AEC TECH NEWS: SCIA Engineer 17 boosts productivity for structural engineers

Herk-de-Stad, Belgium — SCIA released SCIA Engineer 17, specifically designed to help structural engineers boost their productivity by enabling them to work much faster, with more precision and transparency in their day-to-day work. The new version of the structural analysis and design software combines the latest technologies to power the software with a large number of functionalities and major workflow improvements in the areas of concrete, steel, composite, BIM, load generators and overall usability. Additionally, SCIA Engineer 17 is the first version incorporating the top three enhancements collectively selected by SCIA customers.

“Structural engineers are under a constant pressure to deliver great and safe results of structural work in the least amount of time possible. This often requires tackling many priorities while being under a lot of stress. We focused this release on relieving some of that pressure and giving structural engineers the tool that truly helps them in their day-to-day work,” said Hilde Sevens, CEO at SCIA.

“Boosted productivity, speed, transparency, precision and economical design – that is what SCIA Engineer 17 stands for,” said Cyril Heck, chief product and marketing officer at SCIA. “We deliver increased speed through both full support of multi-processing in our Eurocodes design and optimization of the workflows. For example, we cut the number of steps needed to calculate long-term deflections from eight to four, saving many unnecessary clicks. In addition, the total calculation of long-term deflections is now 4.3 times faster than in the previous version. In steel design, we implemented the SEMI-COMP+ research for more economical design, saving up to 15 percent of material in slender sections. And those are only a few examples of what SCIA Engineer users can look forward to.”

The new functionalities and tools in SCIA Engineer 17 include:

Concrete design:

• Practical, fast and transparent design workflows for 1D and 2D elements
• Design and check of punching shear reinforcement for slabs and foundations according to the safety concept of the Eurocode EN 1992-1-1
• Fast and reliable calculation of code dependent deflections in beams and slabs simultaneously
• Implemented national annexes for Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, Spain and Cyprus
• Updated material libraries for British BS EN-NA, Austrian ONORM – EN NA, Irish IS-EN NA and German DIN -EN NA

Steel and composite design:

• Intelligent section classification, even for more complex shapes
• More economical design for semi-compact steel sections of class 3, based on the SEMI-COMP+ research reports, saving up to 15 percent of material
• Detailed graphical outputs and customizable reports
• Support of Westok cellular beams
• Rigid in-plane diaphragms combined with tributary-area distribution for gravity loads
• Implementation of new steel codes AISC 360-16 and AISI S100-16 and improved workflow for composite design

BIM:

• Upgraded Revit link with smart mapping capabilities
• Direct launch of SCIA Engineer from within the Allplan menu and an automatic import of the model to SCIA Engineer
• Next generation task management with the connection to Allplan’s bim+ cloud platform
• Load generators:
• Distribution of loads from load panels to supporting beams using Tributary areas method
• Support of parapets and protruding roofs in the 3D wind load generator

Load generators:

• Distribution of loads from load panels to supporting beams using Tributary areas method
• Support of parapets and protruding roofs in the 3D wind load generator