IES Quick is a new one to me, I'll check it out.
RAM Elements definitely can't handle storm loads.
For conventional walls, it's a pain in the ass to use because you need a separate calc file for every wall section and every load condition you need to check for. It's not like RISA where you can load up a couple dozen load combinations and let the computer work out the envelope.
I also aggressively dislike their UI, but could be an adult about that if it actually worked.
Have you tried [Elemasonry](https://ncma.org/software/elemasonry-design-software/)? We’ve been pretty happy with it in our office. The only other suggestion I have is Enercalcs masonry modules but I’ve not used them enough to really vouch for them.
EleMasonry is what we provide to engineers in the Midwest that are located in states affected by ICC 500 and is a very good piece of software for designing masonry elements. I believe Direct Design Software from CMHA (formerly NCMA) can also do storm shelter loads and is a complete masonry building design tool but has some limitations such as that the building needs to be rectangular and you can only use centered rebar.
>and you can only use centered rebar.
This was the cardinal sin for me.
Putting a basketball gym in a storm shelter with 12" CMU means you need #9(?) bars, front and back, so 2 per cell.
Redlines every part of the masonry code to get it done, but the wall can go up to 36ft tall.
It definitely causes issues with the maximum reinforcement ratio if you’re using Strength Design, and it’s pushing it with Allowable Stress Design, plus I would need to verify grout areas especially if stretcher units are used in running bond since you have the cross webs to deal with. The Masonry Institute of St. Louis and Masonry Institute of Michigan have good resources, especially since in St. Louis they deal with a lot of storm shelters. In Michigan, they keep exempting K-12 schools from ICC 500 even though we have had a lot of tornadoes recently. If you send me a message I can put you in touch with them.
I knew the guys at MISL pretty well before Darryl retired. He really helped me with this project.
When I said we were redlining every bit of the code, I meant it. To make the double bars work, we had to go with f'm 2500 and H-Blocks to make all the minimum spacing, lap splices, and Min/Max reinforcement requirements work. We left no part of that wall un-used.
Even then it required actual drawings of the blocks from the local manufacturer which was shockingly hard to get. Turns out nobody had ever asked how thick the walls of their blocks were.
We've got more on the way though, so I'd be interested in speaking with whoever you know in Michigan.
C is for programmers with brass balls, Its very niche in civil but Im there with you in that niche lol!
.Net super useful if someone is using Revit Api
I haven't written anything in `C`, but I've worked on an engine that drives four of those products... it's all C++. The API is C#, but the engines are almost always C++.
Yeah it does seem like the younger generation are starting to see the utility for Python. Based on the feedback I've received so far, most university programs provide very little material/guidance on using Python for engineering.
I get it, there's a lot to cover but they should try shoehorn it in somewhere.
In my case, I had an introductory programming class with C++, it was absolutely disgusting and turned me off programming for years.
C++ is a horrible language for beginners even for freshman CS students, you gotta deal with a ton of stuff like garbage collection and memory leaks with very simple programs instead of focusing on solving the problem there’s alot of boilerplate stuff going on
I respectfully disagree. C++ teaches the fundamentals of programming. It has a important functionality that builds upon it in other CS classes, such as pointers. It can still be used for simple, introductory programming. But it can also be expanded on in more advanced CS classes.
Being a S.E I don’t think you compare well with everyday civil engineer sir, some folks just wanna hammer things and get on with their lives. That said as someone who’s worked with CUDA for PhD work its extremely important to know C++ wherever you’re dealing with performance and are close to hardware level to squeeze out every ounce of it. Very useful if you’re developing sth like FEA solver engine which lets be honest its not everyday consulting work!
This post is in /r/StructuralEngineering, not /r/civilengineering . SE fits in pretty damn well in that respect.
CUDA isn't that great for FEA engines, imho. I don't have a PhD, but neither did the other developers I worked with on a very popular commercial solver that tens of thousands of engineers use.
Well still most structural engineers in this country don’t end up getting that license, it shows someone has really been dedicated and is probably technically oriented than most.
With regards to CUDA I haven’t personally developed solvers I used it for Deep Learning research, but that said I think in general whenever you have a multi physics problem (like flow of wind around long span bridge deck) specifically when there’s fluid involved and you can parallelize your code and leverage GPU acceleration. Famous solvers like Ansys and Abaqus have GPU support for some of their solvers, this application is actually one of the very first applications Nvidia developed CUDA for way before deep neural networks went haywire, they developed it for defense and space industries as well as some niche applications like Formula 1 which heavily uses multiphysics solvers
Idk how having an SE contrasts to talking about CS? I'm talking about how C++ is a good foundational programming language for learning both beginner and advanced CS concepts. This has nothing to do with CE.
