SeismoStruct versions

v7.0 [Sep 8, 2014]
New major analysis/modelling capabilities:
- Response Spectrum analysis.
- CAD-based Building Modeller (Note: not available in academic version of the program).
- Batch Analysis Facility.
- Automatic calculation of shear and chord-rotation capacity for frame elements.
- User-defined strength degradation for frame elements that reached their shear capacity.
- Multiple options for transforming masses to loads, and vice-versa.
- Distributed loads for frame elements.
Moreover, SeismoStruct v7 features also a myriad of additional novel features, such as:
New elements, section types and material models:
- Computationally-efficient displacement-based plastic-hinge frame element; 'infrmDBPH'.
- Streamlined definition of reinforced concrete sections (cover concrete no longer needs to be specified by user).
- Possibility of using different steel material for existing and new rebars in reinforced concrete jacketed sections.
- Longitudinal reinforcement patterns in 'rcrws', 'rclws', 'rcuws' and 'rcbgs' section types.
- European rebars library augmented with 24/26 mm diameters.
- Double angle/channel shape section ('dacss') and composite rectangular section ('crd').
- Predefined W and HSS steel sections.
- Dodd-Restrepo steel model ('stl_dr').
- Automatic FRP jackets confinement factor computation.
- User-customisation of Modulus of Elasticity for all concrete material models.
New pre-processing features:
- Graphical input facility for nodal and element loads.
- Simpler but more informative 'Add Material Class' module.
- Font size adjustment in 3D model plot node/element labels.
- Possibility of adding additional node/element to an existing Group.
- Graphical point&click selection of sectional stress/strain monitoring points.
- Infill response curves are now visible only when defining an infill panel element.
- Selection of rebar size typology (European or US) is now independent from Units selection (SI or English).
- Applied Loads module is now active when Eigenvalue analysis is selected (so that masses can be defined from loads).
- Wizard-generated models feature 'infrmFBPH' frame elements (computationally more efficient than their 'infrmFB' counterparts).
New post-processing features:
- Stress and strain output in Incremental Dynamic Analysis.
- Possibility for users to define which performance criteria is visualised in the 'Deformed Shape Viewer'.
- Graphical 3D/2D visualisation of internal forces for each single element (accessible by clicking an element in the 'Frame Forces Viewer' module).
General updates and bugs fixes:
- Updated Help Systems and User Manuals, which now feature a 'Getting Started' section with plenty of model creation tutorials (corresponding tutorial videos also released online).
- The position of the longitudinal rebars in R/C sections now considers the stirrups' width.
- Corrected problem in IDA when the ratio between the number of analysis steps and output frequency was not an integer.
- Replaced 'sec(0)-sec(3)' with 'sec(1)-sec(4)' in analysis log file.
- Corrected bug in definition of stress/strain monitoring point.
- Removed numerically unstable material models.
- Addressed other minor bugs.