Connection Design Service – Complete mode

In complete mode the user contacts us and directly sends the whole model, asking to design all possible nodes, or, however, a sufficiently wide set (higher than 50 nodes). The set of nodes is chosen selecting them in jnode view: the jnodes turn yellow (see example here below).

The files to be sent (via we-transfer) are the following:

  • The model of the structure (file .CSE). In the model will be embedded the design-criteria choices made by the user. Therefore, before sending the model:
    • Make the choice about the member forces to be used for the design (select the jnodes and then execute the command Automation-Automatic Design-Member forces).
    • Choose the design-criteria (command Automation-Automatic Design-Set)
    • Choose the standard that must be used (select the jnodes and then execute the command Automation-Selected Renodes Check-Set).
  • The binary files with the member forces (.SDB), the displacements (.DDB) and the constraint reactions (.RDB) if the model has been imported by an external fem program.
  • If the model has been imported from STAAD, the STAAD file STAAD .STD and the conversion file .STD.TXT.
  • It is suggested to zip all files and to send them via we-transfer to staff@steelconnection.design after pre-emptively contact our technical office, always by email.

The automatic design is made by us, using CSE ENTERPRISE.

By email, it is agreed a fee before the execution of the automatic design. The fee is set as a discounted cost per token. The discount is higher for higher numbers of joints to be designed.

It is not possible to say a priori how many nodes will be completely designed. The upper limit, clearly, is the number of selected nodes.

You will receive the model with all the nodes that have been completed, the pertinent result files, and all the PDF reports of the nodes designed and checked.

Clearly, since all the structure is examined, and the sending by FTP of single files, for each node, is avoided, the processing time is lower.

To have an idea of the time needed, consider the following example, which run here by us.

Example
Number of nodes1,404
Number of elementary joints3,229
Average number of joints per node2.3
Number of combinationsWorst 24*nm (1)
Design time selecting all the 1,404 nodes2,403 seconds
Average design-time per node1.71 seconds
Number and percentage of nodes completely designed1,275 (90,8%)
Number and percentage of designed joints3,063 (94.8%)
Nodes left completely blank50 (3.6%)
Nodes solved appropriately and percentage1,290 (91.9%)
Nodes unsolved because having problems (2)64 (4.6%)
Nodes that pass all the checks1,262 (90.2%)
Nodes that do not pass all the checks (3)28 (1.71%)
Time needed to re-check the nodes1,798 seconds
Average checking time per node1.28 seconds
(1) In every node, the 24 worst combinations for each member of the node are considered. If for example there are 4 members (including the master one) in the node, 96 combinations will be examined, among the original ones. They are chosen so that the single member forces, in turn, are maximized. (2) In a first stage, the joints are designed separately, then, in the final check stage, the node is examined as a whole. In some rare cases the complete node has problems that the separate joints did not have. These nodes are not sent from the Service. (3) It may happen that the connections interact between themselves, and therefore that in the final check stage, a component do not pass all the checks that did pass when considered as part of a single joint. These nodes are not sent from the Service.

This means that it is in principle possible to send the structure in the morning and to get the designs in the afternoon.