‘GEO Member’ tools (User defined sections for Structural members) |
  
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‘GEO Member’ tools (User defined sections for Structural members) |
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As delivered, Bentley Structural is capable of using approximately 30 different section shapes for the placement of a ‘structural member’. Prior to CADtools Microstation version 2.2.1 (Sept 2008) any other beam/column cross section required manual modelling, which often resulted in beams/columns in the model that did not resymbolise or behave the same as other members.
The ‘GEO member’ tools extend the native Bentley capability by allow CADtools users to sketch a cross section (using lines and arcs only), save a description of that cross section to the Structural Shapes file, and then place and modify member using that cross section.
The term ‘GEO’ comes from the string based description used to store the section definition in the Structural shapes file. For cross sections using lines only, this is the same ‘GEO’ format as used by Oasys GSA. For cross sections using arc elements, the GEO description has been extended, and will not be GSA compatible.
It is expected that ‘GEO’ members will only be used where absolutely necessary, and that Bentley will release a more comprehensive mechanism for supporting user defined sections, although that is not expected for at least 8-12 months.
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