VisualAnalysis

Modeling & Analysis

VisualAnalysis is a powerful, easy to use, frame and finite-element analysis tool. With an intuitive point & click interface.

MODEL * LOAD * ANALYZE * DESIGN * REPORT * SUCCEED!

VisualAnalysis is easy to learn for projects small or large and is the best value in the industry with reasonable license costs, unlimited model size, a money-back guarantee, and free technical support. IES Customers are solving real-world problems everyday with VisualAnalysis.

Work faster and easier with our flexible modeling methods.

• Analyze projects large and small, simple or advanced.
• Superb graphics provide you with a competitive edge.
• Professional reports help build your reputation and facilitate checking.
• Support for current building codes (IBC 2006, CBC 2007)

Optional Design

Integrated Design (code checks) for steel, wood, concrete and cold-formed steel is optional. You may purchase VisualAnalysis with or without the design features, if this ability is not important for your work. Click the 'Extras' tab above for more information.

VisualAnalysis Philosophy

VisualAnalysis was created for engineers, like you, who want to focus on engineering, not fighting or deciphering software. IES engineers have crafted this tool with these goals in mind:

• Just enough features, avoid software "bloat", which makes it cumbersome.
• Follow Microsoft usability guidelines for immediate productivity.
• Use everyday engineering terms rather than software jargon.
• Make common things trivially easy, other things possible.
• Error messages are polite and informative.
• Built-in error prevention and validation to promote correct results.

Feature List

VisualAnalysis comes in 3 levels: VisualAnalysis, VisualAnalysis with Design*, and VisualAnalysis Aadvanced with Design**. Certain features are marked to indicate the level required. See also the VisualAnalysis level comparison chart.

• *with Design
• **Advanced with Design

Table of Contents

• Modeling
• Loading
• Analyzing
• Result Reporting
• Integration
• Design* (details on a separate page!)
• System Requirements
• We Don't do That

Modeling

Structure Types

• Plane Frame
• Plane Truss (pure)
• Plane Grid
• Space Frame
• Space Truss (pure)

Elements

• Beam or Truss
  • Prismatic, parametric or database shapes
  • Tapered* (single or double tapers, web depth only)
  • Centerline offsets
  • Optional shear-deformations
  • Beta/Theta angle rotations
  • Linear (2-way), compression or tension-only
  • Axial, shear, moment forces and stresses reported
  • Deflections reported
  • Physical members (combined or continuous) elements
• Plate / Shell
  • 3-node triangles (DST)
  • 4-node quadrilaterals (6-d.o.f. per node, with drilling)
  • warping shapes and behavior
  • thick plate behavior (transverse shear deformations)
  • automatic meshing abilities
  • bending and membrane behaviors
  • local, global, and principle stresses reported
• Cables**
  • True catenary shape
  • Pre-tensioned by specifying length
  • Cables may be split to attach hangers

Nodes & Supports

• Cartesian, polar, cylindrical, or spherical coordinates
• Fix or Free any degree of freedom
• Easily specify typical support conditions (e.g., pinned, roller, etc.)
• Elastic spring supports for translation or rotation in any d.o.f.
• Compression-only soil-spring generation

Shapes

• Parametric: Rectangle, Square, Round, Pipe, I-Beam, Channel, Angle
• Database
  • AISC Steel (W, C, HSS, L, 2L, more...)
  • Canadian CISC Steel
  • British Steel
  • NDS Wood (SS, RS, FS, Glu-lam, Timbers, Posts, more...)
  • AA Aluminum
  • Cables
  • AISI Cold-Formed (HUD, LGSI, SSMA)
• Customizable through ShapeBuilder
• Import libraries using ShapeBuilder

Materials

• Database of common building materials
• Create custom materials

Connections

• Simple (hinge)
• Rigid (fixed)
• Semi-rigid** (linear, bilinear, or power model)
• Panel-zone**
• Rigid Diaphragms** (nodal constraints)

Model Generation

• Create objects by dialog box
• Sketch model graphically
• Copy & Paste existing objects
• Import/Export DXF files
• Import from Clipboard
• Import from STD, SDNF, or POL text files
• Customizable parametric generation
• Enter values in any unit system, customizable and smart unit handling.
• Enter mathematical expressions anywhere a value is expected.
  
