Track program changes and bug fixes

It is important to keep your software up to date so that you get the latest updates, enhancements and bug fixes. The key changes made to SPACE GASS in recent years are described below. Note that minor enhancements and bug fixes are not listed.

Click here to upgrade to the latest commercial version (not for student or trial versions).
Click here to scroll down to the latest v12.92 changes (last released on March 22, 2024).

Version 14.20

Build 14.20.3540 (Sept 18, 2024):

Updated the Check Connectivity tool to allow you to select the current highlighted elements by clicking the Enter key
The WAITFOR command in scripting will now fire when a file was created, not just if the file was changed
You can now merge with jobs created from any version of SPACE GASS, not only files saved in the current version
Deleting a plate which was part of a plate strip will once again update the plate strip cross section straight away
Fixed a speed issue during the grow selection tool which got exponentially slower the more elements which were selected
Minor fixes in the property grid data validation for gap/fuse elements, angle cleat connection, IFC Import, Combination Case Import

Build 14.20.3513 (Aug 22, 2024):

Fixed a convergence issue with the buckling analysis when non-linear restraints were present
Fixed a convergence issue with load stepping in a non-linear static analysis when variable “V” restraints were present
Fixed reports and exports sometimes missing requested items when in script mode
Fixed not importing section reduction factors for user-defined solid circular sections in Microstran ARC files
Fixed not importing spring restraints on nodes that were otherwise unrestrained in Microstran ARC files
Fixed a 'Conversion from string "(Calculated)" to type "Single"' error being thrown in version 14.20.3485 when trying to perform a spectral analysis
Fixed moving load scenario names having (1) added to the front of them after importing even though there was no duplicate scenario name
Fixed generated moving load load case groups not containing the scenarion name if it started with an open bracket
Fixed an error exporting the report to .xls (Excel 97-2003) files where it missed rows when there were more than 65536 rows of data to be copied
Minor fixes to STD Export, tubular bolted bracing cleat connection, wind loader, scripting

Build 14.20.3485 (Jul 24, 2024):

Correct the calculation of the plastic section modulii in the shape builder when negative shapes are used
Correct the output report and text/excel/access export to display reactions for nodes which include the P,V,N restraint codes
Revit 2025 is now supported. The Revit 2022 add-in has been removed.
Fixed opening old v10 and earlier jobs in 64-bit SPACE GASS
Fixed a crash which would occur when exporting transient or harmonic response results to Text/Excel/Access

Build 14.20.3460 (Jun 26, 2024):

Added ability to obtain element summaries for selected elements and filters.
Added submodelling capability to save part of a model as a separate SPACE GASS model.
Added a generate lumped masses on plate nodes tool.
Added a SGCache folder to the Backup folder location to store time stamped backups of models.
Updated file zipping component.
Subdivided members now remain in the same filter/s as the original member
Correct the plate offset position calculation for drawing of loads and COG calculations for Diaphragm, Storey Shear and Equivalent Static tools.(Offsets were not being considered)
Minor fixes to Equivalent Static Seismic Load module regarding dynamic analysis requirement.
Minor fixes to Shape Builder regarding calculating properties on opening form, DXF export of line shapes, shear areas now only calculated in FEM properties calculator, tolerances on detection of disconnected and overlapping shapes for FEM properties meshing.
Minor fixes to Moment Base Plate connection, was ignoring 'Include inside flange weld' option, utilization ratio not displayed correctly when there is tension and shear.
Minor fixes to intersect node tool, IdeaStatiCa RHS section export, DXF Import, stop infotips overlaying input forms, and split plates tool.

Build 14.20.3420 (May 16, 2024):

Added ability to use the formula tool for generating variable stiffness data.
Added option for generating and displaying variable stiffness data as force displacement data.
Added grow/shrink selection tool.
Added option for additive selection by pressing shift when selecting.
Minor fix in the concrete slab module where the output report was incorrectly reporting a higher required reinforcement for zones that were higher than the maximum flexure plus torsion zone requirement.
Minor fixes to IDEA StatiCa export for RHS, SHS, and Beam Tee shapes, common connection node lists, length unit, common base plate detection, removal of mirrored common connection option.
Minor fixes to graphics displaying doubled loads after copying loads, SyncUIControlState error, Staad and DXF file import/export, storey shear chart type, updating material/section legend, Utility Tool's Titan Cloud Active Users button.

Build 14.20.3388 (April 2, 2024):

Fixed important issue in versions 14.20.3367 to 14.20.3376 where the steel connection data was not being read/saved in the model.
Fixed an issue in the Moment Base Plate connection design where the critical weld shear stress location may not be correctly determined. This only affected the calculation of the out of plane shear design action Vz* for the weld group.
Corrected an issue in the varying member distributed loads tool which could add multiple incorrect loads if the member direction was in the opposite direction to the load vector.
Minor fixes to Shape Builder FEM torsional property calculation related to tolerances in overlapping shapes and meshing of 'L' and 'Box Girder' shapes.

Build 14.20.3376 (March 21, 2024):

Importing Microstran ARC files reactivated and now includes importing of gap/fuse members and axial member springs.
Improved method of analytical convergence for the new non-linear elements.
Added bearing pressure contouring for vertical plates.
Added option in shape builder to calculate torsional and shear values using finite element methods.
Added options for different edge and corner restraints in the footing structure wizard.
Added graphic symbols for the new non linear node restraints.
Added option in batch tool to skip warning messages.
Added options in generate plate spring supports tool for compression-only members or one-way spring restraints.
Added option to import SPACE GASS 14 custom toolbars.
Added tool to fix/release specific node degree of freedom translations of selected nodes.
Corrected action of context menu items 'Select Subdivided Members' and 'Select In-line Members'.
Updated the IdeaStatica Bot for the latest IdeaStatica update.
Removed translation fixities for plate springs when using any generating tools or structure wizards.
Fixed AS3990 steel member design calculation of T in Clause 5.5 for unequal flange sections.
Fixed AISC360-16/22 LRFD and ASD steel member design where a rolled compact double symmetric section with axial compression and significant negative minor axis moment, would incorrectly use Clause H1-3.
Fixed looping missing folder message at startup.
Minor fixes and enhancements related to Shape Builder, Wind loader, Merge Job, Nodes datasheet, IFC, CIS2, DXF file exports; SPACE GASS Utility, Sentinel Net Config and Titan Softlock Client Tools.

Build 14.20.3334 (January 31, 2024):

Fixed an issue when starting from a new blank model, if that model is saved and it does not contain any of the new non-linear elements, the member data may be corrupted during saving.
Fixed an issue when converting different versioned models that have saved analysis data. All models that do not use any of the new non linear elements should be reanalysed to ensure results are updated.
The above two issues only affect models used in versions 14.20.3318 to 14.20.3328 which were released between January 18 and January 29, 2024.
Fixed an issue in the section library editor, when adding new sections to a custom library, units were not being converted correctly if they were different.
Corrected the variable spring restraint (V) not considering the combination with a one way active direction (P or N) during an analysis. Reanalysis of previous models using this combination will be required.

Build 14.20.3318 (January 18, 2024):

Added gap and fuse members.
Added axial member springs.
Added plastic, friction and variable stiffness restraints.
Added one-way restraints.
Released a new "Equivalent Static Seismic Load Generator" module for AS 1170.4 and NZS 1170.5 codes.
Updated AISC360 LRFD and ASD steel member design modules to AISC360-22.
Added new KNTYX tubular connection types to the AS 4100 Steel Tubular Connection module.
Updated the portal frame builder and other wind related modules to AS/NZS 1170.2:2021 (AMD 1:2023).
Added option to the portal frame builder and other wind related modules to calculate AS/NZS wind properties based on cardinal positions.
Added options in the portal frame builder to combine and reduce the number of load cases generated.
Added a tool in steel member design data to generate flange restraints based on node and intersecting member positions.
Added a tool to merge nodes in a selected group of nodes that are within a specified distance of each other.
Added a tool to measure the angle between two intersecting members.
Added a tool to align members to the face of a connecting member.
Added a tool to remove member offsets and create new nodes at the offset positions.

Version 14.00 to 14.12 - legacy version, limited support and maintenance, Version 14.12 legacy download available

Version 14.12

Build 14.12.3276 (March 21, 2024):

Fixed AS3990 steel member design calculation of T in Clause 5.5 for unequal flange sections.
Fixed AISC360-16/22 LRFD and ASD steel member design where a rolled compact double symmetric section with axial compression and significant negative minor axis moment, would incorrectly use Clause H1-3.
Fixed looping missing folder message at startup.
Minor fixes related to Structure Wizard, Text import, Access export, Section Library editor, Moving Load generator and Merge Jobs.

Build 14.12.3272 (January 3, 2024):

Fixed an issue in the wind calculations for AS/NZS 1170.2:2011 and AS/NZS 1170.2:2021 when interpolating Mt data from CHECKWIND if the bearing angle was not a multiple of 45°.

Build 14.12.3265 (November 15, 2023):

If a script is loaded at startup, SPACE GASS now pre-reads it so that the user interface doesn’t flash up if the script wants it to be hidden.
If a script sets SPACE GASS to be hidden, it now stays hidden when the script ends.
Fixed an issue in the steel member design module where the first station in an ignore zone located at the end of a steel member could have been included in the governing member check. It was a tolerance issue and would not have happened if another location was more critical. This means that it was always conservative.
If a command line is loaded (eg. from double-clicking another job) when SPACE GASS is already running, it will first save any unsaved changes before asking if the user wants to save the job. Previously, any unsaved changes were not being saved. It will also only process the new command line if no current action is active.
Fixed the steel member design result colours being wrong when running in OpenGL software mode. This only affected old graphics cards that couldn't run the latest drivers.
Fixed the tank wizard generation not working correctly when Z was vertical.
Adapted the Titan tools to allow Titan Softlock to work correctly with 64-bit versions.
When exporting to a text file, if a filter list extends to over 1024 characters in the text file then it is split over multiple lines. Previously it was not being split correctly which caused errors when trying to import it back in.
Introduced individual selection buttons for the node restraint/constraint codes and member fixity codes in the node and member property panels.

Build 14.12.3217 (September 21, 2023):

Fixed a unit conversion issue with plate cuts, where the analysis results form was not converting the moment results correctly. This was not an issue if the moment units were consistent with the force and length units (eg. Length=m, Force=kN, Moment=kNm) and would only have occurred if the user chose a custom units system rather than a default Metric or Imperial system. The rendered plate cut results were correctly displaying the result values.
Fixed the free SPACE GASS Viewer's report being gibberish and unreadable. This issue could also have occured in the commercial version if there were plates in the job but no plate licence available. Affected versions were 14.12.3112 to 14.12.3189
Fixed a few other minor teething problems with the 64-bit version.

Build 14.12.3189 (August 24, 2023):

Corrected an issue with plate cuts, whereby the plate cut results were not being generated correctly if the underlying plates had offsets.
Fixed a unit conversion error in the solver for the stiffness of rotational node restraint springs. SPACE GASS v14.00 onwards was assuming that the units were Force*Length/Radian instead of Moment/Radian, where Length, Force and Moment were the length, force and moment units in the job. This was not an issue if the moment units were consistent with the force and length units (eg. Length=m, Force=kN, Moment=kNm) and would only have occurred if the user chose a custom units system rather than a default Metric or Imperial system. Member springs were not affected.
Corrected some load case titles from the portal frame builder with AS/NZS1170.2. Titles were changed from “…(Int + Ext Max)…” to “…(Int + Ext Min)…” in load cases 332, 334, 336 and 338.
Fixed the Titan Cloud usage report truncating the usage hours to the last 24 hours. For example, 1 day and 2 hours was being reported as 2 hours instead of 26 hours.
Fixed an issue where concrete slab data for a plate strip was being retained even after the plate strip had been deleted.
Refined the identification of Tee cross sections in the concrete slab module. This could have resulted in upside-down Tees being assumed to be on their side instead, resulting in incorrect placement of the stirrup and bar placements.
When in script mode SPACE GASS now does a licence query at the end of an analysis or steel member design and then silently tries to get a new licence if the query fails. This is done so that the script can keep going rather than stopping if the licence times-out during a long analysis or design.
Fixed some issues with the 64-bit version not working with some graphics cards.

Build 14.12.3134 (June 23, 2023):

The spectral library name is now included in text file imports/exports.
Now support the 2.4 thick Duragal CA single angle sections in the Duragal-only AS4600 module. Previously they were disallowed because they had more digits in their name than what was expected when checking if they were a valid section for the Duragal-only module.
Corrected a significant bug in the AS4600 design module for top hat sections involving the calculation of ϕMbx if λb > 0.6 (AS4600:2018 clause 3.3.3.2.1). The value of the monosymmetric constant β for a top hat section was negative which reversed the sign of Cs in eq D2.1.1(4). This caused the calculation of the elastic buckling moment Mo to be reversed. So, when there was compression at the shear centre, Mo was significantly smaller (unconservative) but when there was tension at the shear centre Mo was significantly larger (conservative). Only top hat sections were affected.
Fixed an error in the calculation of Nh in check 12 for the gusset plate in tubular section bolted bracing cleat connections.
Now allow for too many numbers being entered into the load cases list of the analysis forms. Previously it is possible that some load cases at the end of the list were not processed if too many numbers were entered.
Fixed a few minor teething problems with the 64-bit version.

Build 14.12.3112 (June 1, 2023):

This is the first release of the full 64-bit version of SPACE GASS. It allows the program to handle much larger jobs because all of the computer’s memory can be accessed rather than just 2Gb of it. The 32-bit version is still available for those that need it.
Commercial versions of SPACE GASS can now save an SGV (Viewer-only) copy of the job. SGV jobs can be opened by the free SPACE GASS viewer, but not by commercial, loan or student versions of SPACE GASS. This enables you to distribute jobs to others for viewing without the risk of them being able to make any changes.
Revit 2024 is now supported. The Revit 2022 add-in creation and link have been retained for another 12 months to allow users time to update from the significant structural model changes made in Revit 2023.
IDEA StatiCa CheckBot integration is now available. This includes a new export process for seamless transfer of whole or partial SPACE GASS models into IDEA StatiCa.
For members with a non-zero principal angle, when calculating intermediate member moments for the design modules, reports and graphics, the extra P-delta intermediate moments were being calculated from non-principal displacements rather than principal. This changed the intermediate shape of the bending moment diagrams slightly but not the end values. It has now been fixed.
Fixed the member end forces and moments text report using the principal angle from the prior member rather than the current member. This was due to a synchronization error which only affected the member end forces and moments text report if the "Report member forces and moments in principal axes" option was ticked (it is unticked by default). None of the design modules, analysis result exports or member intermediate forces and moments reports were affected. It started in v14.00.
Fixed an incorrect unit conversion of member rotational spring stiffnesses in the steel member design modules when calculating intermediate member forces and moments. This happened with members that had an "S" fixity code in the 5th or 6th positions (eg. fixity FFFFSS) and affected the intermediate member forces and moments, but not the end values.
When designing/checking a steel member that had a mixture of very large and very small effective lengths (eg. lcx=30,000mm and lcy=1mm), the AS4600 design module was calculating an axial compression capacity that was too small. This was due to ill-conditioning of the effective lengths in the design code formula that has now been allowed for in SPACE GASS.
If the membrane thickness of a plate element was set to non-zero and different to the actual thickness, the shear thickness was also being scaled up or down in the same proportion as the membrane thickness during the analysis. This only happened if DL plates were selected in the solver. It has now been fixed.
Fixed an issue when exporting to Excel from the steel connection or reinforced concrete design modules which caused the export to cut off the last character in each cell and put it in the next cell.
Added an additional check to the tubular bolted end plate splice connection if it was in tension and the bolts were placed beyond the outside corners of the tube’s cross section. This is now reported as a fail rather than just showing invalid bolt placement warnings.
Fixed the legacy AISC LRFD 1993 and AISC ASD 1989 steel member design modules having their U and Cb coefficients out of sync in the design form. The U coefficient was getting the Cb form setting and the Cb coefficient was not being set in the form. This started in v12.60 in 2017 when support for AISC 360-16 was added.
The batch mode form now shows the lowest buckling load factor and matching load case from the analysed load cases. Previously this wasn’t being shown.
Corrected a divide by zero issue in the calculation of Cm values in the Eurocode steel member design module that occurred when the member's axial load was zero. It only happened when the Annex A option was ticked (it is unticked by default) and resulted in the member's capacity being overestimated. Refer Eurocode EN 1993-1-1:2005 Table A.1 page 77.
Updated the Generate Plate Spring Supports tool to replace existing compression-only members and spring supports rather than just adding to them. Previously it could have generated a duplicate set of compression-only members and spring supports each time the tool was used.
Notes are now copied when you copy or mirror nodes/member/plates that the notes are attached to. You can also now select a note and copy it to multiple locations.

Version 14.11

Build 14.11.2952 (January 14, 2023):

Released the 2023 student version.
Fixed an issue when exporting to Excel from the portal frame builder which caused the export to cut off the last character in each cell and put it in the next cell.
Changed the Seaload module for the Stokes’ 5th order theory so that if the problem is outside the range of the theory then it displays how far it is outside the theory as a percentage and asks if the user wants to accept inaccurate results and continue rather than just stopping.
Fixed an issue in the undo/redo when adding items back to members or plates that had been deleted during the undo/redo. For example, if a member with intermediate concentrated loads was subdivided so that some of its loads went onto new subdivided members, if an undo was subsequently done it didn’t put those loads back onto the original member.
Fixed an issue when undoing area loads. Temporary loads used for interim calculations could have remained applied to the member after the undo. This could happen to members that had area loads coming from both sides of the member.
Now include the load properties “Generate in” variable when exporting or importing moving load data with Excel or a text file. It was previously omitted.
Included a number of other minor enhancements.

Build 14.11.2934 (December 20, 2022):

Fixed a problem with the moving load generator that stopped it automatically generating or updating load case groups for the moving load scenarios. If scenario load case groups already existed then it would leave them unchanged. It could have also displayed multiple error messages when trying to create the groups. It was only a problem in v14.11.2923.
An option has been added to the DXF exporter so that it can export members into section-specific layers.
Sped up the merging of duplicate nodes in the DXF importer.
Added a duplicate members check in the DXF importer and now alert the user with a warning message if any are found. It could happen if both the analytical and physical models are imported.
Changed the DXF importer to set imported plates to Mindlin by default rather than Kirchoff.
Improved the algorithm when looking for coplanar boundary nodes. Previously it was always just looking at the first selected node but it now moves along the next 3 nodes to determine the plane. This affects some of the plate meshing and diaphragm tools.
Fixed an issue where the scripting tool was reading some variables incorrectly when opening or running a script file. This affected the moving loads Vertical Proximity setting (always came in as No) and some analysis options (T/C-Only Gradually Activated and No Reversal always came in as Activated and the Plate Drilling Stiffness Factor always came in as 1.0).

Build 14.11.2923 (December 8, 2022):

Changed the AS1170.4 spectral response analysis to use a minimum value of kpZ = 0.08 for all probabilities of exceedance not listed in Table 3.3 (ie. above 1/500). The table is not clear on it, but the 0.08 values in Table 2.1 imply that 0.08 is the absolute minimum.
Changed the NZS1170.5 spectral response analysis for the serviceability limit state to apply equation 5.2(2) using Rs in place of Ru. Previously 5.2(2) was not applied for the serviceability limit state.
Made some changes to the IFC importing/exporting as follows:

Corrected the self-weight unit conversions for IFC4.
Corrected the section name conversion files being ignored.
Changed the logic for how load case titles and combinations are written/read in IFC4 to match what ETABS does.

CIS2 imports can now include ETABS loads.
Changed the DXF importer so that if there is no XData in the file (usually associated with DXF files not generated by SPACE GASS) then it sets each member’s section ID (starting from 1) based on the layer the member is in (ie. a different section ID for each layer). Furthermore, if there is no XData then all the material IDs are set to 1.
The DXF importer now uses a tolerance when comparing node coordinates so that duplicate nodes aren’t created.
Updated the shape builder to import radii more accurately, as well as handling arcs and circles properly.
Can now export sections to DXF via the shape builder and library editor.
IGES files are now exported in a format readable by AutoCAD.
DXF and DWG exports now allow you to select the AutoCAD version to save as.
Now include the lane factor and dynamic factor when exporting or importing moving load data with Excel or a text file. They were previously omitted.
Corrected offsets of tapers in the taper/haunch tool when the centroid is not at the center of the section. This would have caused tapered T-beams or members with unequal flanges and the like to be offset incorrectly in the tool.
Corrected the final offsets of tapers and haunches in the taper/haunch tool if the original member had an offset in local axes.
Added a user-defined storey drift factor to the storey drift graphs.

Build 14.11.2885 (October 28, 2022):

Added some minor enhancements and fixes.

Build 14.11.2878 (October 20, 2022):

Fixed a few minor reporting issues in the previous version.

Build 14.11.2870 (October 13, 2022):

First release of the integrated CHECKWIND module.
Added a new DXF import/export module that can now handle plate elements.
Changed the minimum reinforcement for AS3600 crack control in slabs so that it is checked against the total reinforcement rather than the reinforcement in each face. In previous versions it was assumed that the minimum reinforcement for crack control had to be in each face.
The moment magnification factor in the AS3600 concrete column module was being applied to the calculated design actions but not to the minimum design action for moment (usually 0.05D x N*). This has now been fixed.
Fixed an issue with the pinned baseplate connection that overestimated the weld length which resists the shear parallel to the flanges when the "Included inside flange weld" option is on. The weld length could have been overestimated by up to 50% which could have caused the weld for flange shear to be under-designed by up to 33%.
Fixed a steel connection error message that appeared if a web doubler plate was too thin, even if there was no web doubler. It was checking the doubler thickness regardless of whether the doubler actually existed or not.
Added warnings to the AS1170.4 spectral analysis module about using the NZ code if the structural ductility factor (μ) exceeds 3.0 or the hazard factor (z) exceeds 0.3 in accordance with AS1170.4 clause 2.2.
Changed the AS1170.4 spectral response analysis to use a minimum value of kpZ = 0.10 for a probability of 1/800. Previously no kpZ minimum was applied to a probability of 1/800 due to it not appearing in table 3.3.
Now delete analysis results after section properties are updated from a steel member design.
The cleanup tool can now merge identical sections and materials.
The merge job tool can now merge loads within the same load case without requiring them to be in separate load cases (ie. using a load case offset of 0). It can also merge filters, dimensions, notes and identical sections and materials.
Revit 2023 is now supported, with Revit 2021 support discontinued.
Fixed two issues in the steel connection design module if the Reset button was clicked.
- It would go into design mode and do a design whenever a subsequent change was made, causing the change just made to sometimes be overwritten.
- For bolted end plate and welded moment connections, if the Ok button was clicked after the Reset without the Design or Check buttons being clicked first, it would save the stiffener checkboxes as unticked. The danger of this is that any subsequent reports or graphics would show the connection as having no stiffeners even though the design and governing utilization ratio could have been based on stiffeners being present.
When querying plate cuts by right-clicking, the results displayed were generally extremely large and obviously wrong. This has now been fixed.
Fixed the Find and Filter tools only finding plates with +ve offsets when looking for plates with offsets.
When in script mode, a blank load case, member or section list was being interpreted as re-using the previous list of items instead of all items. For example, if the previous static analysis for a job used a load case list of 1-20 then that 1-20 list would also have been used in script mode if the script had a blank load case list. This has now been fixed.
Changed the fabrication for RHS, SHS and CHS sections in the Aust250 library to cold-formed.

