Add options for users to type in rebar coordinates or automatic equal spacing for pushover analysis
• Generalizing nonlinear frame member model to support large finite rotation behavior
• Center of stiffness computation in dynamic analysis
• Response Spectra widening capability
• Scope Editor
• Automatic insertion of items from a template
• True paragraph data as opposed to current acceptance of multi-line input
• Library of symbols to use for copy and paste
• Increased resolution
• Multi-page document
• Implement “Undo” function
• New eight node six degree of freedom curved shell element for thin and moderately thick shells – CQSHELL6
• Surface, temperature, and body forces
• Lumped and Consistent Mass matrix for dynamic analysis
• Geometric stiffness for linear buckling analysis
• Standard finite element output – LIST, CALCULATE AVERAGE
• Integration into GTMenu (geometry, loads, input file, contour results)
• The viscous damper element for linear and nonlinear dynamics will be brought to release status.
• New Displacement Constraint Design Procedure will be available to select members to satisfy joint displacement constraints.
• Joint Ties, Rigid Bodies, and Slave Releases will be added to the input file created by GTMenu .