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Loading

Load Cases

• Built-in automatic creation of load cases for IBC 2006 sources (D, L, W, S, E, etc.)
• Directional wind and seismic load sources
• Customizable and manual load case generation

Load Combinations

• Built-in, automatic building-code load combinations
• ASCE 7 Wind & Seismic combinations
• Customizable building-code definitions (e.g. for AASHTO or others)
• Override or add custom load combinations to the system
• Support multiple building codes or combinations in the same model

Static Loads

• Nodal forces, moments, displacements (settlements) or rotations.
• Member concentrated, uniform, linear (trapezoidal) loads
• Member local or global directions, projected loads.
• Area Loads
• Plate uniform, linear, hydrostatic, or warped pressure loads
• Thermal loads on members or plates
• Generation of member tributary area loads on floors, roof systems or walls.
• Automatic inclusion of model self-weight, may be factored in any direction.
• Rigid Diaphragm Loads**

Dynamic Loads

• Predefined UBC and IBC response spectra, customization wizard.
• Seismic base accelerations or displacements.
• Harmonic or scaled forcing functions for time-history analysis**
• Additional nodal (lumped) mass may be defined
• Specified static load case or combination as mass for response analysis.

Moving Loads**

• Custom truck definition with multiple axles.
• Optional lane-load application with truck for worst-case effect.
• Influence lines calculated
• Extremes (envelope) calculated with truck location
  
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Analysis

Analysis Engine

• State-of-the-art, proprietary analysis engine built upon the fastest available, proven numerical libraries.
• High quality error reports--that you can read, to diagnose problems at a high level.
• High performance engine with background analysis support for maximum engineer productivity. (Performance up to 6-times faster than in VisualAnalysis 4.0 for typical building frames.)
• Advanced checking abilities to perform statics checks and other consistency checks to reduce engineer error.
• Customizable performance vs. accuracy settings.
• Customizable iteration limits and nonlinear tolerance settings.

Static Analysis

• Static, linear analysis
• Iterated, static nonlinear analysis (one-way elements, cables)
• Frame instability (2nd order P-Delta)

Dynamic Analysis

• Mode shape (fundamental frequencies) using the very robust Sparse Lanzcos algorithms.
• Response (modal superposition) analysis utilizing CQC (with damping) or SRSS methods. Code-defined design spectra or custom input.*
• Nonlinear time-history analysis using numerical integration and the Newmark (linear acceleration) method, with damping and time-step controls.**

Superposition Results**

• Advanced superposition results are available for locating worst-case extremes and combining results that cannot be obtained through normal analysis procedures.
  • Superimpose results from distinct nonlinear analysis runs
  • Add static and dynamic analysis results together
  • Combine enveloped results

  
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Result Reporting

Graphical Results

• Most results can be displayed graphically 'on-frame' including displaced shapes, moments, shears, and axial forces and stresses
• Detailed moment, shear, and deflection diagrams, customizable.
• Detailed plate result plots with contour lines or colors, customizable.
• Various specialized graphical plots (response spectra, concrete column interaction, etc.) are also available.
• Anything you can see, you can print (or import into a report to save or print).
• Named views, powerful regular-expression filters, smart-planes, zooming and panning features all combine to make it easy to find results graphically.

Text Results

• Tabular or summary reports of all input data and output information
• Customizable report styles, headers, and footers
• Many report filters and options for creating professional reports.
• Save reports to a variety of formats
• Copy & Paste into or from reports.
• Reports may include graphical images

• Bill of Materials Report

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Integration

File Formats

• VAP: The normal proprietary format for saving project input and output, quick and reliable.
• POL: Legacy text-based input format, provided for backward compatibility and also useful for merging or data exchange with other non-IES tools.
• DXF: Standard 'drawing exchange' format, provided by Autodesk for CAD work. Limited geometry & connectivity import and export. Good for getting basic models into and out of VisualAnalysis.
• STD: The STAAD scripting language, documented on the Internet. VisualAnalysis supports key features for importing and exporting models and loads.
• SDNF: Steel Detailing Neutral File format, useful for exporting models to a steel detailing package.
• RTF: Reports may be saved in Rich Text Format for import into a word processor or simply for archival purposes.
• TXT: Reports may be saved in plain ASCII text format for use in just about any application.
• CSV: Reports may be saved in comma delimited format for importing into a spreadsheet or database tool.
• XLS: Reports may be save directly into MS Excel spreadsheet format for further post-processing work.**