Version 14.10

Build 14.10.2678 (July 7, 2022):

When displaying plate cut results with multiple load cases selected, the maximums from the selected load cases were not being assembled correctly, causing the displayed results to be incorrect. This has now been fixed so that the maximums from the selected load cases are shown correctly. The plate cut results displayed for only one load case or combination at a time were not affected and were already being displayed correctly.

Build 14.10.2677 (July 1, 2022):

Fixed an incorrect Ka factor in the portal frame builder for AS/NZS 1170.2:2021. For wind on leeward walls with members having a tributary area greater than 100m^2, Ka was being set to 0.8 instead of 0.95.
Changed the ductile detailing setting in the IS456 RC beam and RC column design modules to a concrete preference rather than being editable in the beam or column design input data. The setting is now also separated for beams and columns rather than being shared.
Fixed the check for loads on non-existent nodes in the solver. A change made in v14 caused it to crash instead of displaying a message.
Changed the ɸ factor from 0.7 to 0.9 for shear key bending in the steel connection design module.
Improved the accuracy of the plastic section modulii calculations for circular sections in the shape builder.
Changed the bolt clash check in bolted end plate connections from a failure to a warning.
In moment end plate connections, when both top & bottom stiffeners and a web doubler plate were present, the critical load case may have been incorrectly reported if the shear check (check 21) governed. It was just a reporting issue that didn’t affect the design calculations.
Fixed an issue when exporting a connection to IDEA StatiCa from a job with Z vertical, in which the coordinates of the connection node could have been changed in the SPACE GASS model. It wouldn’t happen if Y was vertical or if the connection only involved one member.
Improved the efficiency of the RC beam module for AS3600 so that the flexural reinforcement provided on the tension side at any section is now capped at what is required at the section that has the maximum tension force demand for flexure, axial force and torsion as per amendment 2 in AS3600 clause 8.2.8.2.
AS4100 / NZS3404 steel member designs now allow PFC, TFC, EA, UA, BT or CT sections to be stress-relieved. Previously they were treated as hot-rolled if specified as stress-relieved.
AS4100 / NZS3404 steel member designs now regard CHS, SHS and RHS sections specified as stress-relieved to be welded stress-relieved tubes (CHS) or welded stress-relieved box sections (SHS and RHS). Previously they were treated as cold-formed if specified as stress-relieved.
Fixed some issues with the member "Extend" tool if a member being extended already had offsets applied. It could have (a) doubled the requested length or (b) adversely affected any existing local offsets on the member.

Build 14.10.2669 (May 24, 2022):

Now allow an "Unknown" building orientation option in the portal frame builder for AS/NZS 1170.2:2021. It uses Md=1.0 for all directions if the orientation is unknown.
The diaphragm generator now saves and reports the correct horizontal mass totals rather than just reporting the same mass (the vertical mass) in both horizontal directions. The calculations haven’t changed.
Now allow a zero harmonic frequency in the harmonic response solver. This allows you to model a static load in a harmonic load case and combine it with dynamic loads in the same load case.
Fixed a bug in the AS/NZS 1170.2 versions of the portal frame builder where the Mt and Ms factors (if calculated) weren’t being updated if the building dimensions were changed. This only happened if the Ms and Mt values were obtained from their "Calculate" button and the "Apply same wind load in all directions" was unticked. It only affected the directions that were not selected (ie. the calculated Ms and Mt values in the selected direction were updated correctly).
Fixed a bug in the AS/NZS 1170.2 versions of the wind load generator for multi-storey buildings where the Mt and Ms factors (if calculated) in the -X, +Z and -Z directions were not being adjusted for the height of the various floor levels. Each floor was being given the Mt and Ms factors that applied to the top floor. This was also reflected in the wind generation report and so would have been apparent to some extent.
Now allow member stresses to be included when exporting to a text, Excel or Access file.
Improved the estimate of the number of elements to be generated by the various meshing tools. Previously this overestimation was sometimes grossly high, preventing the meshing from going ahead even if the actual number of elements generated would have been well below the maximum limits.

Build 14.10.2658 (May 2, 2022):

Added support for subscription licences.
Included some minor enhancements and fixes.

Build 14.10.2654 (April 11, 2022):

The "Sum" line in the reactions report was sometimes inaccurate if a small number of decimal places was used. This is because fewer decimal places could cause some lines to show up with all zeroes and hence be omitted from the report and also from the "Sum" calculation. They are now included in the "Sum" calculation even if they are omitted from the report.
The value of ɸMcts for column web stiffeners displayed in the report under check 22 was calculated based on doubler plates being present even if there were no doubler plates. This was just a reporting issue and didn’t affect the internal stiffener calculations.
Fixed SDNF imports sometimes generating duplicate sections. It was due to a case sensitive section name matching problem.
Fixed gridlines having small round-off errors instead of attaching directly to intersection points.
Fixed the measure tool where the 2nd selected position would use the 1st selected position if not connected to a node, member or plate.
Stopped the steel connection design module displaying an "Incorrect version number…" message for bolted end plate or welded moment connections that used butt welds for the web stiffeners.
Now keep a Titan Cloud session alive longer by restarting the session timer whenever there is SPACE GASS activity. Previously the session could time-out after a few hours even if there was SPACE GASS activity.
Removed the warning message added in v14.10.2644 about missing IDEA StatiCa load cases. Apparently they have fixed the bug that was causing this.
Corrected a tolerance issue in the IDEA StatiCa exporter that could have caused unbalanced forces.
For members that cross through each other, when deciding which member to use as the continuous one in IDEA StatiCa it now chooses the member that is closest to vertical.
Stopped the IFC importer from crashing when importing a file that had no references in the Building proxy item.
Stopped the CIS importer from stopping if spring stiffnesses were not present or if there was an error getting node or section data. It now logs a warning and keeps going rather than crashing out.

Build 14.10.2646 (March 2, 2022):

Added some new Titan-Cloud management tools and reports.
Added extra top flange and bottom flange restraint options to the auto-create multiple steel members tool.
Removed a false load combination clash message during a static analysis if a combination contained both static and response step load cases.
Included a number of other minor enhancements and fixes.

Build 14.10.2644 (January 27, 2022):

Added usage reports to the Titan-Cloud licensing system.
Fixed the cloud licensing displaying a "module x was not closed properly and is now unavailable" message rather than the correct "all licences for module x are currently in use" message when a user tries to access a module for which all copies are currently in use.
Corrected a units conversion issue in the Seaload module for marine growth self-weight. It was correct for plates but was being underestimated by a factor of 1000 for members. Note that this only affected the marine growth self weight and not its drag effect on wave actions.
Now allow for a bug in the 21.0.4.0859 and 21.1.3.1420 versions of IDEA StatiCa that caused unbalanced forces in connections with continuous members.
Added a warning about a bug in the 21.0.4.0859 and 21.1.3.1420 versions of IDEA StatiCa that cause it to discard some load cases. The IDEA StatiCa people are aware of this and will presumably fix it in an upcoming release.
Now copy sample jobs into the default job folder rather than the last used job folder.
Released the 2022 student version.

Build 14.10.2640 (December 23, 2021):

Incorporates the first official release of the Titan Cloud licensing system.
Now use a new algorithm for plate cuts based on nodal values so that they are accurate even if plate cuts are placed near a point of stress concentration such as you would get with an internal corner. Previous versions calculated the plate cut values from an integration of the forces and moments from the underlying plate elements, which could have been adversely affected if they were placed near areas of stress concentration. For more information, refer to "https://spacegass.com/manual/#Input_and_Editing_Tools/Plate_cuts.htm".
Updated the reinforced concrete beam, column and slab modules for AS3600:2018 (Amd 2:2021).
Updated the portal frame builder and other wind related modules for AS/NZS1170.2:2021.
For the AS/NZS version of the portal frame builder, two sets of internal pressure load cases are now generated for the actual +ve and -ve Cp,i values rather than just using one set with Cp,i = 1 and then factoring them in the combinations to reflect the actual Cp,i values. Extra external pressure load cases are also generated to separately take into account the +ve and -ve Cp,i values due to Cp,i affecting the Kc,e factors. This is less conservative than before because the Kc,i and Kc,e factors are now based on the actual +ve and -ve Cp,i values rather than on the worst case of +ve and -ve Cp,i. Serviceability wind pressure load cases are now also calculated based on the serviceability Cp, Kc,i and Kc,e factors rather than just factoring down the ultimate load cases.
A section property area factor no longer affects the self weight calculations. In previous versions the area factor was assumed to physically change the area of a member, along with its self-weight.
Can now rotate the viewpoint with Ctrl+ArrowKey.
Increased the maximum number of wheels per moving load vehicle from 200 to 300.
Added a "Merge STL mesh nodes" to the STL importer to help with aligning meshed surfaces.
Bolted end plate and welded moment connections now have the option of butt or fillet welds for the transverse stiffeners.
Stopped the conversion of local member offsets in the Structure Wizards when converting to Z-up.
Fixed pressure loads in the moving load generator being shown in the wrong position when Z was vertical. This was just a visual issue.
Added some IDEA StatiCa improvements.
Corrected the section property calculations for points shapes containing root radii.
Fixed the open splice connection ignoring any user change to the width of the inside flange plates.
Added the WA Main Roads rating vehicle loads to the standard vehicle libraries supplied with SG. Refer to document "Main Roads Western Australia, Structures Engineering, Bridge Branch Design Information, Doc No. 3912/02-1 Sep 2021".
Fixed a refresh issue where the redraw of loads didn’t always happen after a model change if the visible case was a combination of a combination.
Fixed notes not attached to anything sometimes being moved if only one of them was being moved.

Version 14.00

Build 14.00.2500 (September 17, 2021):

Simplified the Titan cloud-based licensing procedure.
Doubled the accuracy of node coordinates when exporting to a TXT file or importing from TXT, ARC, DXF or SDNF files.
For bolted end plate and welded moment connections with a web doubler plate and two transverse web stiffeners, the AS4100 steel connection design module was showing the wrong web doubler plate thickness in the drawing notation and was reporting "N/A" for the web doubler and transverse web stiffener checks in the text report even though they were shown correctly in the drawing. This has been fixed.
Included a number of other minor enhancements and fixes.

Build 14.00.2482 (August 2, 2021):

Added an extra option to the AS3990/AS1250 steel member design module to skip clause 4.3.2 reductions for box girder flanges.
Corrected the torsion constant calculations in the shape builder for sections comprised of multiple shapes that include trapezoids, triangles or polygons.
Reverted the change made in v14.00.2460 so that the shape builder calculates the torsion constant for sections comprised of multiple shapes.
Fixed the steel member design not having access to the section properties of non-library sections.
Corrected an issue with the conversion of some pre-v11 jobs to v14.

Build 14.00.2475 (July 5, 2021):

Corrected the self-weight component of analysis result diagrams for members that had a section area reduction factor other than 1.0. The RC beam design module was also similarly affected and has been fixed. The analysis, text reports and other design modules were not affected.

Build 14.00.2474 (June 25, 2021):

In SPACE GASS 14, the base shear factor for base shear scaling in the NZS1170.5 spectral response analysis module was changed from a percentage to a factor, but the analysis form still showed a "%" symbol. This has now been removed. It was purely a visual issue but could have been misleading.
Fixed the steel member flange restraints being shown in the wrong positions for steel design groups that contain more than 50 members. This was purely a visual issue.
Added an option to automatically increase the problem size limits when opening a job that exceeds the current limits.
Now include welds along the top and bottom (as well as sides) of flange doublers in end plate connections.
For welded plate connections with doubler plates the utilization ratio was being reported for the case of no doubler plates. This was just a reporting issue with everything being done correctly internally.

Build 14.00.2460 (June 11, 2021):

Added support for Revit 2022 and withdrew support for Revit 2019 and 2020.
Now prevent filters from being corrupted if they are based on a node, member or plate list that contains numbers greater than 32765.
Fixed RC beam, column and slab strips not being merged as part of a job merge.
The shape builder no longer calculates the torsion constant for sections comprised of multiple shapes. It was just summing them for each shape which wasn’t accurate and could have even resulted in a negative torsion constant if there were negative shapes (voids) present.
Fixed the member numbers in a steel connection not being renumbered correctly during a member renumber.

Build 14.00.2450 (June 2, 2021):

This is an important release that adds some new features and corrects all of the known teething problems and bugs associated with the initial SPACE GASS 14 release.

Can now include member intermediate displacements, forces and moments when exporting to Excel, Access or a text file.
Filters are now included in Excel, Access and text file exports and imports.
Can now choose which results to include when exporting to Excel, Access or a text file.
Analysis results exported to Excel, Access or a text file can now be limited to a filter and load case list. Harmonic and transient results can also be further limited to specific axes.
When starting SPACE GASS by double-clicking a job that has an "-s" or "-i" in its name we no longer treat this as a command line switch, unless the -s or -i has spaces around it.
When generating pattern loading you can now choose not to load plates outside the selected gridlines.
Made some changes to the IDEA StatiCa link to allow specifying the country (for selection of the design code), specifying the load case list, and taking into account members that are continuous through the connection.
Now properly support square tubes when exporting to IDEA StatiCa.
Fixed some incorrect section and material property unit conversions when exporting to IDEA StatiCa.
Included some other minor fixes to the IDEA StatiCa link.
The Connect tool can now subdivide members where they cross nodes that aren’t currently connected to the member. Previously it would only do this when crossing nodes that were connected to plates.
The tool that previously converted plates connected along an edge into constraint links has now been extended to also work with members.
Fixed the tubular splice and moment connection percentages for axial and bending minimum design actions being shown the wrong way around in the report. For example 30% of ɸNs and 50% of ɸMz was shown in the report as 50% of ɸNs and 30% of ɸMz. It was just a reporting issue and the internal values were correct.
When entering a point with the keyboard using polar coordinates it now takes into account whether Y or Z is vertical.

Build 14.00.2420 (May 7, 2021):

Corrected Z member thermal gradients (causing deformation in the member's local Z-axis direction) being applied in the wrong (reverse) direction. Y member thermal gradients and plate thermal gradients were not affected. This issue has been present in all versions of SPACE GASS since member thermal gradients were first added in v11.00 on September 7, 2012.
When subdividing a member with thermal or prestress loads they are now duplicated onto the new subdivided members.
Fixed a problem with subdivided members being attached to the wrong nodes after a member subdivision followed by an undo and then a redo. For example, if a member is attached to nodes 1,3 and is subdivided into two members that are attached to 1,2 and 2,3, then after the undo and redo the members would be attached to 1,3 and 2,3.
Fixed a problem with an undo after renumbering load cases if there was an overlap between the old and new load case numbers. For example, if load cases 1,2 are renumbered to 2,3, followed by an undo then load case 2 gets deleted.
Fixed a crash that occurred when getting a member intermediate forces and moments report.
Now limit the number of load cases processed based on the "Maximum load case components" setting when displaying member/plate contours and deflections. Previously it was doing every requested load case which was slowing it down and could have even caused an out-of-memory crash.
Added import/exporting of MS-Access, CSV and SDNF files to the scripting.
Added a merge option to most of the scripting file imports.

Build 14.00.2400 (April 27, 2021):

Node, member and plate limits have now been increased beyond 32765.
Non-linear behaviour of plates/shells is now supported in the static analysis solver.
Plate/shell buckling is now supported in the buckling analysis solver.
The Paradise solver now runs faster and uses less memory. It also no longer requires any bandwidth optimization.
Multiple filters can now be combined using "Intersection" or "Union" rules.
Added a new deflection optimizer tool.
Added a copy floors tool.
Added a diaphragm generation tool (rigid and semi-rigid) for multi-storey buildings.
Tools for modelling accidental eccentricity in a spectral response analysis have been added to the new diaphragm and spectral generation tools.
Storey shear and storey drift for multi-storey buildings can now be calculated and presented in charts.
Added tools for generating spectral primary and combination load cases.
Added a wind load generation tool for enclosed multi-storey buildings.
Added a batch processing tool for running multiple analyses, designs and reports.
Added a script editor that helps you to create script files. The format of script files has also changed.
Buckling mode shapes can now be displayed as contour diagrams.
Added a tool for aligning plate faces.
CQC is now the default spectral mode combination method.
Added labelling of steel connections and RC beams, columns and slabs.
Steel and RC concrete design members can now be copied when members are copied.
Added a base shear scaling factor to the spectral analysis.
The plate shear thickness is now multiplied by 5/6 internally.
Changed the plate drilling stiffness from a torsional stiffness to a factor.
Can now import custom toolbars from previous versions of SPACE GASS.
Added analysis menu keyboard shortcuts.
Added a tool to convert member offsets from local to global and vice-versa.
Added a tool to convert member and plate loads from local to global and vice-versa.
Added an option to the area loads tool to generate the loads in local axes rather than global.
Most portal frame builder filters are now based on coordinates rather than member lists.
No longer include combinations with no mass in the mass details report.
The steel member design report now shows Kt, Kl and Kr (or Kb) as zero for user-defined bending effective lengths.
Now update the buckling load factor (BLF) in the graphics legend whenever the load case or mode is changed. Previously it just showed the same initial BLF.
No longer reset the buckling mode shape scale when the mode or load case is changed.
Added an option to sort the buckling load factor report by load factor rather than load case.
The AISC-360 steel member design module now optionally does section checks taking advantage of equations H1-1a and H1-1b for supported section types. This makes it much less conservative for those cases.
Raised the maximum number of members per steel design group from 50 to 100.
Raised the stations per steel member limit from 1000 to 5000.
Raised the modes limit from 99 to 1000 in the spectral part of the text file importer.
Fixed analysis results sometimes being unavailable for combinations that contain spectral load cases.
Fixed the plate cut graphics and query for when multiple load cases are selected so that it shows the absolute maximums rather than just the highest value. For example, if three load cases were selected with plate cut values of 90,-120,60, it now displays -120 rather than 90.
Now support "Show selected members only" for a steel member selection.
A link to the IDEA StatiCa steel connection design software has been included.

Version 12.85 to 12.92 - legacy version, limited support and maintenance, Version 12.92 legacy download available

Version 12.92

Build 12.92.2122 (March 22, 2024):

Fixed AISC360-10 LRFD and ASD steel member design where a rolled compact double symmetric section with axial compression and significant negative minor axis moment, would incorrectly use Clause H1-3.
Fixed looping missing folder message at startup.
Minor fix related to Moving Load generator.

Build 12.92.2120 (June 16, 2023):

Corrected a significant bug in the AS4600 design module for top hat sections involving the calculation of ϕMbx if λb > 0.6 (AS4600:2018 clause 3.3.3.2.1). The value of the monosymmetric constant β for a top hat section was negative which reversed the sign of Cs in eq D2.1.1(4). This caused the calculation of the elastic buckling moment Mo to be reversed. So, when there was compression at the shear centre, Mo was significantly smaller (unconservative) but when there was tension at the shear centre Mo was significantly larger (conservative). Only top hat sections were affected.

Build 12.92.2119 (June 8, 2023):

Fixed an issue when exporting to Excel from the steel connection or reinforced concrete design modules which caused the export to cut off the last character in each cell and put it in the next cell.
Added an additional check to the tubular bolted end plate splice connection if it was in tension and the bolts were placed beyond the outside corners of the tube’s cross section. This is now reported as a fail rather than just showing invalid bolt placement warnings.

Build 12.92.2118 (June 1, 2023):

For members with a non-zero principal angle, when calculating intermediate member moments for the design modules, reports and graphics, the extra P-delta intermediate moments were being calculated from non-principal displacements rather than principal. This changed the intermediate shape of the bending moment diagrams slightly but not the end values. It has now been fixed.
Fixed an incorrect unit conversion of member rotational spring stiffnesses in the steel member design modules when calculating intermediate member forces and moments. This happened with members that had an "S" fixity code in the 5th or 6th positions (eg. fixity FFFFSS) and affected the intermediate member forces and moments, but not the end values.
Fixed the legacy AISC LRFD 1993 and AISC ASD 1989 steel member design modules having their U and Cb coefficients out of sync in the design form. The U coefficient was getting the Cb form setting and the Cb coefficient was not being set in the form. This started in v12.60 in 2017 when support for AISC 360-16 was added.
When designing/checking a steel member that had a mixture of very large and very small effective lengths (eg. lcx=30,000mm and lcy=1mm), the AS4600 design module was calculating an axial compression capacity that was too small. This was due to ill-conditioning of the effective lengths in the design code formula that has now been allowed for in SPACE GASS.
Corrected a divide by zero issue in the calculation of Cm values in the Eurocode steel member design module that occurred when the member's axial load was zero. It only happened when the Annex A option was ticked (it is unticked by default) and resulted in the member's capacity being overestimated. Refer Eurocode EN 1993-1-1:2005 Table A.1 page 77.
Updated the Generate Plate Spring Supports tool to replace existing compression-only members and spring supports rather than just adding to them. Previously it could have generated a duplicate set of compression-only members and spring supports each time the tool was used.

