CADrebar can be configured for specific projects. This can be useful when the CAD standards for a particular project require the use of different layer names, text styles etc. The CADrebar.ini file is placed within the project folder structure and modified to suit. CADrebar will then use this file in preference to your standard CADrebar.ini file.

Project folder location: <ProjectSettings.txt>\Settings\RcDetailing\CADrebar.ini

Developed specifically for the T5 project at Heathrow, CADrebar now has the ability to export a bar schedule in CSF file format, providing compatibility with ARMA+ and allowing for immediate rebar fabrication.

This routine automates incremental revision notes. It positions the new revision above the previous one, increments the revision letter or number, and word wraps the revision description on to as many lines as required. Used in conjunction with CADbatch you can automate the revision process for a batch of drawings.

Press the <Esc> key to clear the current selection (of nodes, elements, polyline etc.) when in the corresponding selection mode. If there is no selection in the current selection mode or the cursor mode is not a selection mode then <Esc> clears all selections. Therefore <Esc><Esc> always clears all selections.

In order to apply loads to a grid plane GSA has to identify panels (enclosed regions) in the grid plane. The panel identification will fail where there are strings of element that do not form closed or form twisted panels. (Twisted panels are caused by elements which cross over each other.) In cases such as this where these elements are a correct part of the model, the element list in the grid plane can be used to exclude the elements from the panel identification.

The message:

"Error. SHARE.EXE was not loaded, or a shared region was locked"

-displayed when attempting to open a GWA file in GSA usually means that the GWA file is currently open in another program such as Excel.

If you select elements by dragging from the left towards the right around the elements then only those elements entirely within the rectangle are selected; dragging from the right towards the left selects any element partly within the rectangle. For this purpose the selection points of an element are the node positions and the centre.

Copy ('Edit | Copy' or Ctrl+C) in Graphics Views behaves differently depending on the current cursor mode:

• When in node or element selection mode the current selection is copied to the clip-board in 'list' format. The list may then be pasted into any field requiring a list, e.g. to specify nodes or elements in a loading record.
• Otherwise the current image is copied to the clip-board in both WMF and bitmap formats. The image may then be pasted into another program, e.g. Word or Paint. The receiving program determines which format to take from the clip-board, e.g. Paint takes the bitmap whereas, by default, Word takes the WMF image.

The Add Elements Sculpt Tool allows you to create any type of element graphically. First set the element type under Element Defaults on the Defaults tab of the Object Viewer then click on as many nodes as are required for the element type. E.g. click on four nodes to specify a new Quad4 element. If a node does not exist at the position you click and if the grid is displayed then a new node will be created at the clicked position on the grid (i.e. at the coordinates shown in the status bar at the time you click).

There are two ways of specifying a spring support at a node:

• You can assign support stiffnesses for the node on the Supports tab of the Nodes table. The stiffnesses act in the constraint axis directions for the node.
• You can attach a Ground Spring element to the node. The stiffnesses of the Ground Spring and the axis directions in which these stiffnesses act are specified in the spring property for the Ground Spring.

Diagrams are drawn for an entity (node or element) when that entity is displayed and not when the entity is excluded. Unfortunately grid loads are not associated with entities. The only way that you can exclude grid loads is by using volumes to exclude the reference point for the load. The reference points are defined as follows:

• Grid point loads: the position of the load
• Grid line loads: the centroid of the points defining the load
• Grid area loads defined by polygon: the centroid of the polygon
• Grid area loads defined by plane: the origin of the grid plane to which the load is applied

Even though only one Poisson's ration, Uxy, is specified in the fabric material table, different Poisson's ratios for the warp and weft directions are used. The other Poisson's ratio, Uyx, is obtained from the following equation:

Uxy*Ex = Uyx*Ey

Acrobat Writer v4.0 inverts the Arup logo at the top of printed output. If you upgrade to Acrobat 5.0 this problem should disappear, or try one of the freeware pdf creators available on the Internet.

Data format for springs has been changed for Safe 17.9 versions from 17.8.4. Spring data is now split into Global and Run data. Global data, once entered, cannot be edited or deleted. The available springs are set to Active or Inactive in each run. The Global data cannot be edited because any results accumulated in various runs would then not be correct for the changed stiffnesses. To change spring properties, de-activate the springs you no longer want then create new springs with the new properties and activate them in the required runs.

Tunset takes the volume loss to be volume loss per unit horizontal length. However, the user generally inputs volume loss per unit length of tunnel which means that for inclined tunnels total volume loss, and hence settlement, are underestimated. Without modifying the Tunset code it is possible to divide the volume loss per unit length of tunnel by the angle of inclination of the tunnel to get the volume loss per unit horizontal length and input this into the program. The Tunset calculation will then be correct.

It is not possible to apply this correction to vertical shafts since the horizontal length is zero so settlements are always calculated as zero. The workaround is to make the shaft almost vertical (say 89 degrees) and apply the corrected volume loss.

Alp 17.9.0 shows the soil boundaries 1 node too low, i.e if the top node in stratum 2 is node 6, the soil boundary will be shown midway between nodes 6 and 7. Fixed for release in December.

Don't forget Frew calcs are now in double precision. This means the persistent problem of residual bending moments below the wall should no longer occur.