Course 4: Microstran

Model, analyze, and design with our diverse general purpose structural analysis application with built-in steel member and connection design. Efficiently model, analyze, and design with Microstran, our diverse general-purpose structural analysis application with built-in steel member and connection design. You can increase your profitability and productivity by designing smarter and faster with powerful modeling commands, exceptionally fast solvers, and vast file format interoperability. You can easily investigate alternative designs and quickly incorporate design change requests thanks to our built-in steel member and connection design. Confidently perform nonlinear and buckling analysis, integrated steel connection design, and export your model to the engineering format of your choice.

Capabilities

  • Analyze gravity and lateral load
    • Design and analyze simple or complex structures for a wide range of loading conditions, including those induced by gravity such as dead and live loads, including skip conditions, in combination with lateral loads including wind and seismic.
  • Comply with seismic requirements
    • Design and detail seismic force-resisting systems, generating seismic loads according to the relevant building code. Consider these forces in the design of elements and, where applicable, the design of frames and the larger structural system. Enforce the ductility requirements of the selected design code in element proportioning and detailing.
  • Design and analyze with finite elements
    • Complete building analysis, design, and drafting for the entire structure accurately and efficiently using our state-of-the-art finite element analysis. Reduce or eliminate the time spent waiting for results using our fast solvers.
  • Design cold-formed steel members
    • Design light gauge steel members using a comprehensive cold-formed sections library without needing to use a separate special-purpose application.
  • Design lateral resisting frames
    • Perform extensive building-code checks for seismic and wind forces on braced frames and moment frames. Quickly obtain safe and reliable designs for all of your structural projects.
  • Design to international standards
    • Extend the reach of your business practice and take advantage of global design opportunities by using a wide range of international standards and specifications in our design products. Complete your designs with confidence thanks to extensive support of international standards.
  • Generate design loads and load combinations
    • Apply code-prescribed wind and seismic loads to the structure using built-in load generators. Calculate relevant loading parameters automatically based on the structural geometry, mass, and selected building code provisions without the need for separate hand calculations. Combine these lateral load cases with gravity and other types of loads using load combination generators.
  • Integrate steel connection designs
    • Design structural steel connections within a single integrated environment. Transfer joint geometry, member sizes, and joint forces from the 3D analysis directly to the steel connection design application. This allows for efficient reuse of information and reduces the amount of rework required when the structure changes.
  • Produce structural design documentation
    • Generate structural design documents including necessary plans and elevations that are used to convey the design intent. Changes made to the 3D model are automatically updated in the documentation.
  • Share structural models

Transfer structural model geometry and design results from one application to another and synchronize changes over time. Quickly share the structural model, drawings, and information with the entire team for review.