Version 12.91

Build 12.91.2115 (December 9, 2022):

Changed the AS1170.4 spectral response analysis to use a minimum value of kpZ = 0.08 for all probabilities of exceedance not listed in Table 3.3 (ie. above 1/500). The table is not clear on it, but the 0.08 values in Table 2.1 imply that 0.08 is the absolute minimum.
Changed the NZS1170.5 spectral response analysis for the serviceability limit state to apply equation 5.2(2) using Rs in place of Ru. Previously 5.2(2) was not applied for the serviceability limit state.
Added warnings to the AS1170.4 spectral analysis module about using the NZ code if the structural ductility factor (μ) exceeds 3.0 or the hazard factor (z) exceeds 0.3 in accordance with AS1170.4 clause 2.2.
Now include the lane factor and dynamic factor when exporting or importing moving load data with Excel or a text file. They were previously omitted.
Changed the minimum reinforcement for AS3600 crack control in slabs so that it is checked against the total reinforcement rather than the reinforcement in each face. In previous versions it was assumed that the minimum reinforcement for crack control had to be in each face.
The moment magnification factor in the AS3600 concrete column module was being applied to the calculated design actions but not to the minimum design action for moment (usually 0.05D x N*). This has now been fixed.
Fixed an issue with the pinned baseplate connection that overestimated the weld length which resists the shear parallel to the flanges when the “Included inside flange weld” option is on. The weld length could have been overestimated by up to 50% which could have caused the weld for flange shear to be under-designed by up to 33%.
Fixed a steel connection error message that appeared if a web doubler plate was too thin, even if there was no web doubler. It was checking the doubler thickness regardless of whether the doubler actually existed or not.
Fixed two issues in the steel connection design module if the Reset button was clicked.
- It would go into design mode and do a design whenever a subsequent change was made, causing the change just made to sometimes be overwritten.
- For bolted end plate and welded moment connections, if the Ok button was clicked after the Reset without the Design or Check buttons being clicked first, it would save the stiffener checkboxes as unticked. The danger of this is that any subsequent reports or graphics would show the connection as having no stiffeners even though the design and governing utilization ratio could have been based on stiffeners being present.
When querying plate cuts by right-clicking, the results displayed were generally extremely large and obviously wrong. This has now been fixed.
Corrected offsets of tapers in the taper/haunch tool when the centroid is not at the center of the section. This would have caused tapered T-beams or members with unequal flanges and the like to be offset incorrectly in the tool.
Corrected the final offsets of tapers and haunches in the taper/haunch tool if the original member had an offset in local axes.
Fixed the Find and Filter tools only finding plates with +ve offsets when looking for plates with offsets.
Now delete analysis results after section properties have been updated from a steel member design.
Changed the fabrication for RHS, SHS and CHS sections in the Aust250 library to cold formed.

Version 12.90

Build 12.90.2113 (July 8, 2022):

When displaying plate cut results with multiple load cases selected, the maximums from the selected load cases were not being assembled correctly, causing the displayed results to be incorrect. This has now been fixed so that the maximums from the selected load cases are shown correctly. The plate cut results displayed for only one load case or combination at a time were not affected and were already being displayed correctly.

Build 12.90.2110 (June 28, 2022):

Changed the ɸ factor from 0.7 to 0.9 for shear key bending in the steel connection design module.
Changed the bolt clash check in bolted end plate connections from a failure to a warning.
The value of ɸMcts for column web stiffeners displayed in the report under check 22 was calculated based on doubler plates being present even if there were no doubler plates. This was just a reporting issue and didn’t affect the internal stiffener calculations.
In moment end plate connections, when both top & bottom stiffeners and a web doubler plate were present, the critical load case may have been incorrectly reported if the shear check (check 21) governed. It was just a reporting issue that didn’t affect the design calculations.
The "Sum" line in the reactions report was sometimes inaccurate if a small number of decimal places was used. This is because fewer decimal places could cause some lines to show all zeroes and hence be omitted from the report and also from the "Sum" calculation. We now include them in the "Sum" calculation even if they are omitted from the report.
Fixed a bug in the AS/NZS 1170.2 versions of the portal frame builder where the Mt and Ms factors (if calculated) weren’t being updated if the building dimensions were changed. This only happened if the Ms and Mt values were obtained from their "Calculate" button and the "Apply same wind load in all directions" was unticked. It only affected the directions that were not selected (ie. the calculated Ms and Mt values in the selected direction were updated correctly).
AS4100 / NZS3404 steel member designs now allow PFC, TFC, EA, UA, BT or CT sections to be stress-relieved. Previously they were treated as hot-rolled if specified as stress-relieved.
AS4100 / NZS3404 steel member designs now regard CHS, SHS and RHS sections specified as stress-relieved to be welded stress-relieved tubes (CHS) or welded stress-relieved box sections (SHS and RHS). Previously they were treated as cold-formed if specified as stress-relieved.
Improved the estimate of the number of elements to be generated by the various meshing tools. Previously this overestimation was sometimes grossly high, preventing the meshing from going ahead even if the actual number of elements generated would have been well below the maximum limits.
Fixed SDNF imports sometimes generating duplicate sections. It was due to a case sensitive section name matching problem.
The projection vector passed to IFLink19 was sometimes being normalized, causing the vertical check to not work properly for members that are close to vertical. This affected the IFC importer and when switching the vertical axis in SG from Y to Z or vice-versa, and could have caused any "close to vertical" members to be rotated incorrectly.

Build 12.90.2105 (March 15, 2022):

For bolted end plate and welded moment connections with a web doubler plate and two transverse web stiffeners, the AS4100 steel connection design module was showing the wrong web doubler plate thickness in the drawing notation and was reporting "N/A" for the web doubler and transverse web stiffener checks in the text report even though they were shown correctly in the drawing. This has been fixed.
Corrected the torsion constant calculations in the shape builder for sections comprised of multiple shapes that include trapezoids, triangles or polygons.
Now use a new algorithm for plate cuts based on nodal values so that they are accurate even if plate cuts are placed near a point of stress concentration such as you would get with an internal corner. Previous versions calculated the plate cut values from an integration of the forces and moments from the underlying plate elements, which could have been adversely affected if they were placed near areas of stress concentration. For more information, refer to "https://spacegass.com/manual/#Input_and_Editing_Tools/Plate_cuts.htm".
When starting SPACE GASS by double-clicking a job that has an "-s" or "-i" in its name we no longer treat this as a command line switch, unless the -s or -i has spaces around it.
Removed a false load combination clash message during a static analysis if a combination contained both static and response step load cases.
Fixed pressure loads in the moving load generator being shown in the wrong position when Z was vertical. This was just a visual issue.
Corrected the section property calculations for points shapes containing root radii.
Fixed the open splice connection ignoring any user change to the width of the inside flange plates.
When entering a point with the keyboard using polar coordinates it now takes into account whether Y or Z is vertical.
Corrected a units conversion issue in the Seaload module for marine growth self-weight. It was correct for plates but was being underestimated by a factor of 1000 for members. Note that this only affected the marine growth self weight and not its drag effect on wave actions.
Stopped the conversion of local member offsets in the Structure Wizards when converting to Z-up.
Now copy sample jobs into the default job folder rather than the last used job folder.
Included a number of other minor enhancements and fixes.

Version 12.85

Build 12.85.2099 (July 5, 2021):

Corrected the self-weight component of analysis result diagrams in the renderer for members that had a section area reduction factor other than 1.0. The RC beam design module was also similarly affected and has been fixed. The analysis, text reports, other design modules and traditional interface result diagrams were not affected.

Build 12.85.2098 (June 29, 2021):

Corrected Z member thermal gradients (causing deformation in the member's local Z-axis direction) being applied in the wrong (reverse) direction. Y member thermal gradients and plate thermal gradients were not affected. This issue has been present in all versions of SPACE GASS since member thermal gradients were first added in v11.00 on September 7, 2012.
Now include welds along the top and bottom (as well as sides) of flange doublers in end plate connections.
For welded plate connections with doubler plates the utilization ratio was being reported for the case of no doubler plates. This was just a reporting issue with everything being done correctly internally.
The shape builder no longer calculates the torsion constant for sections comprised of multiple shapes. It was just summing them for each shape which wasn’t accurate and could have even resulted in a negative torsion constant if there were negative shapes (voids) present.
Fixed the tubular splice and moment connection percentages for axial and bending minimum design actions being shown the wrong way around in the report. For example 30% of ɸNs and 50% of ɸMz was shown in the report as 50% of ɸNs and 30% of ɸMz. It was just a reporting issue and the internal values were correct.
When subdividing a member with thermal or prestress loads they are now duplicated onto the new subdivided members.
CQC is now the default spectral mode combination method.
No longer include combinations with no mass in the mass details report.
The steel member design report now shows Kt, Kl and Kr (or Kb) as zero for user-defined bending effective lengths.
Now update the buckling load factor (BLF) in the graphics legend whenever the load case or mode is changed. Previously it just showed the same initial BLF.
No longer reset the buckling mode shape scale when the mode or load case is changed.
The AISC-360 steel member design module now optionally does section checks taking advantage of equations H1-1a and H1-1b for supported section types. This makes it much less conservative for those cases.
Raised the stations per steel member limit from 1000 to 5000.
Raised the modes limit from 99 to 1000 in the spectral part of the text file importer.
Fixed analysis results sometimes being unavailable for combinations that contain spectral load cases.
Fixed the plate cut graphics and query for when multiple load cases are selected so that it shows the absolute maximums rather than just the highest value. For example, if three load cases were selected with plate cut values of 90,-120,60, it now displays -120 rather than 90.

Build 12.85.2095 (January 18, 2021):

Fixed a problem when displaying enveloped analysis results graphically in the renderer for a load case group. The values from some load cases in the group may have been missed when calculating the minimums and maximums. This was a graphical display problem only and did not affect any of the analysis, reporting or design modules. The problem only happened if enveloping was turned on when a load case group was already selected in the top toolbar and the maximum number of load case components was exceeded (a setting in the Settings menu => General Preferences that is not supposed to affect enveloping). The problem didn't happen if "All Load Cases", "All Primary Load Cases" or "All Combination Load Cases" were selected or if a load case group was selected after enveloping had already been turned on.
Fixed the display of plate cut results for when multiple load cases are selected so that it shows the values with the largest magnitudes rather than just the highest values. For example, if three load cases were selected with plate cut values of 90,-120,60, it now displays -120 rather than 90.
Raised the modes limit from 99 to 1000 in the spectral part of the text file importer.
Fixed analysis results sometimes being unavailable for combinations that contain spectral load cases.
Fixed nodes sometimes being included in a filter incorrectly if the filter contained a coordinate range plus another filter rule.

Build 12.85.2092 (November 24, 2020):

Fixed a crash in the steel member design report due to too many characters being written to a line of the report when it was splitting up the list of members in a steel group into separate lines.
Sped up the importing of text files back to how it was in v12.80 and earlier versions. The slowness was caused by the status line at the bottom that displays "Reading line n..." being updated too often during the import.
Corrected the moving load travel path root radii being shown in the wrong plane if the Z axis was vertical. This was purely visual and didn't affect the actual generated loads.

Build 12.85.2091 (November 9, 2020):

No longer stop with an error message if there are no dynamic modes within the specified min/max limits when using the Paradise solver.
Fixed a "There was an error processing your click" error that could have occurred sometimes when drawing members or plates when the "Use previous selected properties" setting was on.
Corrected the "Moment residual" units label shown in the "Analysis completed" message at the end of a static analysis.
Included a few other minor corrections.

Build 12.85.2088 (September 29, 2020):

Fixed two calculation bugs in the AS3600 reinforced concrete column design module as detailed below. Note that these bugs have been in the RC column module since its initial release in July 2015 (v12.24). The old superseded AS3600 RC column module and the IS456 RC column module were not affected.
The M1/M2 ratio in clause 10.3.1 was being calculated without proper regard for the signs of M1 and M2 which sometimes caused the ratio to be inverted. The inversion would have happened if the larger of M1 and M2 was negative. This had the following implications:
- km was being underestimated for the reverse curvature case when M1/M2 < 0.5, causing it to be set to 0.4 instead of being in the range from 0.4 to 0.6. km was calculated correctly for the reverse curvature case if M1/M2 >= 0.5 or for the single curvature case if M1 and M2 were both positive. It was overestimated for the single curvature case if M1 and M2 were both negative. Note that the underestimated km may not have affected the final moment magnifier δb if km/(1-N*/Nc) < 1.0 because in that case δb = 1.0 would have been used (clause 10.4.2).
- If M1/M2 was inverted then braced columns could have been classified as short instead of slender as per clause 10.3.1(1). Unbraced columns were unaffected.
The definition of "significant transverse loading between its ends" in clause 10.4.2 was not being interpreted correctly, causing the km = 1.0 adjustment to not be done even if significant transverse loading was applied. In the absence of a precise AS3600 definition of what significant transverse loading is, SPACE GASS now calculates the net transverse load applied between the column ends and then determines what effect that has on the stress at the extreme fibre of the column cross section. If it changes the extreme fibre stress by more than 10% of 0.6√f'c then it is considered to be a significant transverse load and km is set to 1.0.
Deflections in the AS3600 RC beam design module are now calculated for each load case separately and then enveloped. Previously they were calculated based on an envelope of the maximum moments from each load case.
When importing a DXF file, the model can now be moved to the origin without requiring an $EXTMIN line in the file.
A script file can now have a "STOP" or "END" command to end the script and leave SG running without a message being displayed. A message is displayed if SPACE GASS is left running at the end of the script without a STOP or END command.
A script file can now have a "CLOSE" or "EXIT" command to end the script and close SPACE GASS.
A script file can now have an "IMPORTPFB" command to import a portal frame builder file.
Corrected the harmonic/transient analysis summary snapshot at the end of the analysis showing the values out of order (eg. Dsp, Vel, Acc, Rot, Rv, Ra was incorrectly labelled as Dsp, Rot, Vel, Rv, Acc, Ra).
Stopped the merge form appearing when using the merge job tool in script mode.
Now prevent combination factors of zero which could have come from the portal frame builder, causing a counter mismatch error in the combination load cases. Plus zero multiplying factors are now discarded in the combination load cases datasheet.
Filters defined by XYZ limits will now show nodes that are not connected to a visible member or plate.

Build 12.85.2070 (July 23, 2020):

Load case notes are now visible in the load case legend when hovering over a load case title.
Doubled the number of members and plates that can be selected for loading in the moving load generator.
Now show the number of load cases in a load case group in the "Manage load case groups" form.
Now allow for 5-digit load case numbers in steel design reports.
Added a "FLTR"n script option that lets the user choose a particular filter when exporting results. No longer ask about limiting the exported results to the current filter if a script is active.
No longer apply pass/fail criteria when exporting design results if a script is active.
Removed all "… successfully completed" messages when in script mode.
Now allow for up to 256 characters in the script command line extra string. Previously it was 128 characters and this sometimes truncated long filespecs.
In datasheets, if you are in a multi-line cell and press Enter it goes to the next line rather than committing the cell.
Prevented a crash when accessing the previous jobs list that was happening with a small number of users on specific hardware.
When drawing a node or the start of a line, the relative keyboard notation (eg. @10,5) now works again using the current "locked on" node or point along a member as the reference point. This was first introduced in v12.65.1390 but was omitted when the new drawing editor was released in the initial v12.85.
Fixed plate deflection contours being based on the deflection of each plate’s last node instead of all its nodes.
Included a number of StaadPro, IFC and Revit import/export corrections, data validations and speed increases.
Fixed the portal frame builder generating incorrect rafter loads if a monoslope portal had a prop at 50% or more from the left.
Fixed member contours not displaying the correct colours/values for members that have concentrated loads applied to them. It was caused by the contouring not taking into account the extra stations added internally at the concentrated load locations and the colours/values being taken from the wrong station when this happens.
Fixed a bug in the AISC 360-16 steel member design that was skipping clause H1 for non-flanged sections and was using the more conservative clause H2 instead. This was correct for the 2010 version, but was changed in the 2016 version.
Fixed a minor bug in the AISC 360 steel member design reporting the wrong position for the maximum combined force in the cross section.
Updated the welded moment connection report to state "Stiffener" instead of "Failed" if a stiffener would fix the problem.

Build 12.85.2060 (June 5, 2020):

Added a "Gradually activated" option for tension/compression-only members in the analysis for models that became unstable due to too many members being disabled initially.
Added "Notes" groups that allow you to turn on/off multiple notes according to their groupings.
Now include plate deflections when showing buckling mode shapes. Note that this previously worked but was broken in the initial v12.85.
No longer manually request a new section when doing a steel member "Interrupted check" if the section fails but the failure is not section size related (eg. no buckling analysis results, invalid restraints, etc).
Can now import StaadPro STD files in the trial version of SPACE GASS.
Fixed a number of minor issues when importing/exporting StaadPro STD and IFC files.
Fixed the plate transverse shear calculation reporting grossly high transverse shear stresses. The transverse shear forces and all other plate actions and stresses were calculated correctly.
Added smaller % steps to the progress bar when producing a report.
Can now properly cancel a report if the analysis result items are taking too long.
The report progress bar now shows which part of the report is being generated for the analysis result items.
The measure/dimension form is now made semi-transparent if visible when selecting the second point of a new measure/dimension line.
The decimal places used in the measure/dimension form are now set according to the current units.
Corrected an issue importing combination load case data into a datasheet if the data being pasted went too many columns across with no data in a heading column.
Changed the Titan client tool so that when the "All Users" setting is enabled, a check for admin rights will only occur if an actual change has occurred. Previously, a check for admin rights was always done when the "All Users" setting was enabled whether there was a change or not.

Build 12.85.2049 (April 29, 2020):

The spectral response analysis has now been moved into the main 64-bit solver, allowing it to now run much faster.
Can now save the current view settings as the default for new jobs. This used to be in the View menu which was removed.
Fixed the one-way area loader giving slightly different results depending on the selection order.
Revit 2020 and 2021 are now supported and Revit 2019 has been removed.
Have improved the design algorithm in the bolted moment plate connection to find a solution where previously it sometimes couldn’t.
Fixed the wrong utilization ratio sometimes being shown for the bolted plate moment connection, even though the overall pass/fail result was shown correctly. It was caused by one of the stiffener utilization ratios being used even though "No stiffeners" was selected.
Fixed the "Split plates" tool not cleaning up loads and leaving some of them attached to non-existent plates.
The weld strength option (normal/high) for flange doubler plates in the bolted end plate connection was being saved as the web doubler plate weld strength and so was always left at its default value.

Build 12.85.2031 (April 14, 2020):

This build addresses a number of minor bugs found since the initial release of v12.85. Other changes are listed as follows.
Added an option to convert the job data if the vertical axis is changed from Y to Z or vice-versa.
Added a wind direction image to the wind generator form.
Corrected a potential corruption of the rotational mass values reported in the mass details report.
Corrected the "Analysis only" and "Design only" report buttons so that they generate the analysis or design report instead of the full report.
When importing from StaadPro, multiple loads on a particular node were being treated as duplicates and discarded when in different load cases. This has now been fixed, plus multiple loads on the same node are now summed if they are in the same load case.
Fixed combination load case multiplying factors always being taken as 1.0 when calculating member intermediate values due to thermal gradients. This applied to intermediate member reports, steel member designs and the traditional interface graphics, but not the analysis or renderer graphics.
Fixed the "Smooth plate contours based on visible plates only" option being ignored and taken as "On" if enveloping was turned on.
Updated the Steltech section libraries by (a) appending the section names with WB and WC so that they get designed as flamecut sections (instead of rolled plates) for alpha b calcs in NZ3404 table 6.3.3 (and AS4100) – ie. they are treated as equivalent to the australian WB and WC sections, (b) updated their normal fys to take into account the 300MOD material it uses and (c) corrected the high strength fys for 12mm and 20mm plates as they were using a lower value than what the specification had (the original sections assumed <12 and <20 thickness for the change in fys but the specification is <=12 and <=20 for the change in fys).

Build 12.85.2000 (March 12, 2020):

The graphics drawing engine has been re-written so that it is now much more responsive and eliminates the problems associated with missed connections when attaching to existing nodes, members or plates.
Changed some of the "Attachment and alignment preferences" to make attaching to existing members and plates easier.
Introduced batch reports that let you select from a list of previously saved report configurations and then process them in a batch.
Text reports can now be configured and saved for later recall or included in a batch report.
Sped up the processing of combination load cases with a resulting dramatic speed increase in the analysis and design modules, and in the general responsiveness of SPACE GASS for jobs that have a large number of combination load cases.
The plate meshing engine has been updated so that the meshing tools now generate meshes that contain more well-conditioned quads rather than triangles. This results in less elements and a better conditioned model in general.
Added plate cuts that you can draw anywhere across a panel modelled with plate elements to define a cross section through the panel. You can then obtain the forces and moments summed over the cross section.
Released a new "Tank Builder" module that can be used to generate a complete flat, domed or Intze tank with or without support structure. The tank builder also generates all of the static and hydrostatic loads, plus wind loads to IS 875 (Part 3) : 2015 and seismic loads to IS 1893 (Part 2) : 2014.
Added colored member contours that show a full color representation of displacements, forces, moments and stresses along and across members.
Added a number of new skins and color pallets that can be accessed via the "Color preferences" configuration.
Labels for load and result diagrams can now have their own independent color rather than matching the color of the diagram.
Reactions and concentrated loads are now scalable in the graphics window.
Reactions can now be displayed for specific directions in the graphics window.
Added enveloped analysis result queries.
Can now print the graphics to any user specified scale.
Can now export from SPACE GASS to StaadPro files.
Plate elements can now be included in IFC, StaadPro and Revit imports and exports.
The "IFC4.1" and IFC2x3" schemas are now supported in IFC imports and exports. Previously only the "IFC2x3" schema was supported.
When importing a section via a TXT file, a non-zero torsion constant in the imported section properties is now retained rather than being overwritten by the calculated torsion constant.
The "Check connectivity" tool has been substantially expanded to look for extra levels of connectivity, missed connections and separate sub-structures. It can now produce a report that summarizes possible connection issues.
Added a "Repeat last action" facility that restarts the last action whenever the Spacebar is pressed.
Added an "Invert selection" tool that selects all the items that were not selected and deselects all the items that were selected.
Added "Select in-line members" and "Select subdivided members" tools that allow you to quickly select members that lie in a straight line.
Added a "Select intersection nodes" tool that allows you to select the nodes where members or plates intersect a plane of plates or where there is a change in direction of members.
Added "Select perimeter nodes" and "Select perimeter members" tools that allow you to select the perimeter nodes or members around a plane that is defined by a selection of members or plates.
Added an option to specify the section ID of the members geing generated in the "Generate offset members" tool.
Added a "Load contiguous members" tool that allows you to select multiple members that are connected end-to-end and then load them as if they were just one member.
Added a "Varying member distributed loads" tool that allows you to select multiple members and then apply distributed forces that vary linearly or are based on an equation that you can define.
A "Find" facility has been added to datasheets for searching for specific text anywhere within a datasheet.
Enveloped diagrams of "Absolute maximums" now retain the sign of the maximums rather than setting them all to positive.
Recent jobs are now in a "Recent jobs" sub-menu of the File menu which includes a thumbnail image of each recent job and some brief information about it. Up to 50 recent jobs can now be displayed.
Value-based transparency allows you to see the minimum and maximum values in a plate or member contour diagram more easily.
Added a filter option that limits the displayed nodes to just the ones connected to visible members, plates, plate strips and plate cuts.
The beep at the end of an analysis can now be turned off in the "General preferences".
The shape builder can now import or export coordinates for shapes defined by boundary points.
The shape builder can now import a cross section directly from a DXF file.
The shape builder now takes into account the double web thickness of back-to-back Cee sections when calculating the torsion constant.
Changed the portal frame builder so that steel member origins are now consistent on both sides of the building so that they start at the bottom for columns and the knee for rafters.
Can now do punching shear checks for columns supported on raft footings.
Added columns to the raft footing wizard so that it can do punching shear checks.
Added a new bearing pressure plate contour type for raft footings.
Fixed a bug in the intermediate member deflection calculations under member distributed loads when a finite shear area is used.
Filtering has now been added to the steel member design modules so that you can select the members to be designed by filter rather than having to list them manually.
The plate drilling stiffness in static, buckling and dynamic frequency analyses can now be set by the user. In previous version of SPACE GASS it was hardwired to 0.0001 Nmm/rad. Being able to control the drilling stiffness can help with eliminating instabilities and ill-conditioning, plus it can help with finding eigenvalues in a buckling or dynamic frequency analysis.
For the NZS1170.5 spectral response analysis module, the 0.4s lower minimum imposed on the period for the purposes of calculating kμ for base shear scaling in clause 5.2.1.1 is no longer applied for user-defined periods.
Fixed the moving load animation applying incorrect vehicle speeds if there were multiple vehicles in a scenario. The position and time display at the bottom was also reinstated.
The AS3600 reinforced concrete beam and concrete column design modules have now been updated for AS3600:2018.
The IS456 reinforced concrete beam and concrete column design modules have now been updated IS13920:2016.
Fixed a problem in the reinforced concrete beam module where the Y and Z node coordinates at the ends of beam could be swapped if opened in the RC beam editor when the job has the Z axis vertical. This may not have been visually apparent until after the job was saved and re-opened. It would have also most likely caused various design errors in the RC beam design module.
The IS456 reinforced concrete column module has been updated to automatically calculate effective length k factors based on the stiffness of the interconnecting members.
Updated the reinforced concrete slab module to design for torsion as an option. Previously torsion was always considered.
Updated the reinforced concrete slab module to design for shear using the general or simplified methods. Previously only the simplified method was available.
The reinforced concrete slab support detection now correctly allows for a start longitudinal offset in its plate strip.
The pull-out / break-out checks in moment and pinned baseplate connections can now be disabled because they assume an unreinforced footing.
Bolted end plate and welded moment connections can now have doubler plates together with top and bottom web stiffeners instead of just allowing one or the other.
For bolted end plate and welded moment connections the user can now set the minimum design action as a percentage of ɸMs rather than being hardwired to 50% of ɸMs.
In moment baseplate connections the minimum edge distance > 6* bolt diameter check is now a warning instead of an error because the edge distance can be less if the footing is reinforced.
Shear checks in baseplate connections now include bolts and shear key (if specified) even if friction alone is adequate. This was changed because friction alone often resulted in high utilization ratios that gave the impression that shear was close to failure even though it wasn’t.

