When it comes to building information modeling (BIM), the rules are constantly changing. To keep up, BIM-ready software must provide updates more frequently.
A recent update to SCIA Engineer—already the third released this year—brings substantial changes to the BIM-ready structural design software. Version 15.2 promises a variety of new and useful features for engineers.
SCIA Engineer is a tool for engineers to design joists and connections using BIM. (Image courtesy of SCIA nv.)
The update to 15.2 is intended to improve SCIA Engineer’s compatibility with building codes to expand its main markets. It also promises to enhance the design capabilities for steel and concrete and to improve the platform’s ease of use.
Version 15.2 is part of the goal of SCIA nv, SCIA Engineer’s parent company, to accelerate the rate of new technology releases.
“With SCIA Engineer 15.2, we’re seeing the positive outcomes of our new development process. With additional development resources and reorganization of the development teams, we are much more efficient and able to turn around substantial releases of SCIA Engineer every three months,” said Herman Oogink, chief technology officer at SCIA nv.
“As a company, we can respond much more quickly to our customers’ needs in our core markets—Europe, the United States and Brazil,” he continued.
Incorporating Upgrades for Engineers
The SCIA Engineer 15.2 update has a wide scope of new and upgraded features for its users. Here are a few of the highlights:
- Virtual Joists: With this feature, the user has the option to analyze joist member stiffness in a model. Auto-designed joists can be generated to match the building standards of most joist manufacturers and the Steel Joist Institute.
- Equivalent Lateral Force: This procedure is designed for fast and easily verifiable seismic analysis and supports ASCE 7 provisions. It’s intended to work with SCIA Engineer’s Model Response Spectra and Pushover features.
- Support for New Material: Materials databases have reportedly been updated with IBC-compliant timber and aluminum. Steel connection design should support beam flanges and webs in compression to comply with Eurocode. Summary output, output for splice connections and connection drawing are also listed as updates for 15.2.
- Extended Libraries: The software claims a new prestressed tendon library to fit ASTM requirements. This would enable users to introduce strand-patterns and tendons into 3D beam and slab geometry and calculate potential losses.
- Usability Improvements: 15.2 touts a widened capacity for BIM with support for Tekla Structures 21.1 and improved compatibility with Allplan Architecture and Allplan Engineering as well as new options for PDF and Excel. It also reportedly features an improvement to its method of calculating membrane structures using triangular finite elements.
The full list of updates is available here. For more information or to download, please visit the SCIA Engineer website.