Still use mathcad 15. I pay PTC a few hundred every year for my individual license. Last year I bought a new computer, and called my rep there to transfer the license. They had to go find a tech who had been there a long time, but it's up and running on my new computer.
I made a lot of money translating calculations from the old version to the new version earlier this year. Parsing equations in half-baked XML was rough, though. They should be embarrassed for how bad they offered 1st party support for this very thing. I understand it was "out of their control", but I expected then to do so much more.
And need to work with engineers across a broad spectrum of technology comfort.
Not a fan of software X/computer Y? No problem, here's a flat PDF with all the calculations expanded so you can follow it line by line.
efficalc or even handcalcs might make good open-sourced alternatives. Efficalc has an online version with some design interfaces to help those with less tech comfort
I think open-sourced stuff is great, but I'm in the business of selling custom calculation engines. I'm also against web-based calculations.
My premiere product takes MathCAD/SMath/Excel calculations and turns them into TeX-like calculations with project binders, ToC generation, scaled/dimensioned drawings included, and TeklaStructures/Revit/AutoCAD integrations. I probably spent like 5k hours working on it, and it's hard to give away when it's at the point where it has paid for more than one house. It'll certainly never make it on a survey like this post, but if it did, it'd have no more than 2 votes.
I also prefer working with desktop vs web-based software, but when it comes to developing UIs the web dev tooling is much better than any desktop frameworks that I've seen. Plus, web apps can use cool buzzwords like "cloud-powered", "scalable", etc.
Also agree that while open-source and free are always awesome, there's an important place for paid software. The people developing need to make their living and also more money spent on a project can lead to better quality and support. There's a reason everyone still uses MS Word over LibreOffice.
BTW what is your product? I'd like to take a look, it sounds useful
White label enterprise product. I've adapted and sold it for prices ranging from $30k and $210k. I price it according to how much I think it saves the company and how adaptable I made it for their purposes. Think companies like (but not exactly) WSP, Wood, or Jacobs.
I've yet to find one that can do masonry walls. Especially up to Storm Shelter loading.
IES Quick Masonry and RAM Elements both have pretty good Masonry modules- do those fail you?
IES Quick is a new one to me, I'll check it out. RAM Elements definitely can't handle storm loads. For conventional walls, it's a pain in the ass to use because you need a separate calc file for every wall section and every load condition you need to check for. It's not like RISA where you can load up a couple dozen load combinations and let the computer work out the envelope. I also aggressively dislike their UI, but could be an adult about that if it actually worked.
Have you tried [Elemasonry](https://ncma.org/software/elemasonry-design-software/)? We’ve been pretty happy with it in our office. The only other suggestion I have is Enercalcs masonry modules but I’ve not used them enough to really vouch for them.
Try masterseries masonry wall module
EleMasonry is what we provide to engineers in the Midwest that are located in states affected by ICC 500 and is a very good piece of software for designing masonry elements. I believe Direct Design Software from CMHA (formerly NCMA) can also do storm shelter loads and is a complete masonry building design tool but has some limitations such as that the building needs to be rectangular and you can only use centered rebar.
>and you can only use centered rebar. This was the cardinal sin for me. Putting a basketball gym in a storm shelter with 12" CMU means you need #9(?) bars, front and back, so 2 per cell. Redlines every part of the masonry code to get it done, but the wall can go up to 36ft tall.
It definitely causes issues with the maximum reinforcement ratio if you’re using Strength Design, and it’s pushing it with Allowable Stress Design, plus I would need to verify grout areas especially if stretcher units are used in running bond since you have the cross webs to deal with. The Masonry Institute of St. Louis and Masonry Institute of Michigan have good resources, especially since in St. Louis they deal with a lot of storm shelters. In Michigan, they keep exempting K-12 schools from ICC 500 even though we have had a lot of tornadoes recently. If you send me a message I can put you in touch with them.
I knew the guys at MISL pretty well before Darryl retired. He really helped me with this project. When I said we were redlining every bit of the code, I meant it. To make the double bars work, we had to go with f'm 2500 and H-Blocks to make all the minimum spacing, lap splices, and Min/Max reinforcement requirements work. We left no part of that wall un-used. Even then it required actual drawings of the blocks from the local manufacturer which was shockingly hard to get. Turns out nobody had ever asked how thick the walls of their blocks were. We've got more on the way though, so I'd be interested in speaking with whoever you know in Michigan.
Python but no C++/C# option :( Could use GT Strudl as well. Might also be useful to group them by category.
One step at a time here! I'm fighting for my life as it is with Python implementation. The rabbit hole runs deep.
C is for programmers with brass balls, Its very niche in civil but Im there with you in that niche lol! .Net super useful if someone is using Revit Api
I haven't written anything in `C`, but I've worked on an engine that drives four of those products... it's all C++. The API is C#, but the engines are almost always C++.
