Shell Element Designer 5.0: automated reinforcement zoning
Version 5.0 zones reinforcement automatically with mathematical optimisation, adds a Results page for very large models, and checks your input files as you select them.
Shell Element Designer 5.0 completes the journey from analysis results to buildable reinforcement. Where 4.1 let you draw reinforcement regions by hand, 5.0 proposes them for you.
Automated reinforcement zoning
The Reinforcement Applicator can now zone a whole structure automatically. It searches a catalogue of real bar layouts for the optimum that meets every element’s demand, and you steer the result with three balance dials:
- Save steel: minimise surplus provision above demand.
- Fewer marks: minimise the number of distinct bar layouts.
- Buildability: prefer aligned spacings between neighbouring zones.
You can browse every layout the structure can be built with, see bar-mark labels on the canvas, and adjust any zone by hand afterwards. Elements that no permitted layout can satisfy are never patched silently; they are named and need your consent.
A Results page for large models
The new Results page reads a results file of any size and answers the questions a reviewer asks first: which element governs, the top five, how many exceed a limit, and the full row for any one element. Every summary is tied to the file’s fingerprint, so it always refers to exactly one version of one run.
Input files checked as you go
Select your element, forces and node files and the software checks them in the background, giving a plain-language verdict for each file and across the set before you press Process.
Towards BIM
Reinforcement models export as real bars in 3D to IFC4, with every file read back and verified before it is handed over. Tekla export and automatic checking drawings are in beta.
5.0 is a free upgrade for all customers. See automated zoning on the product page.
