ASDIP CONCRETE is a structural engineering software for the design of concrete and masonry members. It includes a new feature, the Concrete Column Design Manager. This post is a brief overview of how this new feature works, and how to use it to complete the design in less time and boost your productivity.
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Design of Concrete Columns
The design of concrete columns may be time-consuming. After specifying the applied loads, it's necessary to consider the slenderness effects by applying the Moment Magnification method. This can be a complex task if done by hand, especially if you are designing dozens of columns.
Once the bending moments are magnified, they must be checked against the column capacity by generating a Pn-Mn interaction diagram. This is also a very cumbersome and time-consuming process if done by hand, since it implies the calculation of the concrete and steel stresses for each given position of the neutral axis, according to the strains compatibility. If the column is biaxial, then multiple interaction diagrams must be generated, one for each rotation angle of the cross section.
Concrete Column Design Manager
Fortunately, ASDIP CONCRETE now includes a new feature for this task. The Design Manager is a tool that performs a preliminary design of the concrete column based on the loading conditions and bar preferences. The Design Manager will calculate the required number of reinforcing bars in the column to make sure that all the points representing the combined loads fall inside the usable area of the design interaction diagram.
The user could do the design from scratch by selecting the dimensions, the loads, and number of bars in the column, in a trial-and-error exercise, but this labor would be tedious and time-consuming. Instead, the Design Manager will perform this full task with the simple click of a button. The designer can complete and fine-tune the design in a few minutes with minimal effort.
To open the Design Manager, go to the menu bar at the top of the page and click on Design > Design Manager, as shown below.
ASDIP CONCRETE also generates graphical views of the column, showing all sizes and reinforcing bars, as well as the optimized interaction diagram for the controlling rotation angle, as shown in the image above. It should be noted that all of these graphs immediately reflect any change in the input values.
Takeaway
ASDIP CONCRETE now includes a Column Design Manager, which will produce a preliminary design of the concrete column. The ability to simultaneously design an unlimited number of columns with a single action will be implemented shortly.
For engineering background, see the blog post Concrete Column Design – Structural Overview. For our collection of blog posts about footing design please visit Concrete Design.
Detailed information is available about this structural engineering software by visiting ASDIP CONCRETE. You are invited to download the Free 15-day Software Trial or go ahead and Place your Order.