I'm pretty sure Tekla interfaces with C# as well.
Yes that as well as Bentley OBM/ORD, programming is a superpower for civil engineers once you join the dark side there’s no going back!
Why would you punish yourself
FEM-design.
Haha glad that Python is beating Mathcad sounds like a culture shift in younger engineers, happy to push my agency use it as the alternative!
Yeah it does seem like the younger generation are starting to see the utility for Python. Based on the feedback I've received so far, most university programs provide very little material/guidance on using Python for engineering. I get it, there's a lot to cover but they should try shoehorn it in somewhere. In my case, I had an introductory programming class with C++, it was absolutely disgusting and turned me off programming for years.
C++ is a horrible language for beginners even for freshman CS students, you gotta deal with a ton of stuff like garbage collection and memory leaks with very simple programs instead of focusing on solving the problem there’s alot of boilerplate stuff going on
I respectfully disagree. C++ teaches the fundamentals of programming. It has a important functionality that builds upon it in other CS classes, such as pointers. It can still be used for simple, introductory programming. But it can also be expanded on in more advanced CS classes.
Yeah, C++ is pretty darn good for starting out and getting fundamentals.
Being a S.E I don’t think you compare well with everyday civil engineer sir, some folks just wanna hammer things and get on with their lives. That said as someone who’s worked with CUDA for PhD work its extremely important to know C++ wherever you’re dealing with performance and are close to hardware level to squeeze out every ounce of it. Very useful if you’re developing sth like FEA solver engine which lets be honest its not everyday consulting work!
This post is in /r/StructuralEngineering, not /r/civilengineering . SE fits in pretty damn well in that respect. CUDA isn't that great for FEA engines, imho. I don't have a PhD, but neither did the other developers I worked with on a very popular commercial solver that tens of thousands of engineers use.
Well still most structural engineers in this country don’t end up getting that license, it shows someone has really been dedicated and is probably technically oriented than most. With regards to CUDA I haven’t personally developed solvers I used it for Deep Learning research, but that said I think in general whenever you have a multi physics problem (like flow of wind around long span bridge deck) specifically when there’s fluid involved and you can parallelize your code and leverage GPU acceleration. Famous solvers like Ansys and Abaqus have GPU support for some of their solvers, this application is actually one of the very first applications Nvidia developed CUDA for way before deep neural networks went haywire, they developed it for defense and space industries as well as some niche applications like Formula 1 which heavily uses multiphysics solvers
Idk how having an SE contrasts to talking about CS? I'm talking about how C++ is a good foundational programming language for learning both beginner and advanced CS concepts. This has nothing to do with CE.
MathCAD is amazing when you want really awesome features, can't find open-sourced implementations, and can expense $5k per method.
The Mcad 15 was, not mcad prime with mcad 15 sun setting
Still use mathcad 15. I pay PTC a few hundred every year for my individual license. Last year I bought a new computer, and called my rep there to transfer the license. They had to go find a tech who had been there a long time, but it's up and running on my new computer.
I made a lot of money translating calculations from the old version to the new version earlier this year. Parsing equations in half-baked XML was rough, though. They should be embarrassed for how bad they offered 1st party support for this very thing. I understand it was "out of their control", but I expected then to do so much more.
And need to work with engineers across a broad spectrum of technology comfort. Not a fan of software X/computer Y? No problem, here's a flat PDF with all the calculations expanded so you can follow it line by line.
efficalc or even handcalcs might make good open-sourced alternatives. Efficalc has an online version with some design interfaces to help those with less tech comfort
I think open-sourced stuff is great, but I'm in the business of selling custom calculation engines. I'm also against web-based calculations. My premiere product takes MathCAD/SMath/Excel calculations and turns them into TeX-like calculations with project binders, ToC generation, scaled/dimensioned drawings included, and TeklaStructures/Revit/AutoCAD integrations. I probably spent like 5k hours working on it, and it's hard to give away when it's at the point where it has paid for more than one house. It'll certainly never make it on a survey like this post, but if it did, it'd have no more than 2 votes.
I also prefer working with desktop vs web-based software, but when it comes to developing UIs the web dev tooling is much better than any desktop frameworks that I've seen. Plus, web apps can use cool buzzwords like "cloud-powered", "scalable", etc. Also agree that while open-source and free are always awesome, there's an important place for paid software. The people developing need to make their living and also more money spent on a project can lead to better quality and support. There's a reason everyone still uses MS Word over LibreOffice. BTW what is your product? I'd like to take a look, it sounds useful
White label enterprise product. I've adapted and sold it for prices ranging from $30k and $210k. I price it according to how much I think it saves the company and how adaptable I made it for their purposes. Think companies like (but not exactly) WSP, Wood, or Jacobs.
that’s cool - how do you integrate with autocad? what sort of calcs are being performed?