Introduction

It is essential for the effective work of the design engineers to have a model which is easy to overview. In Consteel there are several functions to achieve that such as layers and portions, and also Member coloring by cross-section.

How it works

The color of the displayed objects is now determined by the object style settings in Options.

Layer color can overwrite these settings if the Layer style cell is checked on Layers dialog.

In the case of beam type members, it is also possible to set the color of the object according to the section it has defined. Coloring by member can be set with Object color setting dialog in the right bottom corner:

Choose the I-section shape button to use coloring by section. Setting can be applied to local or all tabs as usual. Color by section is not possible when color by layer is selected.

The colors can be defined for each profile in the section administrator. With a double-click on the color cell, it is possible to set any color.

Use coloring by section to make your model more perspicuous.

For more check out our feature preview video:

Introduction

As it is important to have a clear overview of the structural model, the visualization of the analysis results is also essential when it comes to effective design process. From Consteel 15 we use an advanced method for deformation representation which makes it smooth and realistic.

Description

Civil engineering software in general use the traditional beam-type deformation representation where the section is shown on the deformation of the reference line. There are some consequences of this representation mode that can be disturbing for the users. The best example is an eccentric support, where the deformed shape is visualized as if the supported point would’ve moved. The reference line indeed moved but the supported point not – the representation can not show that.

With Consteel’s advanced deformation representation not only the position of the reference line points are calculated and the section is only shown automatically, but the positions of all the decorated points of the section are calculated during a post-process and so it is possible to represent the real deformations. As a consequence it is also visible that the supported points stay in position.

Coloring has also improved with this representation. With the traditional way, the section was colored based on only the deformations of the reference line, so the same color applied for the whole cross-section. With the advanced technique, colors are assigned to the decorated points, and so coloring can change within a cross-section.

It is important to know that the analysis results are the same as before, only the representation of the deformations are now more realistic.

Other issues connecting to visualization which were often raised by our customers are also fixed with this advanced representation method, e.g. at frame corners the connecting flanges are moving together as in reality. Warping at member ends can also be well inspected.

To see examples of what Consteel’s advanced deformation representation can give you, check out our feature preview video:

Pangolin not only creates Consteel models for you but can also read and utilize your existing Consteel models. This is what we will look into more detail in this article.

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Introduction

IFC is a global standard for data exchange in the building industry. It is widely used for sharing models independent of the software the original model was created. It is of course possible to import an IFC file into Consteel too.

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Introduction

In Consteel there is a possibility to perform a model check on the structure to reveal modelling errors. This model check or diagnostics can be separated to First and Second level model diagnostics.

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Introduction

The effects of the behaviour of the joints on the distribution of internal forces and moments within a structure, and on the overall deformations of the structure, should generally be taken into account, but where these effects are sufficiently small they may be neglected.

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Introduction

In the last years, freeform architecture became more and more popular. A variety of complex geometric shapes are used for the facades of buildings, which brought the demand of new, innovative tools and solutions for modelling of these structures too. In Consteel we have developed such functions to make the engineers’ work easier.

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Introduction

It happens quite often, that you need to import static models from another modeling software into Consteel. This is a very practical and effective solution to simplify your work. However, it is very important that the original model is accurate. If not, it could easily lead to unpleasant problems for the user.

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Introduction

In Consteel there are several opportunities to place the point supports you need in a quick and effective way.

Multiple placing of column bases

In case you imported a model from another software and there are no supports defined or for some reason you decided to define the supports after modelling the whole building, it is not necessary to place every support one-by-one by clicking the end of all of the columns. To save time, click Multiple placing function (black arrow) on Point support dialog after setting the support type and select the columns with selection window.

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Introduction

The Frame corner wizard is a useful additional function for modelling and analyzing the corner region in order to consider its special behavior.

What is it for

The frame corner zones have usually significantly different behavior than the beam elements connected to each other without significant angle between their reference line. Frame corner wizard recognises the corner regions and applies special methods during modelling, buckling analysis and global checks. Using this function will provide very similar analysis results compared to where the frame is modelled with shell elements.

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