Introduction
Use the Main Menu command File | New to start a new project, single design section or single design beam.
Project
A project typically contains a set of Materials, a Structural Model and any number of Design Sections or Design Beams which can be assigned to the members of the structural model. In addition to the structure geometry, the project will typically contain other Structural Analysis components, typically Basic Loads, Compilations, and Envelopes.
The design sections and beams can be assigned as Structure Properties in one of two ways:
| Linked Design Section Or Beam | A single design section or beam, saved as a standalone file, can be linked to multiple projects to allow for re-use. |
| Embedded Design Section Or Beam | One or more design sections or beams can be created and designed wholly within a project rather than linked to an external file. |
A linked design object can easily be converted to an embedded design object (right-click on the object and choose the Break Link command) and visa versa (choose the Link command).
Single Design Section
A Design Section defined using File | New | Single Design Section is a standalone section which could be linked to one or more projects.
Single Design Beam
A Design Beam defined using File | New | Single Design Beam is a standalone beam which could be linked to one or more projects.
Workflows
The following topics detail typical workflows:
Integrated Analysis and Design Workflow
Data Preparation Overview - Refined Analysis
Data Preparation Overview - Line Beam
By selecting the following options from the Main Menu toolbar, the start-up options can be configured:
| Design Code | Allows the current code checking and design to |
| Company Identity | The organisation details entered here are stored in the registry. |
User Interface
The following topics cover user interface components