ASDIP is a structural engineering software for the design of structural members and components, capable to create complex calculations. But how exactly does ASDIP manage all these calculation sets in a project? This blog post discusses this important part of the software.
Structural engineering is all about calculations, and even a simple project may contain several sets of calculations for different members. The Project Manager is the central piece of ASDIP software. It is in charge of organizing all the calculations in a project, and keeping the common information updated and active. Among other tasks, in the Project Manager you may Create, Copy, Delete, Rename, or Open a calculation, as shown in the image below.
To create a calculation, click on a calculation button and enter a short, meaningful calculation name. The calculations tree at the right pane of the Project Manager will reflect the change by adding a new node under the corresponding calculation branch. You may continue adding calculations to the tree, or you may open the calculation that you just created.
Think on this as a paper folder on your desk, where you are putting your hand calcs and sketches together. Imagine that you are designing a composite beam by hand and that you ended up with some pages of calcs. You probably will put these sheets in a paper folder labeled with the project name. Then imagine that you continue designing by hand the column that supports the beam, and then the base plate at the bottom of the column. Add all these paper sheets to your binder. If there are several types of beams and columns in the building, your binder will have to be organized further.
ASDIP organizes the set of calculations for you in a modern, electronic version of the situation described above. The Project Manager will add individual calculations to the project and will organize them in an expandable tree view. You may add as many calculations as you need, and they will be organized properly for future reference.
Each calculation is completely independent to the rest, except that they share the same settings specified in the Project Manager, such as the project and user information, etc. In a typical calculation window you edit dimensions, loads, materials, etc, as required to optimize the design. At the end, when you close the calculation window, all changes will be automatically recorded into memory. To access your calculations in a future session, ASDIP lets you save all your calculations in a single project file.
For a more detailed discussion of the Project Manager please read the blog post ASDIP Project Manager – The Core of the Software.
Detailed information is available about this structural engineering software by visiting ASDIP. You are invited to download a Free 15-Day Software Trial or go ahead and Place Your Order.
Best regards,
Javier Encinas, PE
ASDIP Structural Software
Once you complete an entire project calculation set, can you print all reports at one time? Or do you need to open each calculation and print the report? This could save a lot of time when preparing the final calculation set. Great article and software!
Jon, in the current version you need to open the calculation in order to print it out. This is a very good suggestion and we will implement it for the next major release. Thank you.