Bentley Structural Modeller > Data Reporting > Watchit notes about the tools

The reporting spreadsheet includes a number of weight related columns, the data for which is extracted as below:

•Unit weight – Extracted from the optional unit weight value entered with that section size in the ‘Structural Shapes Explorer’. Since it is optional in the shapes file, if this column is blank, refer to the Shapes Explorer section for details on how to fill this in. This unit weight generally accounts for weight including fillet radius.

•Length – Extracted from the ‘placement line’ of the Structural member, which means that the length does not account for any coping, or cutbacks applied to the ends of the member..

•Weight (Len x Unit weight) – Derived from the two items above, this figure therefore gives a weight derived from the catalogue specified unit weight, but not accounting for any cutbacks, nor feature cuts along the beam.

•Volume – Derived from the ‘as modelled’ volume of the element. This volume does account for cutbacks, copes and other feature cuts, but it does not account for fillet radius volumes, nor rounded corners of Rectangular Hollow Sections or similar.

•Density – Derived from the ‘Reporting Components’ associated with the elements ‘Part’ in the dataset. If this column is blank, the dataset may not have a Reporting Component associated with the Part. (Note, the column may only display 0.000, even though it contains a value like 0.0000875, click in the cell to confirm)

•Weight (Vol x Density) - Derived from the two items above, this weight therefore accounts for cutbacks and feature cuts, but does not account for fillet radius etc.

As you can see, that means due to the data available and the modelling methods, it’s impossible to get a 100% accurate weight value. The two methods should produce values which are at least similar to each other.

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Weight columns