SuperBeam: 2004 changes

Release 4.40j, 30 Nov 2004

Key changes:

1. In 4.40i we inadvertently changed the beam span validation check from >=0 to >0 thus stopping the entry of 0 (true cantilever) - fixed.
2. The presentation of calculations for true cantilever members have been revised slightly (e.g. length now described as 'Length', not 'Span')
3. For beams extended as cantilevers using total load entry, the actual maximum deflection on the span is now calculated: previously the mid-span deflection was calculated. The latter is still calculated for Dead+Live load entry so that both LL and total load deflections are being calculated at the same point
4. We have reduced the number of decimal places shown on printouts in a number of cases so that spurious accuracy is not implied.
5. The load colour selected in the Beam Diagram Options dialog was not visible on XP systems - fixed
6. When an OLE page was printed from within the Print Project option the omit page heading option was ignored - fixed

Release 4.40i, 16 Nov 2004

1. The beam load, steel column and timber post load edit dialogs now display a hint panel below the load entry table which shows the input required in the currently selected field. This should be of particular help to new and occasional users.
2. When using total load entry the steel column dead/live percentages were lost on save and reload - fixed
3. With a lightly loaded timber beam, when you asked the program to calculate the required width you could get an answer of ? ? - fixed.
4. The Beam, Span and Bring forward reaction, load position fields now have spin buttons.
5. If you try and save a project and the existing file is read-only a message to this effect is now displayed, giving you the option of overwriting the existing file. Previously you just got a 'Could not create backup' message - the non-obvious workaround was just to save your project under another name.
6. The Project Manager item description now includes the beam span or column or post length.
7. The Project Manager and Toolbar fonts can nowbe changed using the Configuration, Screen and Printer fonts option
8. The Catalogue Project Files option now immediately displays a list of files with 'Open' buttons next to each file name. Press the 'Change' button to change the file mask.

Release 4.40h, 26 July 2004

1. If you selected 'User defined' for a steel beam bearing any text entered was lost when you saved and reloaded a project - fixed
2. If you selected 'Show notes in summary' in the Project Details dialog (now renamed to Project Details/Options) the padstone/bearing plate was omitted from the project summary - fixed
3. If the required thickness of a column baseplate was less than 5mm, the thickness was reset to 5mm even if you entered a thickness greater than this - fixed
4. The steel column baseplate edit dialog now shows the actual minimum required dimensions in brackets after the specified dimensions - the latter are never changed by the program if they exceed the required minima.
5. A change has been made to the timber beam design, calculate required width routine: if you got to the end of the standard width list the program reverted to checking a 50mm wide member. Now it progressively increases the width in 10mm stages until a suitable width is arrived at - this may be of use when calculating the required floor joists sizing by considering a 1m bay of floor and calculating the total joist width/m required (e.g. 170mm = 3.62 x 47mm wide joists/m = joists at 275mm c/s

Release 4.40g, 7 July 2004

The key enhancement is a masonry strength calculator: press the small button captioned '...' to the right of each masonry strength field in the beam edit dialog bearings page and you get a dialog into which you can enter the masonry and mortar strengths, unit type and bearing class. From these the factored masonry strength is calculated automatically and an explanatory calculation is added to the bearing notes.

Other key changes and fixes:

1. For beams, if you select total load entry the loading duration column (used to enter D/L with dead/live load entry) is now hidden
2. When analysing a beam extended as a cantilever with separate live and dead load entry, when the shear force was calculated with live loads on the cantilever only, the effect of any live UDL was mistakenly included which could have, in certain load cases, shown a higher than correct maximum shear force.
3. The bearing page of the beam edit dialog and the calculation algorithm have been amended slightly. The masonry strength field caption is now prefaced with 'Factored' for the avoidance of doubt. The minimum required bearing length (for padstones and bearing plates) and plate thickness (for bearing plates) are now shown in brackets after the respective fields. As before, if you enter values that are greater than these they will not be changed when you press 'Apply'. If the bearing length is less, it is now rounded up to the next figure above the minimum (25mm steps to 225mm then 50mm steps). The plate thickness is rounded up to the next higher standard plate thickness: 5, 6, 8, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50mm. For each bearing there is now a small 'Recalc' button that calculates the rounded minima bearing length and plate thickness
4. Similarly for column baseplates, if the length, width or thickness entered exceeds the required minimum value it will not be changed. Otherwise a value rounded up as just described will be returned
5. With steel beams, where no section could be found that was suitable within the section type and width limits entered, the section displayed was the lighest/shallowest in the section list. Now you will see the last section section checked that met these limits with the usual warning message telling why it was not suitable.
6. You can now enter negative additional moments on columns
7. Copying and pasting an embedded OLE page gave two views of the same data - changing either changed the other too. Fixed
8. Until now including one or more blank lines in calculation notes forced a new line. Now one blank line forces a new line and two blank lines includes a blank line between paragraphs
9. When visible, the Project Manager is now always docked at the left of the program main window: i.e. the option to display it as a floating window has been removed.

Release 4.40f, 23 March 2004

One small fix: in 4.40e for twin/triiple beams the prefix 2No/3No was omitted from the section name. The calculation itself was correct.

Release 4.40e, 16 March 2004

• Following present day usage, references to 'Stanchion' have been changed to 'Column'
• The steel grade is now shown next to the section name on beam and column calculations
• 'HF' (hot-finished) and the weight and are now added to hollow section section names.
• For steel beam calculations deflection is shown as a fraction of the span to tie in with the deflection limits in BS449 (e.g. L/333 rather than 0.003L), Where you select L/200 as the deflection limit this figure is printed as a reference value rather than L/360
• When a beam extends as a cantilever beyond R2 the cantilever span was not shown in the Project Summary - fixed
• An alternative way of numbering pages has been added: the Print dialog now offers you two options: Sequential numbering (1,2,3...) as before, with the first number selectable by the user; or 'Number by content'. If you choose the latter, pages are given the same number as the item, with a second number for subpages, e.g. if a beam is item 12 in the Project Manager and on the Project Summary, the printouts will be numbered 12.1 and (if more than one sheet) 12.2, 12.3 etc
• By design calculated field entries ignore extraneous text which may clarify an expression - e.g 'avg' or 'est'. To save risks of errors being introduced, any instances of upper case 'O' are now flagged as an error; until now 2O would have been evaluated as 2, not 20.
• The Print Summary at start of Print Project pages setting was not saved in the project file - fixed
• Long beam descriptions could be overwritten by the beam span - fixed
• Where beam bearing 1 had a user description only this was printed with no explanation as to what it was - fixed
• Where timber post loads created a net negative moment this was subtracted from the unity expression - fixed
• Timber beam notes were lost on save and copy - fixed
• The Project Manager 'Expand' button status (up/down) is saved when you exit and restored on startup (when it is down and you click on an item in the Project Manager its window is displayed in expanded form)
• The calculator now includes keys to recall the last expression ('#') and to calculate VAT (at 17.5%) on the last result or current entry.

Release 4.40d, 13 January 2004

• Problem running 4.40c on XP systems which were caused by the C:\Windows\SDA-APPS.INI file not being writeable fixed.
• Reading in a project with steel beam bearing details of 'user defined' but no details entered gave a range check error - fixed

Release 4.40c, 8 January 2004

• New help file name (sbw.chm) not initialised correctly - fixed
• Some changes to the way in which an invalid steel data file name is handled have been made
• The web update facility in 4.40a/b did not work - fixed (4.40b fix unreliable)

2003 changes . 2002 changes . 2001 and earlier changes