Version 12.80 - End of Life - no longer supported, maintained or available

Version 12.80

Build 12.80.1729 (February 8, 2020):

Improved the processing of combination load cases, resulting in dramatic speed improvements for jobs with lots of combination load cases. The speed improvements affect the analysis, design and reports, plus the graphical displaying and querying of results.
Substantially improved the speed of steel member design/checks for IS800.

Build 12.80.1726 (December 17, 2019):

Added a new "Mass details" report that calculates and displays the total translational and rotational mass together with the centre of mass for each mass load case.

Build 12.80.1720 (July 26, 2019):

Fixed moment baseplate connections not taking into account bending moments in the weld checks. Only shear forces were being considered. This bug has been present since moment baseplate connections were first added in v12.50.
Added truss rafters to the portal frame builder.
Added support for Revit 2020.
Corrected an issue in the fully welded tubular connection which would not correctly calculate the supported distance from the supporting face if the first supported member was rotated 90 deg.
Prevented filters from being corrupted if changes made in the filters form were reversed using Undo.
Now correctly show plate load contour diagrams for non-analysed load cases. Previously only the analysed load cases were being shown.
Now update reinforced concrete columns after a subdivide.
Fixed an issue when selecting via a crossing window while zoomed in whereby off-screen items could also get selected incorrectly.
Reversed the direction of some members in the portal frame builder so that all members in a frame now face the same way.
Cross bracing generated in the portal frame builder now points in opposite directions.
Fixed the portal frame builder generating wrong or missing loads on the RHS rafters if the roof pitch was zero.
Springs generated by the plate spring supports tool now always generates them on the underside of the plates, regardless of which way the local plate z-axes point.
No longer prevent merging of slave nodes that finish close together after a move, copy or mirror operation.

Build 12.80.1690 (May 23, 2019):

Now connect to the nearest member snap point when in solo mode. Previously it connected to the nearest point along the member if not near a snap point.
Finalised the RC slab punching shear calculations for IS456.
Added an option to ignore Iyz in the RC slab punching shear calculations.
Fixed the RC slab punching shear perimeter not extending to the edge of the slab when it should have if a drop panel was present.
Fixed the RC slab punching shear not being done correctly if the supporting column’s node B was at the slab end.
Fixed a problem that sometimes caused too many nodes to be filtered out in reports and in the traditional SPACE GASS interface if XYZ filter limits were used.
In the plate mesh tools, now treat nodes with restraints, constraints or loads as hard nodes.

Build 12.80.1680 (May 14, 2019):

Fixed graphical prints being clipped incorrectly.

Build 12.80.1676 (May 9, 2019):

A new reinforced concrete slab module for AS3600:2018 and IS456:2000 is now available.
A number of new advanced plate meshing tools have been added.
The AS/NZS 4600 cold formed steel member design module now supports AS/NZS 4600:2018.
You can now graphically query steel connections, concrete columns and concrete beams to obtain a summary of their design/check results.
A plate spring supports tool is now available to model the elasticity of soil supporting a slab or footing by generating spring supports based on the tributary area of each node in the slab or footing.
A number of new selection and other graphical shortcuts have been added.
The check connectivity tool can now optionally include connections via master-slave constraint links.
A shape generation tool allows you to easily create circles, squares and rectangles made from members.
Members can now be extruded to plate elements with the new member extrusion tool.
A new member offset generation tool is now available.
A new plate pattern loading tool is available that generates pattern loading on a slab or footing panel for all combinations of alternate and adjacent spans in both the longitudinal and transverse directions.
A new raft footing generation tool has been added to the structure wizard.
Plates are now included in the display of buckling mode shapes. Previously only members were displayed.
Filters are now adjusted during undo and redo operations.
Wood-Armer adjusted moments for plates are now included in output reports and queries.
When exporting reports to Excel, the special characters at the end of some numbers are now put into their own column rather than being in the same column as the number.
Fixed a moving load issue whereby if a wheel load lined up with the node of a subdivided member, each half of the subdivided member got an equal portion of the load and hence the node got two portions of the load instead of one.
Can now query plate analysis results and reinforcement when a plate contour diagram is visible.
Printed graphics is now better fitted to the hardcopy page.

Version 12.65 - End of Life - no longer supported, maintained or available

Version 12.65

Build 12.65.1519 (July 19, 2019):

Fixed a moving load issue whereby if a wheel load lined up with the node of a subdivided member, each half of the subdivided member got an equal portion of the load and hence the node got two portions of the load instead of one.
Fixed a few issues with filters in the old SG interface and in reports sometimes incorrectly filtering in/out nodes, members or plates if X/Y/Z limits were used.
Fixed plate contours not showing the correct "maximum" contour when enveloped with "Minimums and maximums".
Fixed moment redistribution in the RC beam module only being done for the first member in each span. This only affected spans with subdivided members.
Fixed the portal frame builder generating wrong or missing loads on the right side rafters if the roof pitch was zero.
Fixed moment baseplate connections not taking into account bending moments in the weld checks. Only shear forces were being considered. This bug has been present since moment baseplate connections were first added in v12.50.

Build 12.65.1506 (Feb 21, 2019):

Can now generate combination load cases that combine the harmonic or transient dynamic step load cases with other load cases at the same time as the step load cases are created.
Now auto-create load categories for harmonic/transient load cases when creating step load cases and their combinations.
No longer exclude connected plate strips when creating a filter based on selected plates.
Now prevent RC beam cross section diagrams from sometimes being truncated in reports.
Increased the buffer size for IFC imports so that long file headers can be handled.

Build 12.65.1502 (Jan 15, 2019):

The steel member design module has an internal limit of 25 numbers in the load case list, however the design form has been allowing up to 50 numbers in the list. This means that any load case numbers after the 25th in the list would be ignored. For example, if you had specified a load case list of "100-109,200-207,210-217,220-227,300-303,400-407,410-417,420-427,430-437,500-503,600,601,700-707,800,801,813", because it contains 27 numbers, the last two would be ignored and hence load cases 801 and 813 would not be designed/checked. Note that the 25 limit applies to how many numbers are in the list rather than how many load cases are in the list. For example, a list of "27,51-90" contains 41 load cases but only 3 numbers and is therefore within the 25 limit. You can check which load cases have been designed/checked by looking at the steel member design "Detailed calculations" report. This issue has been present in all versions of the steel member design module back to v11.01.211. The design form now allows only 25 numbers in the load case list.
Corrected a bug in the Seaload module that caused the wave direction to be incremented in successive scenarios rather than being set to what was specified for each scenario. This did not affect the first scenario and only affected the scenarios following one that had a non-zero wave direction.
Fixed a problem with saving the results of a harmonic response analysis if frequency sampling is used and a harmonic load case involves combining multiple source load cases.

Build 12.65.1491 (Dec 19, 2018):

In the RC beam design module, if moment re-distribution was turned on and based on "faces of supports", the amount of re-distributed moment was calculated from the moment at d from the support centreline rather than d/2, where d is the width of the support. It means that the amount of moment re-distribution was generally less than it should have been. This has been present in all versions of the RC beam design module back to v12.20.215 when it was first released but has now been corrected. Moment re-distribution based on "support centrelines" is not affected and was always done correctly.
You can now get the total length and weight for each section type in the bill of materials report.
Fixed an error 501 that could have occasionally occurred with Hasp hardware locks.

Build 12.65.1487 (Nov 11, 2018):

Now display plate principal stress vectors in both directions.
No longer merge nodes that are slaves.
Can now force a selection window by holding down Shift when clicking the first corner.
Can now skip merging of nodes when using the Move tool if Ctrl+Shift is held down.
Can now select all the plates in a plane by holding down Ctrl+Shift and then clicking a plate. Repeating the procedure de-selects them. This is also available via the right-click menu.
Added a new tool for refining the mesh of selected plates.
Added a new tool for merging triangular plates into quads.
Fixed a bug in the moment baseplate connection that caused the plate thickness calculation to be very conservative if the design moment was small. It was caused by fpmax (the maximum bearing pressure) being used instead of fp (the actual bearing pressure) in the baseplate thickness calculation in equation 3.3.12. This was due to a typo in the document that the baseplate design is based on (AISC Design Guide 1 – "Base Plate and Anchor Rod Design", 2nd edition).
Reduced the RC column maximum shear bar spacing for AS3600 to min(0.5D, 300, 15d) if V* > ɸVumin or min(0.75D, 500, 15d) if ɸVumin ≥ V* > 0.5ɸVuc or min(1.0D, 500, 15d) if V* ≤ 0.5ɸVuc, where D is the smallest column dimension and d is the smallest vertical bar diameter. Previously the maximum spacing was min(0.75D, 500, 15d) regardless of V*, which was unconservative if V* > ɸVumin.

Build 12.65.1452 (Oct 1, 2018):

Fixed the renderer not finding all occurrences of a primary load case if it was referenced multiple times inside a combination load case. For the combination load cases in question this affected the analysis result diagrams displayed in the renderer and the RC beam & column design modules in SPACE GASS v12.00 onwards. The analysis, steel design modules and reports were not affected.
Fixed the major and minor design actions being the wrong way around for transposed (flipped) sections in the steel connection design module. This affected SPACE GASS v11.09 onwards.
Added buckling and dynamic frequency analysis results to MS-Excel and MS-Access exports.
A shape builder "Library" points or lines shape was only getting converted to "Calculated" if the number of points was changed, the principal angle changed or if all three coordinates of a point were changed. The last check was incorrect and now only needs any one coordinate of a point to be changed for the shape to be converted to "Calculated".
Changed window selection so that it now works for graphics cards that previously had a problem.
Now include thermal loads when importing from a Microstran ARC file.
Now support MS-Excel XLS, XLSX and XLSM formats when exporting, but only for MS-Excel 2010 onwards.
Dramatically sped up the analysis and combinations datasheet when a large number of combination load cases exist.
Refined the shear calculations for some of the steel connections.
The design actions for baseplate connections are now summed from all the members that connect to the baseplate node and which fall on the same side of the baseplate as the selected column. Previously the design actions were taken from the baseplate node reaction, however this didn't work if the node was not restrained.
Fixed a number of other minor teething problems with v12.65.

Build 12.65.1415 (Aug 24, 2018):

Corrected the contour colour for triangular plates when displaying deflection contours.
Prevented a possible crash when inputting/editing data graphically using the old SPACE GASS user interface.

Build 12.65.1405 (Aug 17, 2018):

Fixed an issue in v12.65 builds 1390 to 1397 whereby loads could be deleted incorrectly. If you had input or edited loads graphically and then said "Yes" to the "You are about to overwrite one or more existing loads, do you want to continue?" question when closing the loads datasheet, the loads of all types on the selected nodes, members or plates within the load cases being worked on could have been replaced rather than just the loads of the type being input/edited.
Changed the baseplate connection design so that if the node reactions are zero then it takes the loads from the selected member instead.
Fixed the steel connection flange weld utilization ratio not being involved in the calculation of the critical load case.

Builds 12.65.1390-1397 (Aug 8-10, 2018):

New harmonic and transient dynamic response analysis modules are now available.
Fixed spectral response base shear scaling not being done due to a units conversion issue when other than kN force units were used. This affected the spectral module for NZS1170.5 from v10.70a to v12.60 and for IS1893 from v12.50 to v12.60. It would have been apparent by observing that the sum of the reactions was less than 80% or 100% of the total static force in the earthquake vector direction.
Load categories have been added that make it easy for you to identify and keep track of your loads independently of load cases.
The spectral response analysis module has been updated for AS1170.4-2007 Amendments 1 and 2, NZS1170.5-2004 Amendment 1, IS1893(Part1):2016, IS1893(Part2):2014, IS1893(Part3):2014 and IS1893(Part4):2015.
Options have been added to the spectral response analysis module for horizontal base shear scaling based on user specified modes or user defined periods.
Base shear scaling has been added as an option to the AS1170.4-2007 spectral response analysis module.
Dynamic mode shapes now have an animation controller that allows you to easily change the speed, amplitude and mode being displayed.
Extra script file options are available when exporting to a file that allow you to specify which types of analysis or design results are included in the export.
An option has been added to the moving load generator for loads that always stay within the ends of their travel path. This is useful for applications such as traveling overhead cranes that can't move beyond the ends of their crane rail.
Dramatically improved the moving load generation speed by pre-calculating the relationship between members that could potentially shield each other from wheel loads.
An option to retain loads belonging to unticked scenarios has been added to the moving load generator.
You can now abort the moving load generation using the Esc key if it is taking too long.
STD files from StaadPro can now be imported.
New plate contour diagrams are now available for plate thickness, pressure loads, thermal loads, Wood-Armer adjusted moments and local/global displacements.
Anti-aliasing has been added to text and lines in graphical prints for cleaner images.
Graphical prints are now tiled. This enables SPACE GASS to print huge high quality images without running out of memory.
Stress vectors can now be superimposed on principal stress plate contour diagrams. They provide a good graphical representation of the stress flow throughout a wall or slab.
An option for restoring the default shape builder toolbars has been added.
The wrong station being labeled for the maximum value in an enveloped displacement diagram has been fixed.
Nodes not connected to anything can now be copied or mirrored.
Carriage returns in the job details, load case titles and load categories are now retained if the job is exported to a text file and imported back in.
The Copy tool now has an option to include copying of master-slave constraints.
Jobs can now be opened by dragging them onto the SPACE GASS graphics window.
Now allow double-clicking a job file to open it while SPACE GASS is already running.
Lookup buttons have been added to datasheet cells for easy selection of load cases, section properties, material properties and load categories.
Steel members generated by the portal frame builder are now numbered to match their first analysis member.
When you save a view, the selected load case, filter and viewpoint are now also saved.
Show / hide selection tools have been added that let you invert the current selection or hide the non-selected items without having to create a filter.
When drawing a node or the start of a line, the relative keyboard notation (eg. @10,5) now works using the current "locked on" node or point along a member as the reference point.
When exporting to MS-Excel or MS-Access you can now choose which parts of the structural and load data are exported.
RHS, SHS and CHS sections have been added to the Euro libraries.
CHS sections and all the TATA tubular sections have been added to the India library.
The Find tool now has an option that allows all but one of each duplicate to be selected. This means that you can delete what it finds and you are then left with just one of each duplicate.
Equal angles and channels are no longer blocked as braces in accordance with NZS3404 clauses 12.5.2 and 12.5.3 when seismic checks are included. Unequal angles are now the only ones blocked.
The cable length is now modified if a cable member is subdivided.
You can now select which displacement labels are displayed (ie. global, local, x, y or z).
Now allow for fy and fu reduction and the calculation of reduced radius of gyration in axial compression torsional buckling capacities for thin G550 sections in AS4600.
Now allow negative values of Poisson’s ratio.
Now allow no UNITS line in a TXT file being imported provided it doesn’t contain any unit-dependent data.
Fixed an incorrect shear force diagram if a member concentrated load was placed at the start or end of a member. The diagram sloped up or down to the end shear rather than having a step there.

Version 12.60 - End of Life - no longer supported, maintained or available

Version 12.60

Build 12.60.936 (July 19, 2019):

Fixed moment redistribution in the RC beam module only being done for the first member in each span. This only affected spans with subdivided members.
Fixed the portal frame builder generating wrong or missing loads on the right side rafters if the roof pitch was zero.
Fixed moment baseplate connections not taking into account bending moments in the weld checks. Only shear forces were being considered. This bug has been present since moment baseplate connections were first added in v12.50.

Build 12.60.932 (Jan 15, 2019):

The steel member design module has an internal limit of 25 numbers in the load case list, however the design form has been allowing up to 50 numbers in the list. This means that any load case numbers after the 25th in the list would be ignored. For example, if you had specified a load case list of "100-109,200-207,210-217,220-227,300-303,400-407,410-417,420-427,430-437,500-503,600,601,700-707,800,801,813", because it contains 27 numbers, the last two would be ignored and hence load cases 801 and 813 would not be designed/checked. Note that the 25 limit applies to how many numbers are in the list rather than how many load cases are in the list. For example, a list of "27,51-90" contains 41 load cases but only 3 numbers and is therefore within the 25 limit. You can check which load cases have been designed/checked by looking at the steel member design "Detailed calculations" report. This issue has been present in all versions of the steel member design module back to v11.01.211. The design form now allows only 25 numbers in the load case list.
In the RC beam design module, if moment re-distribution was turned on and based on "faces of supports", the amount of re-distributed moment was calculated from the moment at d from the support centreline rather than d/2, where d is the width of the support. It means that the amount of moment re-distribution was generally less than it should have been. This has been present in all versions of the RC beam design module back to v12.20.215 when it was first released but has now been corrected. Moment re-distribution based on "support centrelines" is not affected and was always done correctly.
Fixed an error 501 that could have occasionally occurred with Hasp hardware locks.
Corrected a bug in the Seaload module that caused the wave direction to be incremented in successive scenarios rather than being set to what was specified for each scenario. This did not affect the first scenario and only affected the scenarios following one that had a non-zero wave direction.

Build 12.60.928 (Nov 12, 2018):

No longer merge nodes that are slaves.
Fixed a bug in the moment baseplate connection that caused the plate thickness calculation to be very conservative if the design moment was small. It was caused by fpmax (the maximum bearing pressure) being used instead of fp (the actual bearing pressure) in the baseplate thickness calculation in equation 3.3.12. This was due to a typo in the document that the baseplate design is based on (AISC Design Guide 1 – "Base Plate and Anchor Rod Design", 2nd edition).
Reduced the RC column maximum shear bar spacing for AS3600 to min(0.5D, 300, 15d) if V* > ɸVumin or min(0.75D, 500, 15d) if ɸVumin ≥ V* > 0.5ɸVuc or min(1.0D, 500, 15d) if V* ≤ 0.5ɸVuc, where D is the smallest column dimension and d is the smallest vertical bar diameter. Previously the maximum spacing was min(0.75D, 500, 15d) regardless of V*, which was unconservative if V* > ɸVumin.

Build 12.60.924 (Oct 2, 2018):

Fixed the renderer not finding all occurrences of a primary load case if it was referenced multiple times inside a combination load case. For the combination load cases in question this affected the analysis result diagrams displayed in the renderer and the RC beam & column design modules in SPACE GASS v12.00 onwards. The analysis, steel design modules and reports were not affected.
Fixed the major and minor design actions being the wrong way around for transposed (flipped) sections in the steel connection design module. This affected SPACE GASS v11.09 onwards.
Fixed spectral response base shear scaling not being done due to a units conversion issue when other than kN force units were used. This affected the spectral module for NZS1170.5 from v10.70a to v12.60 and for IS1893 from v12.50 to v12.60. It would have been apparent by observing that the sum of the reactions was less than 80% or 100% of the total static force in the earthquake vector direction.
A shape builder "Library" points or lines shape was only getting converted to "Calculated" if the number of points was changed, the principal angle changed or if all three coordinates of a point were changed. The last check was incorrect and now only needs any one coordinate of a point to be changed for the shape to be converted to "Calculated".
Dramatically sped up the analysis and combinations datasheet when a large number of combination load cases exist.
Refined the shear calculations for some of the steel connections.
The design actions for baseplate connections are now summed from all the members that connect to the baseplate node and which fall on the same side of the baseplate as the selected column. Previously the design actions were taken from the baseplate node reaction, however this didn't work if the node was not restrained.
Corrected the contour colour for triangular plates when displaying deflection contours.
The wrong station being labeled for the maximum value in an enveloped displacement diagram has been fixed.
Now allow negative values of Poisson’s ratio.
Fixed an incorrect shear force diagram if a member concentrated load was placed at the start or end of a member. The diagram sloped up or down to the end shear rather than having a step there.

Build 12.60.913 (Sep 1, 2017):

A critical bug in the portal frame builder that caused incorrect loads to be generated has been fixed. It was caused by a change made to the ka factor that resulted in it being incorrectly applied. Some of the loads being generated were conservative and others were non-conservative. This bug only affects SPACE GASS 12.60 in versions earlier than v12.60.896.
In the AS3600 RC column design module, the check for minimum shear steel was being skipped if the shear exceeded 0.5Vuc. This affects versions 12.24.285 to 12.60.884.
In the AS4100 steel connection design module, the end plate for tubular bolted splice and apex connections was, under some circumstances, labelled with the incorrect size in the graphical notation and report summary. This has now been rectified. It was correct in the dimensions shown graphically and in the main report.
Torsion stresses for square and rectangular tubular sections were reported with conservative (too high) values in text reports and in the traditional SPACE GASS graphical interface. The renderer graphics was not affected.
Includes some other minor improvements and fixes.

