VisualAnalysis

There are two ways that VisualAnalysis and VisualFoundation can work together to help you solve problems. The tools are not completely integrated or interactive. VisualAnalysis is installed and licensed separately from VisualFoundation by IES. See Also: Foundation Design video in the VisualAnalysis help file.

1. You can Import from VisualAnalysis using the Foundation Design feature in that product.
2. VisualFoundation can create a VisualAnalysis project file, using File | Export to VisualAnalysis.

Export from VisualAnalysis to VisualFoundation

Foundation Design allows you to export geometry and reactions from VisualAnalysis to set up a mat footing in VisualFoundation. You may quickly generate a footing geometry for one or more columns from the VisualAnalysis project. The column locations are automatically imported and the reaction forces from VisualAnalysis service load cases are brought into VisualFoundation as loads. Foundations created in VisualAnalysis (using the Create Foundation (for VisualFoundation) feature are kept simple, omitting detailed FEA modeling of the mat foundation (just supported nodes). VisualFoundation provides foundation-specific checks and targeted design support from VisualFoundation. For more details, please refer to the VisualAnalysis help.

What are the Limitations of Foundation Design from VisualAnalysis?

• Your support nodes must lie in a plane
• You cannot create a multi-part footing or multi-thickness footing directly from within VisualAnalysis
• You cannot edit or update the Foundation from VisualAnalysis. If you try to Design the foundation again it will simply create a new project in VisualFoundation, each time you choose the command.
• You cannot open any VisualFoundation project you created (either from VA or not) and somehow update VisualAnalysis with changes you make. The design integration is strictly an export from VisualAnalysis to VisualFoundation.
• If you create a multi-part footing in VisualFoundation, only the outside boundary is shown in VisualAnalysis.
• The details of the foundation are not shown or reported in VisualAnalysis, just a pretty picture and a thickness.
• You cannot choose when VisualAnalysis is updated from VisualFoundation: it happens when you exit VisualFoundation (and only if it was launched from within VA).

Using the .VAP Files Created by VisualFoundation

You can use the VisualAnalysis project file created by VisualFoundation to start a more sophisticated finite element analysis of your foundation using VisualAnalysis. You might use this project file to perform a dynamic analysis. VisualAnalysis also provides more advanced capabilities for or flexibility in modeling unusual situations. The VisualAnalysis could also help you understand what VisualFoundation does for you behind the scenes in building the model to analyze. A current version of VisualAnalysis is required.

VAConnect

VisualFoundation can export your column-loads to VAConnect for a steel-column base plate design. After defining all your loads, select the pier(s) in the Model & Loads view, and use the toolbar or context menu command.