Graitec PowerPack for Advance Steel 2022.1 Release

Graitec have just released the 2022.1 update to their Graitec Advance Suite, which includes a series of updates and features for the PowerPack for Advance Steel.

The release is compliant with Autodesk Advance Steel 2021 and 2022, coming in the form of versions that allow users just working with the PowerPack for Advance Steel to install this update for 2022. It will also update the 2021 version as well; this is via the download options from the Graitec Advantage site.

We have a What’s new document on that site but let’s run through a few of the highlights for this release.

Checking License Mechanism

Several users had highlighted an issue with a particular situation related to the application of the license, which caused Advance Steel to run slow. For this release that mechanism has been reviewed and updated to allow for faster verification.

GTCX Improvements

For this update we made new materials properties available in our Transfer file, these physical design properties, coming from Analysis, can now be transferred.

New material properties are:

• Yield strength (Fy)
• Ultimate tensile strength (Fu)
• Elasticity (E)
• Density (D)

Other aspects of the GTCX we have made improvements to are the exchange of concrete elements, as well as adding additional Shape types (I, L, T and U for columns and beams). Along with this we have extended the concrete links between Advance Design and Advance Steel to allow for the smoother transfer of those designed concrete elements into the Advance Steel platform for steel detailing. We have also improved the transfer of Slabs; this now also has the eccentricity transferred from Advance Design into Advance Steel.

Another key improvement is better control of the element’s position, set by the user in the model, which is now kept via the synchronization mechanism. This improvement helps the user save time in transferring the information from one software to another, without it being necessary to correct any misalignment of the elements in the structure.

In the Profile Database we continue to add additional section profiles to the Graitec database, which allows them to be used within Advance Steel and correspondingly within Advance Design.

• Galver tables from Constraco Poland have been added in the AstorProfiles.mdb.
• Minor improvements to the alignment have been made to existing Z profiles from Constraco by adding missing values to correct the alignment of the web Z profiles.

Moving on to connections and macros from the PowerPack, where we have made several improvements to existing tools. Known issues have been corrected and there are new features within those macros; these are spread across the tools found within both the Standard and Premium levels of the PowerPack.

Platform Cover

This tool is a real benefit to users who want to quickly apply plate coverings to a series of supporting beams, working to beams or to a designated outline boundary. For this release we have made strides in the storage of configurations within the library option.

Applying a configuration from the library, the existing configuration from the model is replaced with the new values. Sometimes the load library content mechanism can have some glitches and the parameters are not replaced properly, causing the malfunction of the connection.

With this version, the load library content mechanism of the platform cover connection has been corrected, which means that when a saved configuration of the joint is loaded from the library all the parameters are applied correctly, and the previous configuration is removed. This allows the platform cover to work as intended and store valuable user configuration for future recall.

Our other focus has been in the continued improvement of the Stairs and Railing tools, which are within the premium level subscription for the PowerPack for Advance Steel. We will expand upon those in a separate blog, so keep an eye out for that one.

Take a read of my previous blog post to find out how to fully utilise Graitec Advantage. If you have any questions regarding the PowerPack for Advance Steel, send us an enquiry now.