Build 12.60.863 (Aug 10, 2017):

Plate strips have been added. These allow you to draw lines across any surface that has been modelled with plate elements and then obtain diagrams of deflections, bending moments, shear forces, axial forces and stresses along the strip. These are useful for modelling things like column and middle strips on a slab.
Moment adjustments using the Wood-Armer method are now available for the plate strip bending moment diagrams.
Plate contour diagrams have been upgraded to show coloured contour steps, each of which represents a range of moment, force or stress values. The previous continuous contouring is also still available.
Plate displacements can now be shown as contour diagrams.
Factors can now be applied to a cross section's area, torsion constant and moments of inertia. These are useful for modelling cracked section properties in reinforced concrete members.
A new wind load calculator tool for AS/NZS 1170.2 and IS875 (Part 3) : 2015 has been added. The wind calculator can be selected from the main toolbar and is also accessible via the Area Load generation tool.
Detailed charts of analysis result diagrams are now available. You can access them by simply double-clicking on an analysis result diagram.
You can now define load case groups (selections) and select them from the load case dropdown box on the top toolbar and from wherever load cases are selected throughout the program.
Generation of text reports is now much quicker and will never run out of memory regardless of the size of the job.
Copy and Find when viewing text reports now works for the entire report rather than just the current page.
Loads shown graphically can now be displayed by load type with multiple load types able to be selected.
An STL import tool for importing plate models has been added. This allows you to import complex models that you have created in 3D modelling programs such as Sketchup or 3D Builder. Once imported, the model is fully meshed ready for analysis.
The IS875 version of the portal frame builder has been updated to support IS875 : 2015.
Now support steel member design to AISC 360-16.
Fixed double angles with their vertical "long" legs connected being incorrectly treated as upside-down in the AISC, Hong Kong, Indian, British and Eurocode steel member design modules.
Jobs are now saved with a preview image that you can view when scrolling through jobs before opening one.
Analysis and design results can be omitted when saving a job.
Added a "Save a Copy" option for SPACE GASS jobs.
The job compression method can now be specified when doing a "Save As" or "Save a Copy".
Fixed incorrect intermediate member values shown graphically in the renderer when global-projected member distributed forces were applied to inclined members. Vertical or horizontal members were not affected. Inclined members with local or global-inclined member distributed forces were not affected. Text reports and the steel design module were not affected. The reinforced concrete column and beam modules could have been affected if used with inclined beams or inclined columns subjected to global-projected distributed forces.
Added a line to reactions reports that shows the sum of the listed reactions. The sum of all reactions in the job is also retained.
Allow the torsion constant to be changed manually without deleting a section’s shape information.
The viewpoint can now be set directly by defining a horizontal and vertical angle.
The viewpoint, operating plane and projection mode (perspective vs orthographic) can now be selected by right-clicking on the view selector.
Added an option for the base to be wider than the walls in the plated box, plated round tank and plated round cone structure wizards.
Added options for internal supports and compression-only supports for the plated round tank and plated round cone structure wizards.
Added "Print" and "Copy to clipboard" buttons to various display forms such as Job Status, Analysis Results, Design Results, Error Messages, etc.
Changed the portal frame builder for AS/NZS1170.2 so that Md for each of the orthogonal building axes is now the maximum of the Md values taken from a 45deg arc on either side of the axis. Previously Md was calculated just for each orthogonal axis without considering a 45deg arc on either side of it.
Now show the number of items found in the Find tool.
Changed the 0.33 and 0.67 member snap positions to 1/3 and 2/3.
Removed the 32765 limit on combination load case multiplying factors, node restraint springs and spectral loads.
Mode shapes in reports can now be mass normalized. Mode shapes exported to text files are now always mass normalized.

Version 12.50 to 12.54 - End of Life - no longer supported, maintained or available

Version 12.54

Build 12.54.578 (Oct 2, 2017):

In the AS3600 RC column design module, the check for minimum shear steel was being skipped if the shear exceeded 0.5Vuc. This affects versions 12.24.285 to 12.54.575.
In the AS4100 steel connection design module, the end plate for tubular bolted splice and apex connections was, under some circumstances, labelled with the incorrect size in the graphical notation and report summary. This has now been rectified. It was correct in the dimensions shown graphically and in the main report.
Fixed double angles with their vertical "long" legs connected being incorrectly treated as upside-down in the AISC, Hong Kong, Indian, British and Eurocode steel member design modules.

Build 12.54.575 (Jul 6, 2017):

Changed the portal frame builder for AS/NZS1170.2 so that Md for each of the orthogonal building axes is now the maximum of the Md values taken from a 45deg arc on either side of the axis as per AS/NZS1170.2 section 2.3. Previously Md was calculated just for each orthogonal axis without considering a 45deg arc on either side of it.

Build 12.54.574 (May 31, 2017):

Solved some random problems caused by a Windows update that started being rolled out in April 2017. The Windows 10 Creator update adversely affects the obfuscation used in SPACE GASS 12.5 and so the fix in this release involves simply using a different obfuscation method. The reported effects of this Windows update include spurious errors and unpredictable behaviour in the portal frame builder (an "Invalid ridge position" error message), the shape builder (Tb getting the Tw value for I-shapes or Z shapes being drawn incorrectly) and the steel design modules (random errors and potentially incorrect results), however other unreported and potentially serious problems may also occur. The same problem has been reported in SPACE GASS 12.5 with some versions of Windows 7 and Windows 8, and we suspect that an update of a particular Windows component is responsible for the changed behaviour. For this reason we strongly recommend that you upgrade your SPACE GASS 12.5 regardless of which version of Windows you have.
Fixed incorrect intermediate member values shown graphically in the renderer when global-projected member distributed forces were applied to inclined members. Vertical or horizontal members were not affected. Inclined members with local or global-inclined member distributed forces were not affected. Text reports and the steel design module were not affected. The reinforced concrete column and beam modules could have been affected if used with inclined beams or inclined columns subjected to global-projected distributed forces.

Build 12.54.568 (Mar 1, 2017):

Changed the calculation of Pcbar in equation 8.80 of the Hong Kong steel member design module so that it is now limited by the compression effective lengths and the member length rather than just being based on the member length. This makes it considerably less conservative when combined actions govern.
Now allow for the SAP2000 IFC format of node restraints when importing from IFC.
The shear key depth and on/off toggle for baseplates are now being saved with the connection. In previous versions they were discarded when the connection editor was closed.
Fixed the calculation of shear strength in reinforced concrete columns (ɸVuc in AS3600 or τc in IS456) so that it is now based on the longitudinal tension reinforcement rather than the compression reinforcement. Previously the shear capacity was underestimated, making the column design/check conservative.
Now trap steel design groups that have not all members facing the same way if their cross section is not symmetrical about the minor axis (eg. Channels, CTs, EAs, UAs, etc).
Added a check for an out-of-date analysis solver.

Build 12.54.554 (Dec 15, 2016):

Updated the calculation of bending effective lengths in the IS800 steel member design module.
Now block members with negatively rotated sections from being checked in the steel member design module.
Allow more instances of timed-out Titan licences to be recovered without having to restart SPACE GASS.
The 32-bit solver is now included with the main SPACE GASS installation. This was a separate installation in versions 12.50 to 12.53 for users with older computers that couldn't run the 64-bit solver.

Version 12.53 (build 12.53.543)

When displaying dynamic mode shapes you can now press "M" to go straight to the desired mode rather than having to scroll through lots of modes to get to the one you want.
Changed the method of distributing moving loads to a plate’s nodes based on the distance from the load to each plate edge. The load is then distributed to the nodes at the ends of each edge based on where the closest point to the load is along the edge. This is more accurate than the previous method of loading a plate’s nodes based on the direct distance from the load to each node.
Added the member's L/r ratio to the info panel that appears when you hover over a member.
Corrected a bug that could have caused incorrect plate actions and stresses to be reported for plates that have thermal loads applied in two or more primary load cases which are then combined into a load combination. The analysis itself is correct and the other plates, members and nodes in the model are not affected, however the combinations involved need to be re-analysed with SPACE GASS 12.53 or later in order to reset the reported values for the affected plates. If you wish to get this bug fix without upgrading to v12.53 or later then upgrades for SPACE GASS 10.95 and 11.17 are available from Legacy Installations.
Added support for importing Midas IFC files.
Made the shape builder mirror and transpose buttons easier to see when they are pressed in.

Version 12.52 (build 12.52.522)

Added thermal gradient loads for members.
Fixed a labelling error that displayed "Degree" units for plate thermal gradients instead of "Degree/Length" units. The thermal gradient calculations were correct but the units were shown incorrectly.
Sped up the analysis by getting rid of unnecessary processing of Windows messages that were happening in a wait loop, and by giving the solver a higher processor priority. This has resulted in speed increases of up to 2x on typical laptops and over 10x on some older computers. The effect is not as noticeable on desktop computers with up-to-date technology.
You can now cycle through the previous selections using Ctrl+R. The last 10 selections are saved, however you can increase this via Settings => General Preferences.
The Find tool can now search the whole model or just within the current selection.
Added paging to the report viewer that speeds up the viewing of large reports and uses a minimal amount of memory regardless of the report size.
Design actions for baseplate connections are now taken from the node reaction rather than from the column attached to the baseplate. This is because if other members such as braces were attached directly to the base node then their forces and moments would not be reflected in the column design actions and hence would be missing from the connection design.
Added options for the portal frame builder to generate longitudinal roof bracing.
The steel member design now allows the user to set the desired availability and use only those library sections that comply. This allows you to avoid sections that are obsolete or hard to obtain when doing a steel member design.
Now optionally include dynamic natural frequencies, dynamic modes shapes, buckling load factors and buckling effective lengths when exporting to text files.
When drawing, if you click when a node is highlighted, even if the node isn’t quite inside the pick box then the node gets attached to. This change was made for people who assume that if a node is highlighted then you can attach to it regardless of whether it is inside the pick box or not.
Now show the progress when generating large reports.
Allow cancelling out of the generation of text reports and text file exporting.
The Ok button now only appears in datasheets after a change has been made. Previously, analysis and/or design results would be lost if Ok was clicked without any changes being made.

Version 12.51 (build 12.51.500)

Released a new version of the portal frame builder containing a completely re-written engine and new user interface. Note that build 500 is the first one with the new portal frame builder.
Roof wind loads were being generated with the wrong sign in the old portal frame builder for upwind roof slopes of 10 degrees or more with crosswind wind directions. Upgrading to the new portal frame builder eliminates this problem.
When in script mode you can now pause SPACE GASS, edit the script file and then restart the new script file from the beginning without shutting down SPACE GASS.
The PAUSE command in script files can now include a comment that is displayed when the pause happens.
No longer find false duplicates during a cleanup due to members having the same node at each end.
No longer merge nodes during a cleanup if they are connected to the same member.
Added new tubular connections for slotted end connections, welded tee connections and flattened end CHS connections. They are available with bracing cleats or gusset plates for up to three supported members.
Added being able to graphically select steel members and then open a datasheet of the selected steel members when in steel member viewing mode.
Added a tool for generating tapered surfaces made from plate elements, useful for tapered walls and the like.
Now calculate mass participation factors in the dynamic frequency analysis and include them in reports.
Now show the critical load case in result query infotips when displaying analysis diagrams with enveloping turned on.
Improved the ability of the Paradise solver to detect instabilities in models containing cables.
No longer automatically turn on deflections when showing plate contours.
No longer turn off the "View plates" button when showing plate contours.
Increased the dynamic mode limit to 1000.
Changed the spectral load datasheet and reports to have just one line per load case with a list of modes rather than requiring a separate line per mode.
Now allow negative pressures when using the varying plate pressure loads tool.
Included a number of minor bug fixes and improvements.

Version 12.50 (build 12.50.447)

Fixed a problem in the portal frame builder that caused "Region A" wind speeds to be used regardless of which region was selected. This problem was only present in v12.50.431 which was released on May 5, 2016.
Added support for hardware accelerated graphics with most modern graphics cards. Previously this was only available for some NVIDIA, ATI and AMD graphics cards. Hardware accelerated graphics not only offers graphical speed increases of 100x or more, but you also get fully rendererd deflections and shaded/transparent analysis result diagrams.
The library editor now displays the fully dimensioned cross section for the currently selected section.
You can now query analysis result diagrams by just moving the mouse cursor over them. The value of the diagram at the cursor location is displayed in an information box.
Added a centre of reactions calculation to the reactions report.
Now allow for transposed sections when importing Microstran ARC files.
Now allow copying to the clipboard from the combination load cases datasheet.
Added an option for higher resolution "true type" graphical text.
You can now change the graphical text size.
Added an option to turn off DPI awareness in SPACE GASS for people who prefer larger (but slightly less clear) screen text.
Section names and numbers can now be labelled on members.
You can now label just the end points, maximum points or both on analysis diagrams for members. Previously the end points and maximums were always labelled together.
Added support for Revit 2017, fixed some minor bugs in Revit 2016 imports and removed importing from Revit 2015.
Corrected the portal frame builder loads and service factors for NZ region W because they were being calculated for region C by mistake.
Transparency is now photorealistic. Previously it was pseudo transparency that wasn't always visually correct.
You can now move single nodes, members or plates one after another without having to restart the Move tool each time.
Added extra options for the Filter and Find tools that allow you to filter/find members that are vertical, horizontal or aligned with an axis.
Added the ability to subdivide relative to a point external to the members being subdivided. This means that you can do things like subdividing a selection of members at a point that is 10.5m above ground level for example.
Added a new plate taper generation tool. This can be useful for modelling walls that have a varying thickness such as retaining walls or tanks.
Added a new tool to copy members or plates to multiple locations. Once you have selected the members or plates to be copied you can then just click multiple locations to have them copied there.
Added a new Extrude tool that allows you to select multiple nodes and then extrude members from them in any direction.
Added support for IS800 (India) to the steel member design module.
Added support for IS456 (India) to the reinforced concrete beam and column design modules.
Added support for IS1893 (India) to the spectral analysis module.
Added new tubular connections to the AS4100 steel connection design module.
Added a fixed baseplate connection to the AS4100 steel connection design module.
You can now set the colour and transparency of filtered-out members and plates.
You can now select some steel members, right-click and then open them in a datasheet.
You can now double-click on notes to edit them.
The viewcube is moved to the left and is now combined with the global axes.
The global axis labels no longer disappear when the graphics screen loses focus.
The "Help => About SPACE GASS" screen now shows detailed info about the user’s system.
A number of improvements and fixes were added to the IFC and CIS/2 imports and exports.
A number of improvements and fixes were added to the Revit imports.
Fixed a bug in the portal frame builder if uneven bay spacings were used. It affected all "wind from the left" load cases (ie. load cases 5,10,11 and their combinations). The bug effectively treated the model as if the bay spacings were in the reverse order for the load cases involved.
During a steel member design/check, the minor axis compression effective length is now limited to the maximum distance between full and partial restraints if "Adjustments of minor axis compression effective length" is ticked. This makes the design/check less conservative if the reduction applies.
You can now import backup and ZIP jobs with a different name to the current job.
Added an option for getting principal forces and moments for members in text reports.
Changed the base shear scaling in the spectral analysis module for the "General" code so that it only takes effect if it increases the base shear. Previously it always adjusted the results to match the specified base shear scaling, even if that involved reducing the calculated results.

Version 12.00 to 12.29 - End of Life - no longer supported, maintained or available

Version 12.27 (build 12.27.365)

Includes a new moving loads tool that allows for stationary and moving loads in the form of vehicles, pressure patches and line loads. Loads can now be applied to plates as well as members, plus a proximity distance setting lets you model multi-level roadways with different moving loads on each level.
Fixed a critical bug in the new steel connection design module affecting beam-to-beam connections in which the major and minor axis shears may be incorrectly swapped. Only web side plate, flexible end plate and bolted angle cleat beam-to-beam connections are affected. Tubular connections are not affected nor are connections designed with the old steel connection design module. This bug affects versions 12.23 to 12.26 inclusive which were released between May 1 and December 24, 2015.
When importing a CIS/2 or IFC step file, the model being imported is now moved to the global origin by default. This is to avoid finishing up with huge node coordinates if the data in the file is in "World" coordinates. The moving can be turned off or the destination position changed if desired.
Sped up the process dramatically when importing from MS-Excel or MS-Access.
Included a number of dramatic speed increases of the order of 100x or more when performing operations such as moving, rotating, copying and mirroring.
Added node merging to the member subdivision tool.
Made the default printer graphics text size bigger.
When importing CIS/2 or IFC files, any member offsets of 0.0 are now omitted.
Any warnings that occur during a clean-up are now displayed even if there is nothing to clean up.
Now support "SHAP" sections when importing Microstran ARC files. These are generally non-library shapes that have their dimensions defined in the ARC file.
Replaced the HSS sections in the US library to include the adjustments for reduced wall thicknesses and no longer apply a 0.93 factor to the HSS wall thickness when performing a steel member design/check to AISC 360-10. It is therefore important that SPACE GASS 12.27 or later is not used with pre-v12.27 US libraries.

Version 12.26 (build 12.26.344)

When importing DXF files, the data is converted to the current SPACE GASS units, plus the model is moved to the global origin if the DXF file is in "World" coordinates.
For AS4100 or NZS3404 steel member design the calculation of αm is now less conservative for segments unrestrained at one end. It now more closely matches the values in table 5.6.2.
Steel grades 500, 600 and 700 are now suppprted for PWG, BOX and welded CHS sections in the AS4100 steel member design module.
For an unbraced slender RC column using AS3600 with a non-linear analysis, the moment magnification is now calculated using clause 10.4.2 for braced columns. This means that for a non-linear analysis, λuc is no longer used.
For an unbraced slender RC column using AS3600 with a linear analysis, βd is now taken as zero if Le/r <=40 and N* <= M*/2D (clause 10.4.3(2)). A warning is now also generated if ẟs > 1.5.
Added an option allowing the user to control the 0.93 factor applied to the wall thickness of HSS sections with AISC 360-10 LRFD/ASD steel member design.
Made some changes to the buckling mode shape switching.

Version 12.25 (build 12.25.334)

Added filter import/export and copy/paste facilities to the filter management form.
Added a standard vehicle library for India which contains the 70R (W), Class A and Class B vehicles from IRC:6-2014.
Added access to the relevant old SG config items that are required by the renderer. This means that users can now change things like the storage paths, vertical axis, moments on tension vs compression side, problem size limits, etc. without having to open the traditional SPACE GASS window.
Corrected steel flange restraint symbols, top flange symbols and labels not allowing for members with a transposed section in the renderer. Note that this was a purely cosmetic issue.
Fixed a bug in the AISC 360-10 LRFD and ASD steel member design modules that affected slender webbed box girders bent about the minor axis. The position of the non-effective part of the web was being calculated incorrectly with an additional max(bt,bb)/2 to the left. This meant that for compression on the right the result was less conservative and for compression on the left it was more conservative. This fix was added in build 326.
Now generate high resolution graphical print previews and PDF files. Previously their resolution was quite low and made the text fuzzy and hard to read.
You can now set the printer graphics text size for printing from the renderer.
When SPACE GASS loads a large job at startup it now displays a message so that it doesn't appear to have frozen.
Now prevent "NaN"s from appearing in reports if a member is unstable due to too many fixity releases.
Improved the RC column design speed by not checking all load cases after one load case had failed.
Circular RC columns can now be designed with more than 32 bars.
Added "flat oval" shapes (ie. a rectangle with a semi-circle at each end) to the RC column design module and the shape builder.
You can now rename each shape in the shape builder.
The drawing plane is now shown next to the mouse cursor coordinates at the bottom of the renderer.
Sped up importing of text files by adding a timer to the progress bar text update. The import was being slowed down by the progress bar text being updated for every line read in.

Version 12.24 (build 12.24.303)

Released an all new reinforced concrete column module for AS3600 and IS456. The AS3600 version is a free upgrade for all v12 users with maintenance who have the old RC column module.
Added support for extra stirrup legs in the RC beam module.
Changed the RC beam and RC column modules so that the units in the input form are the same as in the reports. Imperial units are now allowed for too.
Moved the standard restraint, constraint and fixity icons from the popup panel into the main panel just below the restraint, constraint and fixity codes.
Increased the section "Mark" length to 64 characters.
Added extra customizable button items for the individual steel member design codes and for some of the other steel and concrete design tools.
Sped up operations by stopping the traditional window doing things while minimized.
Stopped SPACE GASS going into demo mode whenever it detected data for an unregistered steel connection, RC beam or RC column module. This would have displayed a demo message even if the steel connection, RC beam or RC column module hadn't been accessed and then prevented you from saving the job. It now only goes into demo mode when you try to create or edit data for those modules that are not registered.

Version 12.23 (build 12.23.277)

Fixed a critical bug in the new steel connection design module where the major and minor axis design actions may be incorrectly swapped in the connection design. This bug only affects versions 12.21.225 to 12.22.245 which were released between March 13 and April 29, 2015.
Added support for Revit 2016 and no longer support Revit 2014.
Added the variable plate pressure tool to the renderer.
Now allow for spring restraints when merging nodes during a cleanup.
Now allow for modes that are outside the min/max frequency range or below the mode shift frequency when displaying dynamic mode shapes in the renderer.
Folders with pathnames starting with "\\" are now correctly created by SPACE GASS if they don't exist.
Fixed loads sometimes being deleted incorrectly when using the load copy tool in the renderer. For example, if you copied loads from member 5 to member 32 for load case 12, the loads on member 32 would have been deleted in all the load cases that contained loads on member 5. Note that this problem only occurred when specific load cases were listed in the "Copy Loads" form and the "Delete and replace loads on destination nodes/members/plates for the specified load cases" option was ticked.
When copying loads in the renderer, all loads on the destination nodes/members/plates are now deleted for the load cases specified if the "Delete and replace loads on destination nodes/members/plates for the specified load cases" option is ticked. Previously, loads were only deleted if they were in a load case that also contained loads on the source node/member/plates. This is now consistent with the load copying tool in the traditional SPACE GASS window.
Added Metrol cold formed sections to the AustCold library.
The plate thermal loads datasheet now allows you to input just a thermal gradient without also requiring a thermal load.
Added the two node ends to the top of the taper haunch form to allow you to notice the direction of the taper/haunch.
Added swap buttons next to each "from" and "to" value in the taper/haunch form to easily swap the ends of the taper/haunch.
Changed the Eurocode 3 lambda LT, lambda x and lambda y report values to display lambda bar LT, lambda bar x and lambda bar y instead.
The Eurocode 3 steel member design module now always regards box girders as welded for determination of the buckling curve.
Added an additional shape check to the AS4600 steel member design module to ensure that only shapes related to the specific design option are allowed to use that option.
For the reinforced concrete beam module you can now specify a different reinforcing bar library for each design code.
In the reinforced concrete beam report, under shear and torsion sections, the capacities in shear and in torsion of the ties have been removed. Instead, the required / provided amount of transverse reinforcement is reported.
Now show which diagram types are turned on in graphics reports from the renderer.
The shape builder now correctly allows up to 10 shapes when importing. Previously it was not allowing an import if there were 8 or more shapes.