Clipboard Formats

• Text: Model and load information may be exported to or imported from a plain ASCII text format on the clipboard. (Format is similar to POL or STD file formats).
• Bitmap: Any graphical image on the screen can be exported as a bitmap image to the clipboard through Edit | Copy, or the PrtScn key). Images may be pasted directly into VisualAnalysis reports or almost any other Windows program.

IES Applications

• Utilizes custom or imported member shapes and materials created using ShapeBuilder.
• Exports footing loads to QuickRFooting for design.

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System Requirements

Software

• Recommended: Microsoft Windows XP (32-bit)
• Windows Vista (32-bit)
• Not tested: XP 64-bit, Vista 64-bit
• Not supported: Windows 98, ME, 2000, NT, or anything else...

Hardware

• Any CPU that runs XP or Vista.
• 512 MB RAM minimum, 1 GB RAM for Vista
• 1024x768 Display or better.
• Recommended: A high-quality graphics card, 128 MB RAM, OpenGL support, with updated drivers.
• Wheel-mouse (recommended), 2-button mouse (minimum)
• ~50 MB disk space for programs, program data, utilities and libraries.
• Typical project files range from 1K to 1MB, much larger files are created with saved analysis results.
• Internet connection required for some features.

We Don't do That

VisualAnalysis tries to handle what most engineers need, and what most IES customers have requested over the years. There are limitations in VisualAnalysis! (Please see the VisualAnalysis Philosopy of the Overview tab.) If you need these (or other) features, please let us know...

• Not an 'ANSYS' or 'NASTRAN'; VisualAnalysis is practical, down-to-earth friendly!
• Not a 'turn-key' system for building or truss design. You decide the layout, pick initial member sizes, etc. (No automatic total structural optimizaton.)
• Does not run inside or integrated with AutoCAD (or any other CAD tool)
• No internal pipe pressures.
• No orthotropic materials (linear isotropic only)
• No solid (brick) elements
• No curved beams (you may simulate through 'chords')
• No ice-loading (say for transmission towers).
• No staged loading
• No buckling analysis, plastic analysis, pushover analysis
• No pre-stressed or post-tensioned concrete design.
• No AASHTO bridge design
  

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VisualAnalysis Levels

VisualAnalysis comes in three levels so that you can purchase only the features you need to get your work done. View the detailed VisualAnalysis Level Comparison.

• VisualAnalysis: 3D, plates/shells; static, modal, and response spectrum analysis...
• VisualAnalysis with Design: Code checks, member sizing, AISC, NDS, ACI, AISI...
• VisualAnalysis Advanced with Design: Cables, semi-rigid connections, time-history...

Design Feature Details

• Design: Code checks for steel, concrete, wood, cold-formed steel and more.

Link to Revit^® Structure 2009

This tool links VisualAnalysis to Autodesk Revit^® Structure for full BIM (Building Information Modeling) support. VARevitLink is an add-in tool for Revit^® Structure that can import or export models through VisualAnalysis Project Files (.vap).

Features

The VARevitLink offers a two-way exchange of information between VisualAnalysis (advanced level) and Revit Structure 2009. You can export the "analytical model" from Revit Structure, including the locations and sizes of beams, columns, walls, slabs, etc. You can import from VisualAnalysis any design changes you make to the model including size changes on members.

Product Information

This tool is sold separately and may be installed on a machine that does not have VisualAnalysis, so that the Revit experts in your company can import export to or from VisualAnalysis projects and your VisualAnalysis experts can do what they need to do. If you are doing both, then you can have all the components installed on a single machine.

Resources: Movies & Tutorials

IES is continuously supporting VisualAnalysis and customers using this tool. While we ship the software with many tutorials (Help | Quick Start Tutorials), we are regularly adding supplementary tutorials as customers have questions or we have time. We have also put together some demonstration movies that you can watch online to see how easy the software is to use or to demonstrate specific techniques or features.