Prosteel Connections

[geostructures]

Just purchased Prosteel (5.40k) and having difficulty in getting the connections module to run. I have two steel beams in my data that have been designed and I want to connect them, but when clicking on the 'Connections' tab and then 'Add Connection' I continually get a dialog box with information unrelated to the two beam sizes ending with 'calculations cannot be done for the reason above'. Clicking 'Edit' does nothing and the same dialog box comes up for all three types of connections, no matter how many times I try.

Maybe I am stupid, but I have read the instructions and tried all sorts of things but cannot get the connections to run. :(

Anyone out there come up against the same problem and found an answer?

[Tony Bryer]

Apologies, I overlooked this. The 'Connection cannot be done' message is displayed when one or more if the dimensions entered makes the connection impossible. Typical examples would be where the length of angle cleats or height of a fin plate is greater than that of the supported beam's depth below fillets or where the number of bolts and their spacing cannot be accommodated within the given plate/cleat length. Note that correcting one error may give rise to another - for example if you reduce the bolt spacing so that the bolts fit, you may then get a further error saying that the bolts are now too closely spaced. Particularly with smaller beams it may take a little trial and error to end up with a spec that works.

Note that all ProSteel's connection routines are taken from the SCI 'Green Book' and there will be other designs that fall outside this but will be satisfactory; they will though need to be checked using another program or manually.

'Green Book' details can be found on our book page (http://www.superbeam.co.uk/booklist.htm) - if you're using ProSteel's connection routines you really should have a copy.

[geostructures]

Dear Tony

Many thanks for your reply.

Yes, I understand beams to be joined have to be 'physically' possible, and as a check it is not me (I hope) I created a dummy set of beams based on an example from the 'Green Book, in this case a 610x226x140 UB with incoming 406x178x74 UB. Alas, the end plate dialog said the factored shear was zero(!), and insisted I was trying to join a 178x102x19 UB to the web of a 152UC37 none of which appear in my data. The same response resulted when clicking the fin plate and web cleat options.

If it helps to know, on loading the program a warning cropped up saying it was 'Unable to execute the file PSReadMe.htm' and pointing to the file location on my hard drive with the added information 'ShellExecuteEx Failed: code 1156. An error occurred sending the command to the application'. However, everything seems to run fine except the connection module. Thinking the program had somehow got into a loop when trying to run the connections, I uninstalled ProSteel and flushed out all instances of the program in the registry (dangerous but I was desperate at this stage) - but to no avail. The same error and inability to run the module remains.

The splice module is OK.

I am running Windows 7 (64-bit) and the OS is up to date.

Very frustrating.:(

Regards

[Tony Bryer]

I have worked through the process here, ProSteel 5.40k on a Windows 7 64-bit machine. To check a standalone connection (i.e. not one between two members already added to the project) the process is as follows:
Press the 'Add Connection' button and then select the connection type The connection dialog will be displayed. Enter the factored load being carried by the connection in the field at the top Select the top item on the LH list box, then press the 'Change section' button and select the supported member Select the connection type 'to beam web' etc Select the supporting member as for the supported one Press 'Apply': this will instantiate the connection with default dimensions etc. You will probably see one or more dimensional errors Click on the second tab and change the data as necessary


I could get your result, but only by pressing 'Close' instead of 'Apply' at step 6 above and then 'Abandon changes'.

Please come back if you still have problems.

[geostructures]

Thanks for continuing to look into my problem.

However, I could only get as far as item 1 of your instructions before I hit trouble again.

When I click on 'Add Connection' and select one of the three connection options I am immediately presented with the 'Cannot be done' window. I don't even get to see the connection dialog giving me the chance to input a load, change section, etc.

I have uninstalled and installed the program several times to no avail. However, I have just uninstalled it again and installed it on a different laptop of mine running Windows 7 (32-bit) and everything is fine! I am at a loss as to what is going on in trying to get it to run properly on my preferred 'workhorse' laptop as there seems nothing wrong with the program. Damn annoying to say the least! :mad:

[Tony Bryer]

I think I may have the answer to this one. My hunch is that the connection edit dialog positions have been stored incorrectly so that when the edit dialog is displayed it appears (or rather doesn't appear) off screen.

To check this, select Configuration, User Setup then the File Names and Locations tab. Put the mouse cursor over the User Settings File entry, then right click and select View. Find the [ProSteel 5] section, then the ConnEdit Left and ConnEdit Top entries (the entries are in alphabetical order). If the corresponding values are greater than the screen width or height the dialog won't be visible.

In the next release (due shortly, we are waiting for a fix to the PDF generation code from the suppplier) I will ensure that this is checked and fixed automatically if necessary. In the meantime, if you are reasonably computer literate, the fix is to load the settings file (name and location as per the dialog entry) into Windows Notepad and change both of these entries to (say) 100 and 100, which will ensure the dialog is visible.

[geostructures]

Dear Tony

Bingo! Sorted! Very many thanks for that 'fix'.

If it helps to know, my laptop screen size is a 17" job so perhaps this may have confused ProSteel although I would have thought dialog sizing would be automatic at set up, reading whatever limits it has to read from the operating system. But what do I know?

For those following this thread but not sure whether to buy Superbeam and/or ProSteel, go for it! I got my money back on both programs in my first job, as well as earning some extra valued leisure time. :)

Kind regards

Geostructures
(yep, a geotechnical and structural engineer)

[Tony Bryer]

Glad to know it's sorted and thank you for your kind comments.