The following items all relate to the reinforced concete beam module:

Added user input options to proportion shear and torsion requirements on transverse ligatures.
The critical zone / specific zone reports now display the stress ratios for all bending/torsion/shear ratios for the specific zone as well.
The critical zone / specific zone reports no longer show overall stress ratios for each zone.
Added a 2D longitudinal section image.
Placed a cross through the longitudinal image if the overall check failed.
Placed a cross through the zone cross section if the zone check failed.
Placed a cross through the image in the beam report if the overall check failed.
When exporting to DXF/DWG it will now export all zone detailed cross sections and the longitudinal section.
Added standard DXF/DWG text heights when exporting to those formats.

Version 12.22 (build 12.22.238)

Released the first batch of tubular connections in the steel connection design module.
Sped up the exporting of analysis results to MS-Excel, MS-Access and MS-Word.
Fixed the plate contour colours sometimes being incorrect due to a faulty colour transition algorithm when trying to interpolate colours between the user defined colours.
Added higher quality printing of the graphics image.
Replaced the 3D image in the steel connection design report with high quality 2D images.
Can now export high quality 2D images from the steel connection design module to DXF, DWG or EMF files.
Added a steel stress limit option to the RC beam module.
Now include the maximum stress in the steel in the RC beam reports.
Allowed the area load generator to properly take into account member offsets and not generate loads if the member ends didn't match up around the perimeter of an area.
Allowed filters based on steel member design results to work properly if steel design results were not turned on in the renderer.
Fixed torsion stress diagrams that had incorrect values in the renderer for some section types.
Changed the steel connection design module so that the haunch depth is now requested rather than being set equal to the main member's depth (minus the flange thickness and root radius).
Sped up the steel member design considerably when high load case numbers were used.
Allowed optional exporting of analysis results data in SPACE GASS 10 format.

Version 12.21 (build 12.21.224)

The renderer can now avoid the GL_INVALID_OPERATION error that would have occurred if the graphics card couldn't be run in hardware accelerated mode. If detected it automatically turns off hardware acceleration and then displays a message asking the user to restart SPACE GASS.
This is the first version of SPACE GASS that has all of the tools of the traditional SPACE GASS window now available in the renderer (along with many other tools that are only available in the renderer) and so an option to minimize the traditional SPACE GASS window and automatically open the renderer at start-up has been added. You can still get to the traditional SPACE GASS window by un-minimizing it.
Node, member and plate property panels now only appear in the renderer when required and close automatically when not in use. They no longer encroach on the renderer's viewport because they float on top rather than pushing the model sideways when they open.
When using the "Copy Loads" tool in the renderer, existing loads on the destination nodes, members or plates are now replaced if the "Delete and replace..." option is ticked.
Now include master and slave nodes in the renderer "Constrained Nodes" filters. Previously only the slave nodes were included.
Now properly differentiate between the various equal flanged I-shapes for the AS4100 and NZS3404 steel member design modules. Previously, equal flanged I-shapes were always treated as WBs if heavily welded, PWGs if lightly welded, otherwise UBs. They are now treated as WB/WCs if heavily welded and "WB" or "WC" is in the name, UB/UCs if hot-rolled or stress-relieved, otherwise PWGs.
Revit analytical links can now be optionally exported as master-slave constraints.
Added an "Auto pop out" checkbox to the bottom of the legend panel that stops the panel automatically opening if the checkbox is unticked.
Added 4th level bookmarks to intermediate member reports so that when exported to Excel each sheet name contains the load case number and member number.
Now convert Lysaght and Stramit cold formed section names into the SPACE GASS format when importing.

Version 12.20 (build 12.20.215)

This is a substantial upgrade containing many changes, enhancements and fixes. Not all of the changes are listed below.
A new reinforced concrete beam design module has been added. To see a video that shows it in action visit www.spacegass.com/training.
Tools for querying and viewing steel member design results have been added to the renderer.
You can label the steel member number, load factor and governing load case on each steel member in the model. You can also hover over a steel member to have its steel input data displayed in a tooltip.
Fixed a problem with the Paradise solver in which slave nodes were given incorrect deflections if their slave degrees of freedom were constrained to master degrees of freedom that were restrained. This generally resulted in ill-conditioning messages and prevented convergence. The Wavefront and Watcom solvers were not affected.
Added the auto-create multiple steel members tool to the renderer.
A load case title column has been added to the combination load cases datasheet.
SPACE GASS job files are now fully compressed so that they are of a similar or smaller size to jobs saved by SPACE GASS 10 or 11. They were not fully compressed in SPACE GASS 12.00/12.01 in an attempt to stop spam filters treating them as spam when emailed.
Seismic checks in accordance with chapter 12 of NZS3404 have been added to the steel member design module. The clauses checked are table 12.4(1), table 12.4(3), 12.4.1.2, 12.5.2, 12.5.3.1, table 12.5, 12.7.2.1, 12.8.3.1(a), 12.8.3.1(b), 12.8.3.1(c) and 12.10.3.1.
Fixed the AS4600 module re-checking the smallest library section repeatedly if it failed when in design mode rather than trying larger sections. It looked like it was trying larger sections but was still using the properties of the smallest section.
Corrected some Sx and Sy values for single angles, tophats and SHS sections in the standard libraries.
Corrected the calculation of Sx and Sy for single angle sections in the shape builder. Previously they could have been mis-calculated by up to 15%.
Updated (increased) the strength of welds in the metric weld library to the latest specifications.
All hollow sections in the Aust300, British, SA, SA-BS, India, US and ChinaGB section libraries have been changed to "Cold-formed". Note that for the AS4100 and NZS3404 steel member design modules, all hollow sections were assumed to be cold-formed anyway, regardless of what was specified in the libraries.
Allowed for cold-formed hollow sections in the AS3990/AS1250 and Eurocode 3 steel member design modules. For AS3990/AS1250 this can result in reduced permissible unsupported widths (clause 4.3.2) and reduced Fbc (clause 5.3) compared to hot-rolled hollow sections. For Eurocode 3 this can result in a reduced member compression buckling capacity (table 6.2) compared to hot-rolled hollow sections. Previously all rolled hollow sections were assumed to be hot finished in these codes, regardless of what was specified in the libraries.
Now merge steel connection design data when merging jobs.
Now adjust filters when nodes, members or plates are renumbered in the renderer.
The portal frame builder now generates cross-brace members as tension-only.
Fixed the portal frame builder not generating loads on the side columns for monoslope roof buildings if the purlin and girt depth was zero.
Fixed a problem with the moving load generator that could have combined loads on a member from different wheels incorrectly if the wheels had loads in different directions. For example, if wheel A had a vertical load and wheel B had a horizontal load, and they should have generated loads at different locations on a particular member, the loads on that member could have had the vertical and horizontal loads generated at one location instead of two.
Fixed the area loads tool sometimes applying an incorrect load distribution on quadrilateral areas. This resulted in the correct total load for the area, but the distribution was sometimes applied more to one side at the expense of the other side depending on the direction of the members around the perimeter.
Allowed non-library double angles and transposed sections to be designed. Previously their double angle status and transposed information was not transferred into the steel member design module.
Fixed member loads with "Actual" positions not being adjusted properly when a member is subdivided in the renderer.
When copying, moving, rotating or mirroring in the renderer, node merging now only happens between nodes being copied/moved/rotated/mirrored and nodes not being copied/moved/rotated/mirrored.
Restored section name template functionality for Revit.
Added the ability to select analytical members for export to Revit. Previously could only export physical members.
Added some additional cardinal points for centroid and perimeter points for the Revit interface.
Fixed a problem with plate thermal loads not being saved properly if input via a memory datasheet in the renderer.
Changed the plate drilling spring stiffness from 1e-6 Nmm to 1e-4 Nmm to avoid instabilities in some models.
Changed the datasheets so that clicking in a cell selects the current cell contents and lets you overtype it straight-away.
Exporting/importing MS-Access files no longer requires MS-Access to be installed.
Updated the root radii in the US sections library as per the AISC advisory.

Version 12.01 (build 12.01.175)

Fixed a number of minor bugs and potential crashes.
Changed the compression method when saving jobs, resulting in substantially smaller SPACE GASS job files.
Fixed a potential problem with data files not being saved correctly if their size was an exact multiple of the buffer size (usually 131072 bytes).
Corrected the centroid positions for the Duragal Cee and Angle sections and some Lysaght Cee, Angle and SuperCee sections in the AustCold library. For these sections the centroid positions are supposed to be referenced to the centre of the leg/web rather than the outside edge. These corrections affect the AS4600 steel member design module in its calculation of the effective section properties.
Corrected the sign of the loads in the corner columns for the internal pressure load cases generated by the portal frame builder.
Fixed the portal frame builder generating loads over only part of the end wall columns for buildings with mono-slope roofs.
Added text to plate deflections in the renderer.
Now generate deflection envelopes in the renderer.
Fixed incorrect moment, shear and axial force diagrams for a member in the renderer when a member concentrated load was applied to the end of the member.
Fixed the Seaload module incorrectly taking the ocean current levels as relative to the still water level rather than the model's origin.
Fixed some incorrect steel strengths for SHS sections in the SHS350 group of the Aust300 library. These were incorrect in versions 12.00.134 to 12.00.147.
Stopped the renderer using the "Maximum load cases displayed together" setting to limit the number of load cases considered when displaying envelopes for "All load cases", "All primary load cases" or "All combination load cases" for jobs that had more than 500 nodes. Displaying envelopes for "Selected load cases" was not affected.
Corrected the sign of member forces and moments when using the "Analysis results query" tool in the renderer.
Fixed unit conversion problems with reaction diagrams (moments only) and torsion diagrams in the renderer.
Adjusted torsion stress diagrams in the renderer to now exactly match traditional SPACE GASS.
Fixed members not being updated after nodes were renumbered in the renderer.
Re-categorized some of the AS3990/AS1250 "Section checks" to be "Member checks" if they were influenced in any way by effective lengths.
Now enable the traditional SPACE GASS window to be restored if minimized.
Can now specify different column widths for the combination load cases datasheet.
Added steel member design input to the renderer.
Adjusted the plate meshing tool in the renderer so that edge members are properly subdivided.
Added buttons for Column Tee and Trapezoid shapes to the shape builder.
Sped up many operations in the traditional SPACE GASS window such as scrolling through load cases, scrolling through filters, etc.

Version 12.00

A major new version with a substantial number of changes and new features.

Version 11 - End of Life - no longer supported, maintained or available

Version 11.17 (build 11.17.657)

Fixed a labelling error that displayed "Degree" units for plate thermal gradients instead of "Degree/Length" units. The thermal gradient calculations were correct but the units were shown incorrectly.
Corrected a bug that could have caused incorrect plate actions and stresses to be reported for plates that have thermal loads applied in two or more primary load cases which are then combined into a load combination. The analysis itself is correct and the other plates, members and nodes in the model are not affected, however the combinations involved need to be re-analysed with SPACE GASS 11.17 in order to reset the reported values for the affected plates.
Now block members with negatively rotated sections from being checked in the steel member design module.

Version 11.16 (build 11.16.640)

Fixed the AS4600 module re-checking the smallest library section repeatedly if it failed when in design mode rather than trying larger sections. It looked like it was trying larger sections but was still using the properties of the smallest section.
Corrected some Sx and Sy values for single angles, tophats and SHS sections in the standard libraries.
Corrected the calculation of Sx and Sy for single angle sections in the shape builder. Previously they could have been mis-calculated by up to 15%.
All hollow sections in the Aust300, British, SA, SA-BS, India, US and ChinaGB section libraries have been changed to "Cold-formed". Note that for the AS4100 and NZS3404 steel member design modules, all hollow sections were assumed to be cold-formed anyway, regardless of what was specified in the libraries.
Allowed for cold-formed hollow sections in the AS3990/AS1250 and Eurocode 3 steel member design modules. For AS3990/AS1250 this can result in reduced permissible unsupported widths (clause 4.3.2) and reduced Fbc (clause 5.3) compared to hot-rolled hollow sections. For Eurocode 3 this can result in a reduced member compression buckling capacity (table 6.2) compared to hot-rolled hollow sections. Previously all rolled hollow sections were assumed to be hot finished in these codes, regardless of what was specified in the libraries.
Now merge steel connection design data when merging jobs.
The portal frame builder now generates cross-brace members as tension-only.
Fixed the portal frame builder not generating loads on the side columns for monoslope roof buildings if the purlin and girt depth was zero.
Fixed a problem with the moving load generator that could have combined loads on a member from different wheels incorrectly if the wheels had loads in different directions. For example, if wheel A had a vertical load and wheel B had a horizontal load, and they should have generated loads at different locations on a particular member, the loads on that member could have had the vertical and horizontal loads generated at one location instead of two.
Fixed the area loads tool sometimes applying an incorrect load distribution on quadrilateral areas. This resulted in the correct total load for the area, but the distribution was sometimes applied more to one side at the expense of the other side depending on the direction of the members around the perimeter.
Allowed non-library double angles and transposed sections to be designed. Previously their double angle status and transposed information was not transferred into the steel member design module.
Changed the plate drilling spring stiffness from 1e-6 Nmm to 1e-4 Nmm to avoid instabilities in some models.
Updated the root radii in the US sections library as per the AISC advisory.

Version 11.15 (build 11.15.639)

Fixed a number of minor bugs and potential crashes.
Changed the compression method when saving jobs, resulting in substantially smaller SPACE GASS job files.
Fixed a potential problem with data files not being saved correctly if their size was an exact multiple of the buffer size (usually 131072 bytes).
Corrected the centroid positions for the Duragal Cee and Angle sections and some Lysaght Cee, Angle and SuperCee sections in the AustCold library. For these sections the centroid positions are supposed to be referenced to the centre of the leg/web rather than the outside edge. These corrections affect the AS4600 steel member design module in its calculation of the effective section properties.
Corrected the sign of the loads in the corner columns for the internal pressure load cases generated by the portal frame builder.
Fixed the portal frame builder generating loads over only part of the end wall columns for buildings with mono-slope roofs.
Fixed the Seaload module incorrectly taking the ocean current levels as relative to the still water level rather than the model's origin.
Adjusted the Seaload "current-only" loads to properly use the member segments setting and more accurately reflect the load profile.
Restored the structure wizard in the traditional SPACE GASS window.
In the MS-Access exporting of steel member design results, moved the failure text to the "Failure" column and removed the leading spaces from the failure mode text.

Version 11.14

Fixed the plate contour diagrams not including spectral analysis results in combination load cases. For example, if a combination load case included both static and spectral load cases, only the static analysis results were included in the plate contour diagrams for that combination load case. This bug only affected the contour diagrams displayed in the renderer and not the reports, queries or the analysis. It was present in v11.02 to v11.10
Now support Revit 2015.
Adopted the data locking system used in SPACE GASS 12 to avoid synchronization problems between the renderer and the traditional SPACE GASS window.

Versions 11.11, 11.12 and 11.13

These were all non-release versions.

Version 11.10

Changed the steel member design "Weighted Average Load Factor" calculation so that the load factor used for each member is limited to 999.0.
Changed the moving load generation on members so that multiple loads from the same wheel now share the same sub-load number.
Fixed the fabrication code being set incorrectly when importing a v10 Excel file into v11.
Fixed the Sea Load marine growth sometimes not being applied to members and plates correctly, particularly when the marine growth extends over only part of a member segment.
Fixed the portal frame builder wall loads having the wrong sign and sometimes being incomplete if they were applied to the eave ties and end wall rafters rather than the columns.
Fixed the portal frame builder node loads due to surface friction having the wrong sign.
Now prompt for load case titles when new load cases are created via a datasheet.
Added extra script commands for the steel member design module that allowed the lists of design groups, section properties and load cases to be controlled by the script file.
Allowed exporting of steel member design/check summary reports to text and MS-Excel/Access/Word files.
Now check for a negative Ixe or Iye during an AS3990 steel member design/check and issue a design error if it occurs. This could occur due to faulty section dimensions in a library.
Corrected Bt and Bb being used instead of Btw and Bbw for box sections when calculating Iye in an AS3990 steel member design. This caused Iye to be too small and Rye too large.
Changed the order of the columns in a steel member design/check summary exported to text and MS-Excel/Access/Word files.
Sped up the AS4600 steel member design module.
Fixed an incorrect section property calculation in the AS4600 steel member design module for CHS sections subjected to axial compression.
Fixed an incorrect section property calculation in the AS4600 steel member design module for back-to-back Cee sections subjected to bending about the minor axis.
Fixed the "Calculate Cb..." and "Calculate Cm and alpha..." options in the AS4600 input form doing the reverse of what was selected.
Biaxial moments are resolved into a single moment for CHS sections in the AS4600 steel member design module if Lcx=Lcy and Cmx=Cmy.
Allow for mixed upper and lower case commands in a script file.
Changed the order of the buckling and dynamic analysis items in the "Analysis" menu.

Version 11.09

Released the new AS4100 steel connection design module.
Released the new AS4600 steel member design module for cold formed sections.
Added the AustCold library containing the latest Lysaght, Stramit and Duragal sections.
Added the HSS (hollow steel sections) sections to the US library.
Changed the script mode merge option so that it works when the "M" is placed before the file name.
The portal frame builder now generates all the connections for the new steel connection design module.
Fixed a bug in the portal frame builder where the Ka and Kc,e factors were not being applied to the end wall wind pressures for the cross wind load directions.

Version 11.08

Added extra script commands that allowed merging while importing plus more control over the analysis parameters, including specifying which load cases should be analysed. A pause command has also been added for script file debugging purposes.
Fixed a problem with the steel member design module that caused the wrong section properties to be used in a code check if the section being checked was a non-library section and the design group had an ignore zone at the finish end. The problem only occurred if the last member in the design group (ie. in the ignore zone) used a different section to the rest of the design group.
No longer display a form when importing from MS-Excel or MS-Access while in script mode.
Updated the connection plate library for the latest sizes and strengths.
Fixed an intermittent units conversion problem that sometimes happened when importing or exporting CIS/2 or IFC files.
Added "Rounded angle" and "Back-to-Back Cee" shape buttons to the shape builder.
Added a new redesigned steel member design form.
Fixed a problem with incorrect loads being generated on the right-hand side of monoslope roofs that were generated with the portal frame builder.
The load height position in the portal frame builder now defaults to "Centre" for all members.
Added a "Services and superimposed dead load" load case to the portal frame builder.
Added "1.2G + Wu" combination load cases to the portal frame builder and re-arranged the order of some of the other combination load cases.
Fixed an uncommon intermittent fault during a non-linear analysis in which the analysis results file was closed prematurely before all iterations were completed. This only affected the node displacements and reactions of one job in our testing, but could potentially have affected any job. If it happened, the node displacements and reactions displayed graphically and in reports may have been from an intermediate iteration rather than the final converged iteration. The presence of a file called "FOR250" anywhere on your system indicates that it has happened.
Moving load vehicle names and their libraries can now be renamed without generating an error.
Sections returned from the portal frame builder now contain the complete set of library and calculated properties rather than just the library properties.
Changed a convergence parameter in the cable stiffness matrix generator to prevent a lack of convergence in some jobs.
Now prevent the steel design of sections that have been rotated or mirrored if they are not a library section.
Fixed a problem introduced in v11.06.509 that caused plate stresses to be not read when producing reports or displaying stress contours, resulting in them showing as zero.

Version 11.07

Can now import Excel files into SPACE GASS 11 that were created for SPACE GASS 10. Previously there was a problem if the Excel file contained section properties.
Reversing vehicles are now permitted in the moving loads generator.
Changed the AS3990/AS1250 module so that if the user specifies fully stiffened webs then clause 5.10.2(2) is skipped and Fv=0.37Fy. In the previous release fully stiffened webs resulted in Fv=1.3x0.37Fy.
Added support for the pre-release SPACE GASS 12 fast analysis solver.
The AS3990 and AS1250 modules now support welded box sections.
Options have been added to the AS3990 and AS1250 modules to cater for fully stiffened plates in clause 4.3.2, fully stiffened webs in clause 5.10.2 and resolving biaxial moments into a single moment for CHS sections.
Added an "I" restraint on both flanges for the haunched section of rafters in the portal frame builder.
Fixed some incorrect flange restraints in the portal frame builder.
Fixed the load counters not being set correctly for jobs with more than 32765 loads per load type.

Version 11.06

Released the new Eurocode 3:2005 steel member design module.
Fixed a problem with the deflected shape and bending moment diagrams of members with spring fixities at either end.
Added an option to turn off the rafter prop offsetting in the portal frame builder to make the props connect to the rafter centroid rather than the bottom flange. If the prop is connected to the bottom flange then its fixity at the top is now set to FFFFFF if they stop at the bottom flange to avoid significant torsion being transmitted to the rafter.
Made the dummy members more visible after clicking the "View Dummy Members" button in the area load tool.
Added Portal Frame Builder and Sea Load menu options in SPACE GASS with messages to go to the renderer.
Now suppress "Successful import/export..." messages when importing/exporting while running in script mode.
No longer display error messages when importing an Excel file that has some empty sheets.
Added support for importing/exporting XLSM files.
Can now get to the moving load tool scenario property and vehicle property forms by double-clicking in the left-hand side tree.
Can now input a negative radius in a vehicle's travel path to reverse its curvature direction.
Removed the elastic line when drawing a moving load area.
Now re-check the licence whenever the portal frame builder or sea load module is opened.
Enabled the "Loads on Walls" radio buttons in the portal frame builder.
Fixed steel member restraints not being positioned correctly on rafters in the portal frame builder.
Fixed an incorrect sign in the roof loads for front or rear wall wind directions.
Fixed the contributing width on rafters for front/rear overhangs in the portal frame builder.

Version 11.05

Released the new portal frame builder module.
Changed the importing of text files so that if a section's library can't be found but its section properties or dimensions are in the text file, the read values are used and no error is generated.
Spaces are now automatically stripped from library items during inputting, renaming or importing.
If a filter is active, its name is now included in the output reports.
Fixed node loads, prescribed node displacements and lumped masses not being copied if a load case was copied in the renderer.
Added extra script command options for analysis convergence accuracy, iterations and load steps.
Now enable the load case selection drop down box in the renderer without loads being displayed.
Moved the anti-aliasing selection from the renderer's View menu to the Settings=>General menu.
Fixed analysis results diagrams sometimes being incorrect for members that have member concentrated loads at the ends due to the duplicate end stations being removed.
Fixed some shapes (eg. RHS) being incorrectly transposed by the shape builder if they had a 90deg rotation angle.
Stopped adding small P-delta moments for tension members when calculating intermediate moments due to some strange shaped diagrams being produced sometimes.
Now allow for shear deformations when calculating fixed end moments.
Fixed a units conversion error with moments in the load and reaction sums at the end of each load case in the reactions report.
The Find tool in the renderer now stays open if nothing is found.
Substantially sped up the saving of loads and the generation of load reports by replacing the old sorting function that was still being used there.
For library sections the ry and rz values are now based on the library I and A values rather than the calculated ones.
Added more specific information for a solution to some of the temporary licence error messages.
Increased the loads per load type limit to INT*4 and now default it to 250,000 with a maximum of 5,000,000.
Stopped the program from freezing when subdividing members as part of plate meshing.
The subdivide tool in the renderer now takes into account steel member design groups.
Disabled pattern loading in the continuous beam structure wizard as it was corrupting the load case titles.
Moving loads button is now always enabled even if no members have been selected.

Version 11.04

Fixed the plate contours showing incorrect values for force and moment contour diagrams (stress diagrams were not affected). This bug only affected the contour diagrams displayed in the renderer and not the reports, queries or the analysis. It was present in v11.02 and v11.03
Added support for Revit 2014.
Sped up the exporting of MS-Excel and MS-Access files.
Added an option to reset any existing member offsets in the haunch generation tool.
Addressed the lengthy pause when SPACE GASS starts for the few people who experienced it.
Added problem size limit checking to the data entry tools in the renderer.
The renderer now refreshes immediately after traditional graphics screen operations that automatically save the data (eg. after datasheets, merge job, structure wizard, etc). Previously it would only refresh after getting focus.

Version 11.03

Fixed the plate contours not working properly for spectral load cases.
Reversed the changes made to ϕVph and ϕVpv for the AS4100 steel connection design clause 4.8.3.3(b) in build v11.01.175.
The size of the temporary stiffness equations in an analysis has been increased from 2Gb to 20Gb.
Fixed a divide by zero problem in the adjustment of fixed end moments for members with distributed loads in which the total load was zero. For example, a member with a distributed load varying from 2kN/m to -2kN/m would have this problem. This prevented the analysis from converging in the models we tested.
Re-allowed circular bars to be designed in the steel member design modules that support them.
The BS5950:2000 module no longer supports slender angle sections.
Now allow cold formed tube sections in the BS5950:2000 and Hong Kong steel member design modules.
Contours are now properly turned off in the renderer when the analysis results are no longer available.
The Intersect tool now correctly updates the local to global matrix of the modified members.
Changed the Ctrl-F shortcut to start the Find tool rather than the Draw Member tool.
When doing CIS/2 transfers, now allow for Tekla plate names specified as PL instead of PLT.

Version 11.02

Fixed the Area Loader not deleting old loads properly when used in one-way mode.
Fixed the Area Loader not deleting temporary member connections when used in one-way mode.
Fixed the Area Loader creating distributed loads instead of concentrated loads.
Fixed the section name conversion not being done if a library name was specified when importing sections from a text file.
Added the calculation of overturning moments and base shears to the Sea Load module.
Allowed for the selection of the critical phase based on the maximum overturning moment or base shear in the Sea Load module.
Fixed the Sea Load loads being generated in the wrong direction if Z is the vertical axis.
Made some hardware lock errors use sensible messages instead of a generic one with error code -1.
Transferred control of the plate contours to the renderer.
Fixed the Sea Load module from tapering off the generated loads near the water surface.
Allowed the Sea Load module to accept a greater range of allowable currents.
The loads generated by Sea Load on multiple segments of a member are now combined into one if they have the same gradient.
The loads from the Sea Load module are now generated in global axes rather than local.
Fixed the combining of multiple member distributed forces on a single member into a single load if their gradients were the same. This was using the wrong gradient, plus the gradient comparison tolerance was too fine.
Fixed the Sea Load module from using only the CdCmCl values that match the first shape found, and using default values for all other shapes.
Added Sea Load warnings if CdCm values couldn’t be calculated or if diffraction theory is required.
Updated ϕVph and ϕVpv for clause 4.8.3.3(b) in the AS4100 steel connection design.
Re-introduced support for MS-Access importing/exporting.
Added filtering of analysis results for exporting to Text/CIS/IFC/Access/Excel/Word files.
Changed the data ranges for the Sea Load Cm and Cl parameters.
Stopped gridline labels getting bigger after a print.
Fixed the section property extra shape data not being transferred to the analysis data after a design and then analysis data update.
Expiry reminder messages for roaming licences now start 3 days (previously 14 days) before expiry. Changed the wording of the message a bit too.
Updated student expiry date for March 2014.
Stopped units conversion of some section property dimensions that are dimensionless. This affected the poly-shape number of sides and the slice/fillet/tophat angle.
Poor quality prints and image exports from the renderer have been fixed.
Added the Wood-Armer method documentation to the manual.
Made a neater PDF manual with proper formatting.
Changed the Sp (structural performance) default to 1.0 (from 0.7) for the NZS1170.5 dynamic response analysis.
Limited the WALF to 999.0 so that the report didn’t show **********s.
Added a PDF version of the user manual.
Released the first version of the Sea Load module.
The "All Combination Load Cases" item is now removed from the load case selection box in the renderer if there are no combination load cases.
Data validation is now skipped in the shape builder if its Help button is clicked.
Changed the small P-delta adjustment of intermediate moments for small displacement theory to make it compatible with v10.
Box sections that have parallel sides and no outstands are now converted to SHS or RHS sections for the AS1250, AS3990 and SA0162 steel member design modules.
Added a message about importing custom libraries from old versions if opening a pre-v11 job and not being able to find one or more of its section libraries.
Renamed "Viewcube" to "View selector" to avoid copyright issues with Autodesk.
Reversed the extra midspan station added in the previous version for cable members as it interferes with the deflected shape.
Fixed the calculation of Iw for Line, Cee, Zed and Tophat sections that have been rotated, mirrored or translated.
Fillets are now taken into account in the calculation of Iw for Line, Cee, Zed and Tophat sections.
Fillets are now taken into account in the calculation of a section’s shear centre.
Added a possible fix for people who have the shape builder image cropped in printouts.
Released the first v11 loan and student versions.
Stopped prompting for saving changes when closing the Titan client tool if no changes were made.
In the Titan utility and admin tools, when browsing for a file to open you now have to click the actual file rather than just get to its folder. It makes it easier to see if the file is there or not.

Version 11.01

Fixed a bug that sometimes caused incorrect fixed end moments from lateral member loads in members that had very low axial force in them (ie. typically less than 1kN). It was caused by an equation in the non-linear static analysis that broke down when the axial force approached zero, but wasn't exactly zero. This resulted in a lack of convergence and/or false ill-conditioning messages in some jobs and may have resulted in incorrect non-linear static analysis results in other jobs. The equation was introduced as part of the more rigorous SPACE GASS 11 analysis and wasn't a bug in SPACE GASS 10.
Corrected the AISC 360-10 steel member design calculation of equation F3-1 for doubly symmetric I or H sections, where a very small capacity was being calculated in error.
Corrected the AISC 360-10 steel member design shear capacity comparison for single angle sections to be based on the geometric shears rather than the principal shears.
Corrected the HK2011 steel member design calculation of uniform moment factors to be based on geometric moments for single angle sections in section 8.92 "Member Buckling Resistance".
Corrected the HK2011 steel member design plastic section capacity comparison for single angle sections to be based on the geometric plastic modulus rather than the principal plastic modulus.
Corrected the HK2011 steel member design calculation of Mx in sections 8.5 and 8.92 for single angle sections, where the maximum Mx in the design group was not being correctly converted to geometric axes.
Added separate enveloping for each end of a member in reports.
Can now import and export Excel XLSX files.
Added support for Revit 2013.
Changed the wording in the AISC 360-10 design module input form about adding eccentric moments in general and not just for tension members.
For the Hong Kong steel design module, eccentric moments are always added for compression members if eccentric effects are turned on. The option for adding eccentric moments is just for tension members.
In the help system, removed the reference to converting Lb to principal for single angle sections during a design/check. This was incorrect and is never done.
Fixed the unit conversion for Iw in the shape builder. Was assuming to be Length^4.
Added new section property calculations for Iw and shear centre for Line, Cee, Zed and Tophat sections.
Added a check in the cleanup tool to stop nodes being merged if they belong to the same plate.
Increased the problem size limits in the renderer to match the traditional graphics window.
Increased the default section properties limit to 5000.
Changed the load case titles viewer so that it gets updated automatically now and doesn’t need the Update button.
When opening a job, SPACE GASS now reads the library data for library sections that have their shape data missing.
Fixed excessive intermediate deflections in slender members with transverse loads.
All of the previously used member and plate properties are now applied to newly drawn members or plates when the "Draw with previous attributes…" option is turned on. Previously only the section and material IDs of the member or plate were applied.
Added the contour legend and the section and material property lists to renderer prints and exports.
Sped up the display of superimposed diagrams in the traditional graphics window if "All cases" or "All primary cases" was selected.
Fixed the non-linear static analysis small displacement theory to be identical to the buckling analysis theory.
Removed the frame buckling check from the static analysis finite and large displacement theory due to inconsistent results.
For compression effective lengths calculated in a buckling analysis, they are now set to the group length for members with tension or zero axial force. They were previously set to 1.0mm.
Messages about the maintenance expiry date are now displayed.
For analysis result diagrams, an extra midspan station has been added to each member in case there is no equally spaced station there.
An error from importing of section data from Excel and clipboard is fixed.
Fit to page setting in page setup has been corrected.
Logos for report headers can now be set using the SPACE GASS Utility tool.
(Start Menu -> All Programs -> SPACE GASS 11 -> Tools -> SPACE GASS Utility)

Version 11.00

A major new version with a substantial number of changes and new features.

Version 10 - End of Life - no longer supported, maintained or available

Version 10.95

Fixed a labelling error that displayed "Degree" units for plate thermal gradients instead of "Degree/Length" units. The thermal gradient calculations were correct but the units were shown incorrectly.
Corrected a bug that could have caused incorrect plate actions and stresses to be reported for plates that have thermal loads applied in two or more primary load cases which are then combined into a load combination. The analysis itself is correct and the other plates, members and nodes in the model are not affected, however the combinations involved need to be re-analysed with SPACE GASS 10.95 in order to reset the reported values for the affected plates.

Version 10.94

Fixed an uncommon intermittent fault during a non-linear analysis in which the analysis results file was closed prematurely before all iterations were completed. This only affected the node displacements and reactions of one job in our testing, but could potentially have affected any job. If it happened, the node displacements and reactions displayed graphically and in reports may have been from an intermediate iteration rather than the final converged iteration. The presence of a file called "FOR250" anywhere on your system indicates that it has happened.
Changed a convergence parameter in the cable stiffness matrix generator to prevent a lack of convergence in some jobs.

Version 10.93

Stopped adding small P-delta moments for tension members when calculating intermediate moments due to some strange shaped diagrams being produced sometimes.
Now allow for shear deformations when calculating fixed end moments.
Fixed a units conversion error with moments in the load and reaction sums at the end of each load case in the reactions report.

Version 10.92

Changed the intermediate member deflections, forces and moments calculations to give more accurate diagrams and intermediate values for members that are pin-ended at both ends. This could have resulted in incorrect intermediate deflections, forces and moments for pin-ended members that had significant axial force in them.
Relaxed the analysis divergence check to match SPACE GASS 11.

Version 10.91 (limited release only)

Fixed a crash in the dynamic response analysis if a mass load case higher than the highest input load case was entered in the spectral load data.

Version 10.90

Corrected the AISC 360-10 steel member design calculation of equation F3-1 for doubly symmetric I or H sections, where a very small capacity was being calculated in error.
Corrected the AISC 360-10 steel member design shear capacity comparison for single angle sections to be based on the geometric shears rather than the principal shears.
Corrected the HK2005 steel member design calculation of uniform moment factors to be based on geometric moments for single angle sections in section 8.92 "Member Buckling Resistance".
Corrected the HK2005 steel member design plastic section capacity comparison for single angle sections to be based on the geometric plastic modulus rather than the principal plastic modulus.
Corrected the HK2005 steel member design calculation of Mx in sections 8.5 and 8.92 for single angle sections, where the maximum Mx in the design group was not being correctly converted to geometric axes.
Changed the wording in the AISC 360-10 design module input form about adding eccentric moments in general and not just for tension members.
For the Hong Kong steel design module, we now add eccentric moments always for compression members if eccentric effects are turned on. We now ask about adding eccentric moments just for tension members.
Added a check in the cleanup tool to stop nodes being merged if they belong to the same plate.
Fixed the duplicated error messages in the cleanup tool.
Fixed the steel member design query showing "Stress Ratio" instead of "Load Factor" for some of the newer design codes.
Sped up the display of superimposed diagrams in the traditional graphics window if "All cases" or "All primary cases" was selected.
For compression effective lengths calculated in a buckling analysis, they are now set to the group length for members with tension or zero axial force. They were previously set to 1.0mm.
Fixed not being able to open steel design graphical datasheets if no design data exists.
Fixed some symbols notation for section properties in steel member design reports.
Fixed menu clicks in the traditional graphics window being ignored sometimes.
For analysis result diagrams, an extra midspan station has been added to each member in case there is no equally spaced station there.
Fixed the steel design twist check for once and for all !
Fixed a bug in the calculation of the roamable licences count. It sometimes caused no new roamable licences to be available when there should have been some left.

Version 10.87a

The impractical section properties check is now a warning instead of an error.
Jobs are no longer re-saved automatically if they have been opened and just viewed.
Added an analysis error message if thermal gradients have been added to members.
If SPACE GASS detects that the job folder that was last used no longer exists (such as when the job was saved to a USB flash drive which was then removed), it just reverts to the default job folder rather than displaying a message and going to the folders and files configuration form.

Version 10.87

Released the AISC 360-10 LRFD and ASD steel member design modules.
Added an option to the moving loads generator that allows wheels to be ignored if their load is distributed to just one member, unless the wheel is directly on that member. This simulates wheels moving off the loading area while still being between the ends of the travel path.
Added a "Weighted Average Load Factor" report to the steel member design output. This allows you to see the weighted average load factor for all the members in each load case and gives you a feel for how efficient the design is for each load case.
Fixed the renderer showing double "long-long" equal angles incorrectly.
Now prevent duplicate combination load cases while renumbering a load case.
Added a Steltech section library for New Zealand welded beams.
Included bug fixes in the Revit import/export module.

Version 10.86a/86b/86c

Fixed the problem of node loads not being transferred or combined when nodes were merged during a cleanup operation.
Fixed an incorrect "members are twisted" message that sometimes appeared during a steel member design.
Fixed a renderer crash that occurred if a spring restraint stiffness was greater than 32767.

Version 10.86

Sped up the processing of loads in the analysis by sorting them and introducing a more efficient scanning algorithm. This results in dramatic analysis speed increases in models that have large numbers of loads.
Corrected the adjustment of intermediate forces, moments and deflections if a member in a design group runs in the reverse direction of the first member in the group.
Added a check to see if the members in a design group are twisted by more than 1 degree with respect to the first member in the design group.
Fixed the problem of P/A+M/Z enveloped stress diagrams being too large due to the P and M values sometimes coming from different locations along the member.

Version 10.85b

Removed the "export successful" message at the end of an export if running in script mode.
Included a number of enhancements and bug fixes for the Revit, CIS/2 and IFC import/export tools.
Amended the Z factor for NZS1170.5 as a result of the Christchurch earthquake.
Now allow for the local minor axis pointing downwards when considering top flange loading in a steel member design. Previously it was always assumed to be pointing generally upwards.
Added a check for members in a steel member design group being twisted in relation to each other.
Added a check that prevents two nodes of a plate being constrained to each other or to a common master node.
Custom library names in the library editor are now coloured blue.
Corrected the position coordinates being ignored for the structure wizard cylinder made of plates.
Corrected a few minor bugs in the plate mesh generator.
Allowed for a Titan licence being closed after the user had logged off.
When importing from other programs, self weight is specified as an acceleration rather than lots of UDLs being generated.
Added a special IFC header for exports to Tekla.
Now allow offsets to be shown in the renderer when in wireframe mode.
Allow for duplicate family names in columns and frames for Revit imports.
Fixed an error caused by the Revit member analytical switch being off.
Corrected section justification, rigid links and brace-to-brace connections being ignored in Revit imports.
Corrected the logic in the Titan client tool's "Test Connection" tool where localhost was always being searched for.
Added a limit of 10 servers to be searched for in the Titan client tool.
Added a reset button to put the Titan client tool settings back to the factory defaults.
Added a beta version of a licence launcher for companies that have multiple Titan and/or hardware lock licences.

Version 10.85a

Removed the "export successful" message at the end of an export if running in script mode.

Version 10.85

Fixed a bug in the AS3990/AS1250 design modules that caused the effective section properties to not be calculated correctly in some cases. CHS members used as struts or beams are affected if their effective wall thickness has to be reduced in accordance with AS3990 clause 4.3.3. Other section types acting as beams might also be affected but to a lesser extent. All of the sections in the standard Aust250, AustOld and Aust300 libraries are largely unaffected except for some of the 350-450 grade RHS and SHS sections with 2-3mm wall thickness subjected to bending about the minor axis, and some of the 350 grade CHS sections in the 219-355mm diameter range with 3-4mm wall thickness used as struts or beams. Sections from custom or other libraries may also have been affected, particularly if they were thin walled or had large flange outstands. This bug does not affect the AS4100, AISC, Eurocode, BS5950, NSZ3404 or HK2005 design modules.
Fixed a bug in v10.84 that caused local member concentrated loads and distributed forces to be treated as global (and possibly act in the wrong direction) if they were applied to a member made from a single angle section or a custom section with a non-zero principal angle. Sections with a zero principal angle such as I-beams, channels, tubes, tees, etc. are not affected. This bug does not affect v10.83 or earlier versions.

Version 10.84

Added support for 64-bit Revit 2011 and 2012.
Added section name conversions for Australian Bentley and Revit sections.
Generally improved the conversion of section names when interfacing with other programs.
Improved the importing and exporting of STAAD CIS/2 files.
Fixed results being not quite right for members that have lateral loads, end spring releases and a non-zero principal angle.
Fixed the error 353 that could occur if an analysis required an optional module that was not licensed to the user.
Fixed an analysis out-of-memory error if the total number of elements (members + plates) exceeded 32767.
Sped up the member load collection part of the analysis by sorting the loads and then searching the loads lists more intelligently.
Improved the plate meshing for circular tanks in the structure wizard.
Added rectangular tanks with tapered sides to the structure wizard.

Version 10.83

Fixed an intermittent bug that caused some of the thermal loads, member prestress loads and plate pressure loads to not be applied during the analysis in some circumstances. This bug was present in all versions of SPACE GASS from v10.70 to v10.82. We would recommend that you re-run jobs containing the above-mentioned loads in v10.83 or later if they were previously analysed with v10.70 - v10.82.

Version 10.82b

Allowed for 5 section property ID digits in graphical display.

Version 10.82a

Added Australian section name conversion for Bentley Structural.

Version 10.82

Released the new v9.03c version of the TitanLM softlock system. This new version no longer causes a significant delay when there are more than 20 SPACE GASS users on the network.
Now allow "."s to be used in filenames without everything after the last "." being taken as the extension.
Upgraded the Revit link to support Revit 2011. Note that SPACE GASS models can now be exported via a CIS/2 file to create a Revit 2011 model from scratch.
Included v3.5 of LIMSTEEL (AS4100 and NZS3404 steel member design) that allows for welded channels, angles and tees.
An error message is now displayed in SPACE GASS when a roaming licence expires.
The message for missing .NET Framework 2.0 or 3.5 has been re-worded to allow for v4.0 already installed.
Fixed load case titles being in the wrong position after being turned on via the labelling and annotation form.
Allowed up to 5 digits for the section ID in the member properties form.
All SPACE GASS job and other file opening and saving commands are now enabled in script mode.
If items selected in a filter were off-screen when a filter form "Select" button was clicked, those items were incorrectly shown de-selected and this has now been fixed.
Made a small change to the CIS/2 importer to allow CadWorks files to be imported.
Can now import both the CIS/2 and IFC physical and analytical models, and this is the default.
Fixed a bug in the CIS/2 export related to mixing up section centroid and centre positions.
Fixed a crash in the CIS/2 and IFC section name conversion template creation.
Made a number of minor adjustments to the CIS/2 and IFC import/export tools.
Added the ability to import CADWorx design parts.
Added STAAD.Pro section name conversion to the import/export tools.
Fixed a bug that specified the wrong material in the structure wizard plate models.
Fixed a bug in the moving load generator that sometimes caused a curved travel path to be the long arc between its end points rather than the short arc.
If normal strength bolts were incorrectly specified for bolted end plate or moment baseplate connections (which always assume high strength bolts in the design calculations), the output and drawings showing them as normal strength has now been corrected to show them as high strength.
Included the first vehicle distance travelled in load case notes during moving load generation.
Improved the accuracy of the cable stiffness in the first iteration by using a more accurate estimate of the initial cable geometry.

Version 10.81d (limited release only)

Fixed the RAM allocation error that sometimes occurred when shutting down SPACE GASS.
Removed the 5 minute hardware lock queries from the analysis.
Removed the hardwired 999 section properties limit in the renderer.

Version 10.81c (limited release only)

Fixed a bug in the moving loads generator that occasionally caused a wheel load to not be applied if it fell in the wedge between the normals of the two closest members that were at a slight angle to each other (eg. such as members arranged end-to-end in a curved path). In this situation the load is beyond the end of one member and before the start of the other member even though the two members are connected to each other. This fix applies the load to the common node provided the load falls no more than 1mm beyond the ends of the closest member when projected onto it.

Version 10.81b

Fixed a problem that sometimes generated errors when the renderer was opened.
Stopped steel member design/check reports being selectable when no results were actually available.
Fixed a problem that sometimes caused the copy steel member properties tool to fail.

Version 10.81a

A bug that sometimes caused plate loads to be deleted has been fixed. Loads were incorrectly deleted on plates that were either filtered out or were outside of the visible screen area while other visible plates were being deleted.

Version 10.81

Released a new improved version of the TitanLM softlock system. Click here for more information.
When a node is moved onto and merged with another node, the stationary node is now retained rather than the moving node.
If you have set the next node, member or plate number, it is used whenever new nodes, members or plates are added regardless of the method used. Previously it only worked when drawing.
The 9999 dimension limit on shape builder sections has been removed.
Fix moving loads sometimes missing the first or last position due to a tolerance error.
The tolerance for determining if a member is too short when drawing by typing in coordinates is now based on 1mm in structure units rather than 1mm on the screen.
Members can now be drawn normal to the screen when using keyboard input.
Fixed shape builder shapes containing fillets sometimes calculating a negative Iw.
Can now include analysis results in exported CIS/2 and IFC files.
Can now import loads from CIS/2 files.

Version 10.80/80a/80b

Released the new TitanLM softlock system as an alternative to hardware locks. Click here for more information.
Changed the concrete column moment magnifier calculation to stop ds being calculated for braced columns. We have also changed the wording of the configuration variable from "Buckling LF" to "Lambda uc" to reflect what it actually is in AS3600 clause 10.4.3.
Fixed analysis optimization not being recognised in script files due to "N" optimization being read from "TON" string by mistake.
Fixed some member orientation problems with importing IFC "Design" models.
If a security error occurs and you are forced to shut down SPACE GASS, you now get the opportunity to save the job you have been working on under a different name.

Version 10.72a

Plates have been added to the bill of materials report.
Some problems associated with the renderer's infotips has been fixed.
The renderer sometimes losing its link to SPACE GASS has been fixed.
The renderer infotips setting is now remembered.
A 5mm error in the renderer printing margins has been corrected.
Members with no section properties are now drawn as lines rather than very small cylinders in the renderer.

Version 10.72

If you hover the mouse over a node, member or plate in the renderer, an infotip showing all of the object's properties is displayed.
You can now work in SPACE GASS while the renderer is left open. Any changes made to the model in SPACE GASS are automatically reflected in the renderer. It is especially useful with dual monitor systems, whereby you can have SPACE GASS on one monitor and the renderer on the other.
All of the renderer colours can now be set in the renderer.
Buttons for rendered, wireframe and centreline modes have been added to the renderer.
A link to Inducta SLABS has been added.
The conversion of section property names when importing or exporting has been improved.
Now properly convert Aust300 UB and UC section names if no decimal provided when importing. For example, "410 UB 54" is now converted to "410 UB 53.7".
Some parts of the analysis have been sped up somewhat when doing plate calculations.
The conversion of the compression effective lengths to principal axes for single angle sections can now be skipped if desired during a steel member design or check.
Fixed the area loader from doubling up on some areas and missing others.
The structure wizard models that have a member or plate option are now separated into separate models.
Analysis results can now be included in CIS/2 and IFC exports.
A number of bugs when importing or exporting CIS/2, IFC or Revit files have been fixed.
Section names are now sorted by size rather than by name when opened in the library editor from the file menu.
A number of other minor enhancements and bug fixes have also been added.

Version 10.71f

When converting the non-principal compression effective lengths to principal for single angle sections, members specified as braced at the ends for both the major and minor axes have their principal compression effective lengths limited to no longer than the group length.
Some minor changes have also been made.

Version 10.71e (limited release only)

The analysis crash problem fixed in v10.71c caused incorrect masses to be passed through to the dynamic response analysis module. This has now been fixed.

Version 10.71d

Fixed a problem with plate element forces and moments being incorrectly factored up in combination load cases that had not been analysed (ie. combination load cases that were obtained by linear combinations of their analysed child load cases). Note that this problem did not affect plate nodal forces and moments or plate stresses.

Version 10.71c

Fixed an analysis crash that happened when the temporary displacements were put onto disk and the temporary reactions were put into memory.
Fixed the 3D renderer not drawing a shape builder wedge properly when D1=0 or D2=0.

Version 10.71b

Corrected the Z coordinates sign when importing plates from SDNF files with Y-up in SPACE GASS.
Fixed the 3D renderer not labelling section names sometimes.
Stopped the 3D renderer from showing itself until after it is adjusted for its final size and position.
Now remember the 3D renderer sidebar width while SPACE GASS stays running.
Fixed a bug that was adding big P-delta effects to intermediate member moments when the shear at either end was released.
Fixed the line/arc/helix question sometimes being skipped during a copy.
Changed propped portal frame wizard to put FFFRRR restraint at bottom of props instead of FFFFRR.
Fixed the conical wizard only producing a cylinder.
Fixed the library editor not sorting sections properly.
Fixed a few bugs related to exporting to Excel/Access/Word due to running out of memory.
Fixed an error when importing plates from Excel or Access.

Version 10.71a

Made some further adjustments to the ill-conditioning check.
Fixed not being able to read the static analysis header sometimes when displaying graphics. This sometimes presented as a crash.
Fixed the subdivide tool not working with more than 50 intermediate nodes.
Fixed the query stresses tool not working unless a stress diagram was displayed.
Restored the internal 3D viewer due to popular demand.
Fixed an intermittent crash when drawing graphically.

Version 10.71

Made the ill-conditioning check less sensitive so that it no longer appears prematurely.
Now allow the user to set the upper and lower contour range limits.
Fixed the slowness in the calculation of forces and moments when a large number of load cases were being analysed.
The icons in the 3D renderer are now scaled down for models that have very small elements.
Fixed the false ill-conditioning message that appeared when prescribed displacements were used.
Fixed the DXF export tool not recognizing the "layer specific" settings.
Fixed members remaining selected internally if the Connection tool could not make any connections.
When importing a text file, if illegal data is found, all the data of the type currently being read is no longer discarded.
Fixed plate pressure load diagrams not being adjusted for a non-zero direction angle/node/axis.
Upgraded the Revit link to be compatible with Revit Structure 2010.
Fixed the incorrect member orientations and offsets when importing from Revit Structure.
Added the components required by the 3D renderer to export rendered models to AutoCAD DWG and DXF files.
The position and size of the main SPACE GASS and renderer windows are now remembered.

Version 10.70b/c/d

Fixed the 3D renderer not being able to render custom library sections.
Fixed the structure wizard sometimes generating a cone instead of a cylinder when plates were selected.
Fixed the plate element not being able to be trialed properly in network versions.
Fixed the installation program incorrectly reporting that Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 or later is not installed.

Version 10.70/10.70a

The new plate element has been added.
Links have been added to commonly used CAD and BIM programs such as Tekla Structures (XSteel), ProSteel, Microstation, Frameworks Plus, StruCAD, Revit Structure, Bentley Structural, AutoCAD and others.
When exporting to SDNF the file is now written in v3.0 format rather than v2.0.
A new built-in 3D graphics renderer has been added.
The minimum and maximum intermediate values are now shown on deflection diagrams.
Can now have envelopes of just minimums, just maximums or absolute maximums.
Added a node, member and plate connectivity checking tool.
During a copy or mirror, restraint springs and master-slave constraints are now copied.
Nodes can now be moved, rotated or deleted directly.
During a move or rotate, if any nodes or members are deleted during the operation, their loads are now also deleted.
Members with a local offset that are cut into during a draw or single node move operation are now converted to a global offset and adjusted correctly.
When exporting to Excel, the member and steel member design sheets are no longer converted to text.
The default compression effective length ratio limit in the steel member design modules has been reduced to 5.0.
In the steel member design modules, now warn if the minor axis compression effective length is adjusted due to flange restraints.
Fixed the steel member design failure equation reporting things like "… 4.56 < 1.00 (Pass)". This was just a reporting problem and didn't affect the results.
Stopped the cleanup from deleting "lumped mass-only" load cases from combinations.
Added the results of the node equilibrium checks to the reactions report.
Added the final strained cable length to output reports.
The number of modes per spectral load case has been increased to 200.
The dynamic resonse analysis now adopts the user specified value of Sp in NZS1170.5 clauses 5.2.1.2 and 5.2.2.3 instead of 0.7.
Changed dynamic response scaling so that it is based on the static force in the vector direction rather than derived from the static forces in the X, Y and Z directions.
A number of other minor enhancements and bug fixes have also been added.

Version 10.60

The minimum and maximum intermediate values are now shown on bending moment, shear force, axial force, torsion and stress diagrams.
If a script file doesn't contain an exit command, SPACE GASS just exits script mode and stays running when the end of the script file is reached.
When editing a filter graphically after clicking the nodes or members Select button in the Filters form, nodes or members are no longer deselected when doing a dynamic zoom, pan, rotate or re-scale.

Version 10.52g

Applied the limitation on ZRu in NZS1170.5 clause 5.2(2).
Fixed the shape builder sometimes calculating the wrong sign for Ixy (and hence miscalculating the principal angle) for sections input by coordinates.
Fixed the overflow message that sometimes appeared when running SPACE GASS on dual screens.
Stopped exporting summary totals when exporting to MS-Excel/MS-Access.
Fixed the "Out of memory" error when exporting large jobs to MS-Access.
Added the lock number to error messages that involve lock checking.

Version 10.52e/10.52f

Allowed the job name in a command line prompt to be enclosed in quotes.
The ZRu <= 0.7 limit in NZS1170.5 clause 3.1.1 is now just applied to the ultimate limit state and is also now reflected in the reported spectral curve multiplier.
Prevented typing into the response analysis base shear combo box and changed the default to 100% for NZS1170.5.
Removed reduced problem size limits from the student version and allowed buckling and dynamic response analysis.
Fixed the steel member design module sometimes reporting a member failure but showing the values for a section failure. It also affected the governing failure equation values because it was a member failure equation using inappropriate section failure values. The problem occurred if the section and member failures returned exactly the same load factor.

Version 10.52d

Changed to using the code formulae for the standard AS1170.4-2007 and NZS1170.5-2004 spectral curves rather than interpolating between the discrete curve points.
Updated the Revit Structure interface for the new 2009 version.

Version 10.52b/10.52c (limited release only)

Made some minor changes.

Version 10.52/10.52a

Fixed some errors and added some extra checks to the NZS1170.5-2004 dynamic response analysis module.
Released an interface to Autodesk’s Revit Structure.

Version 10.51b (limited release only)

Fixed the problem in v10.51 of not being able to delete a steel member design group via the delete button in the graphical input form.

Version 10.51a

Fixed the problem in v10.51 of the steel member design data not being saved for a new graphically defined design group if you simply click the Ok button in the input form without changing anything.

Version 10.51

The dynamic response analysis module now supports AS1170.4-2007 and NZS1170.5-2004.
Negative member numbers in an SDNF file are now accepted.
In the shape builder, when a standard shape is saved to a library, it is now treated as a library shape in the SPACE GASS job after exiting the shape builder.
The job file is now zipped with less compression than before to avoid the job being treated as spam by many Internet spam filters. It was treated as spam because the @JB file was previously compressed by around 400% due to the large number of zeroes in it if no filters or views were used.
A library of Chinese sections has been added.
A library of Onesteel aluminium sections has been added.
Steel member design results are no longer deleted if you view the design data via the input form and click the Ok button without changing anything.
In the steel member design module, a partial restraint applied to the critical flange is now treated as a full restraint on the cross section.
Load case titles are now automatically prompted for as load cases are created.
Filters and views can now be created without providing a name.
When creating a filter or view graphically, the selection form now defaults to the next available unused filter or view rather than the first or active one.

Version 10.50e (limited release only)

For Hong Kong licences, added an option to include buckling mode shapes in reports.

Version 10.50d (limited release only)

Fixed members being incorrectly connected if a dynamic zoom, pan, rotate or re-scale was done while drawing.
Fixed nodes/members being suppressed or node/member selections being cancelled if a dynamic zoom, pan or rotate was done while nodes or members were graphically being added or removed from a filter.
Modified the bending effective lengths for HK CP2005. They were previously assumed to be identical to BS5950:2000.
Added an option to choose between clauses 6.8.3 and 8.9.2 for HK CP2005.
Fixed a problem with the BS5950:2000 module returning the incorrect load factors for sections with high shear.
Changed the method for adjusting intermediate moments from spectral load cases so that they always agree with the end moments.

Version 10.50c (limited release only)

Instabilities now refer to the affected node and degree of freedom.
Fixed the incorrect quarter point values along the design group for the HK CP2005 and BS5950:2000 steel member design modules. This affected mx (HK 8.9.2) and mx/mxy (BS 4.8.3.3).
Removed clause 8.9.2 checks from HK CP2005 and now rely on the user to build initial member imperfections into the analysis model.

Version 10.50b

A problem related to filters involving nodes or members being selected while not appearing to be selected has been fixed. The problem only affects v10.50/10.50a and occurs when a filter is created from a graphical selection of nodes or members after which the selected items are deselected visually but not internally. Although the filter is created correctly, if the operation following the filter creation involves you selecting nodes or members graphically then that operation may act on the items you select plus the ones that are still internally selected from the filter creation. Note that the incorrectly selected items become deselected properly as soon as you perform another graphics operation, open a datasheet, generate a report, analyse, etc.
Some minor changes were made to the Hong Kong CP2005 steel member design module. This involved enabling equation 8.79 and using the actual member length rather than the effective length in equation 8.80.

Version 10.50/10.50a

Dynamic zoom, pan, viewpoint and diagram scaling have been added. You can use the mousewheel or keyboard arrow keys to dynamically zoom, pan, rotate or change diagram scales without interrupting your current operation or losing your node or member selections. Refer to "shortcuts" in the help system for more information.
The help system is now HTML and is fully compatible with Windows Vista.
The stiffness adjustments for a member during a non-linear analysis are now based on the maximum of the axial forces at the ends of the member rather than the average of the axial forces at the ends of the member. This is slightly more conservative than the previous approach when the axial force varies along the member, but gives more consistent results when comparing loads applied at a node versus loads applied at the end of a member.
"D" restraints are no longer used. Restraints are now just "F", "S" or "R". Existing jobs will automatically have their "D" restraints converted to "F" when you open them.
The standard restraint buttons have been changed and some new ones added.
The structure wizard restraints have been revamped and are now generally less restraining.
The structure wizard no longer generates a general restraint.
The concrete material properties in the standard metric library have been updated. The new values are based on AS3600-2001 clauses 6.1.5, 6.1.6 and Commentary Table C6.1.2.
SPACE GASS can be run minimized, normal or maximized depending on the -min, -nml or -max command line options. It can also be controlled by the SHOW line in a script file.
Dynamic analyses can now consider up to 200 modes.
A message is displayed at the end of a static analysis if any members failed the single member buckling check.
Importing/exporting of Excel, Access and Word files now works in script mode.
SDNF version 3 files can now be imported.
Shape codes for beam and column tees in the US library have been corrected.
The incorrect vehicle positions that occurred when a moving load travel path with a radius was used have been fixed.
The NZ spectral curves with an "f" at the end of the name not being recognised has been fixed.
A number of other minor enhancements and bug fixes have also been added.

Version 10.41

A new steel member design module for the British code BS5950-1:2000 is now available. Because this is a completely different code to BS5950:1990 and has involved a complete rewrite for us, you cannot upgrade to it from the BS5950:1990 module. It has to be purchased as a new module.
A new steel member design module for the Hong Kong code CP2005 is now available. Note that this module is not supplied for free with the v10.41 upgrade. It can be purchased just like any of the other steel member design modules.
To activate a script file, it must now be specified as a command line option.
The full member geometry for circular tube and solid rod sections can now be included when exporting to a DXF file.
If Y is set as the vertical axis in SPACE GASS, when importing a DXF file the coordinates are now converted assuming that Z is vertical in the DXF file.
An option for putting members into section-specific layers when exporting to a DXF file has been added.
The feature that lets you iterate the analysis-design procedure automatically has been modified as follows:
a) Added an option for displaying a warning if the lowest buckling load factor is less than a prescribed value.
b) A warning is displayed if any design errors occur.
c) The iterations now stop if an analysis error occurs.
Fixed the problem of the bending effective length being ignored for Eurocode 3 if specified manually rather than being calculated based on the flange restraints.
Added back-to-back LiteSteel^TM beam sections to the Smorgon library. At this stage the back-to-back sections can be analysed but not designed.
Added an "Austold" library that contains a number of old BHP sections.
In the US library, the high strength material properties for pipes, square and rectangular tubes have been changed to match A500 Gr. B in AISC-LRFD Table 2-1.
Fixed a few minor bugs.

Version 10.40

A new LSB^TM module has been added which allows you to analyse and design the range of LiteSteel^TM beam products from Smorgon Steel. The design is fully compliant with the latest editions of AS/NZS 4600.
After a steel member design, the analysis update feature now allows you to update the analysis section properties with the new design member sizes and automatically iterate the entire update-analysis-design process until the analysis and design member sizes match.
A toolbar button for accessing the Quickstart Guide for new users has been added.

Version 10.31

The problem of spectral load case bending moment diagrams and reported intermediate moments not agreeing with the end moments has been fixed. Note that this may have affected steel member designs because they are dependent on the intermediate member moments.

When the results from a number of dynamic modes are combined during the dynamic response analysis, the end shears and moments for a member are no longer in equilibrium. While this is normal and correct, the lack of equilibrium means that the end shears cannot be used in the calculation of the intermediate moments.

Because there are no intermediate member loads in spectral load cases, the spectral bending moment diagrams are now taken to be a straight line from one end moment to the other.

The problem of semi-rigid joint stiffnesses being cumulatively factored due to units conversion in each analysis if the moment units weren't consistent with the force and length units has been fixed.
The torsion stress calculations for open sections are now more accurate and less conservative.
The Euro and Euro2 libraries incorrectly contained the non-principal moments of inertia for unequal angle sections. They have now been corrected for the principal axes. The Euro libraries also contained incorrect plastic section modulus values for unequal angle sections which have also been corrected.
Some new sections have been added to the Euro and Euro2 libraries.
Bow and attic trusses have been added to the structure wizard.
The structure wizard now allows for cut-off trusses and input of the truss pitch.
Member pins have been added to structure wizard truss chords where a change in direction occurs.
An option for exporting reports in RTF format has been added.
A right mouse button popup menu for copying to the clipboard from the report viewer has been added.

Version 10.30b

A problem with a faulty "DOF size mismatch" error in the dynamic response analysis has been fixed.

Version 10.30a

Mode shapes from the dynamic frequency analysis in v10.30 were not always accurate unless a very small tolerance was used, even though the natural frequencies were always accurate. Inaccurate mode shapes can cause the dynamic response analysis to give incorrect results, sometimes evidenced by mass participation factors that exceed 100%. The SPACE GASS dynamic frequency analysis can now detect if a mode shape is incorrect and will perform extra iterations automatically to achieve more accurate mode shapes. Note, however, that the accuracy of mode shapes is still dependent, but to a lesser extent than before, on the tolerance used.
Extra iterations can now also be automatically performed in the buckling analysis to achieve more accurate buckling mode shapes.
The dynamic modes limit has been increased to 200.
A crash that could occur in the dynamic frequency and buckling analysis modules with large jobs if many modes were requested has been fixed.
A comprehensive range of timber has been added to the standard section and material libraries.
A command line option for controlling the location of the SG.INI configuration file has been added.
A graphics display problem with tension-only or compression-only members that are disabled in all load cases of an envelope has been fixed.
A problem with the thermal/prestress loads datasheet not working due to a counter not being set properly in v10.30 has been fixed.
The user manual has been updated to reflect some changes in the way node and flange restraints should be modelled in 2D frames. Refer to the "Node restraints" and "Structure wizard" sections and the portal frame worked example.

Version 10.30

A new dynamic frequency analysis module has been added which uses the same wavefront matrix solver as the static and buckling analysis modules. It has the following attributes and advantages:

a) Uses the wavefront optimizer.
b) The memory requirement is dependent on the matrix frontwidth which is usually much smaller than the bandwidth used in the previous version.
c) Can handle much larger jobs than the previous version.
d) Is faster than the previous version for medium to large jobs.
e) Has precise frequency shift control.
f) Can analyse combination load cases.
g) Self-mass in a dynamic frequency analysis is now specified in the same way as self-weight in a static analysis.
h) The stiffness matrix from a static analysis no longer has to be saved.

Note that in developing the new dynamic frequency analysis solver, it was discovered that the old solver missed some higher order frequencies in some models. If this is of significance to you, you should re-analyse with the new solver.

The base shear scaling in the dynamic response analysis module has been adjusted to more accurately allow for the summing of the reactions when their sign is controlled by one of the dynamic modes. Note that for AS1170.4 and NZS4203 the direction vector should always be parallel to one of the global horizontal axis directions when auto-scaling of the base shear is activated. The correct way to model an earthquake at an angle to the global horizontal axes is to have a spectral load case for each of the global horizontal axis directions and then combine them into a combination load case using multiplying factors that are proportional to the projected lengths of the desired direction vector.
The wavefront optimizer can now be controlled at the start of buckling and dynamic frequency analyses.
The shapes of buckling mode shapes are now more accurate.
Cancelling an analysis or design session must now be confirmed to avoid accidental cancellation.
A variety of triangular trusses have been added to the structure wizard.
The colour of alternate lines in the datasheets can now be controlled via a command line switch. Select "properties" of your SPACE GASS shortcut and append the contents of the "target" field with -cbbggrr, where bbggrr is the 6 character hexadecimal representation of the desired colour with bb=blue component, gg=green component and rr=red component. For example, 50% blue, 50% green and 20% red could be specified with a command line switch of -c7f7f33.
Problems associated with saving and opening jobs if the path or job names were the same as the current job but with different case have been fixed.
Added the new Smorgon LSB sections to the library.
Incorrect labelling of some concrete column cross section dimensions has been fixed.
Fixed a number of other minor bugs.

Version 10.22

Very small reactions that show up as "0" in the graphics display are now omitted graphically.
Shaded areas now print properly when "mono" is not selected.
The problem of no graphical envelope being displayed for tens/comp-only members that are disabled for just some of the load cases in the envelope has been fixed.
Jobs with no nodes can now be merged into the current job.
Steel members that have a satisfactory load factor but which fail the l/r checks are now shown as failed in the graphics display.
Steel members that fail the l/r checks can now be defined in a filter.
Computers with more than 4Gb RAM are now allowed for.
When dual monitors are used, the problem of some forms appearing on the wrong monitor has been fixed.
Fixed a number of other minor bugs.

Version 10.21

Fixed the flanges being taken as the wrong way around by LIMSTEEL for box or plate girder sections when the top flange is smaller than the bottom flange.
When the steel member design bending effective length is specified manually, the use of Lb+ or Lb- is now based on the sign of the design moment rather than the sign of the moment at the start of the segment.
Fixed translational restraints being applied in error if the stabilize unrestrained nodes feature was used and the model contained members that were lined up with a global axis, had an offset applied and had a translational fixity release.
Negative thermal coefficients are now allowed.
The load case selection box on the toolbar is now refreshed after members are deleted just in case it causes any load cases to be deleted.
Fixed reports not recognizing filters that are based on steel member design pass/fail criteria.
Fixed not being able to open jobs in some network folders.
Fixed Sx and Sy not being transposed if Ix and Iy were transposed while saving a section to a library from the shape builder.
For graphical reaction envelopes, if the minimum and maximum values for a degree of freedom both have the same sign, then only the largest one is displayed rather than both.
Fixed an intermittent crash when displaying the job status.
Fixed a number of other minor bugs.

Version 10.20a/10.20b

The problem of the program sometimes crashing when generating filtered output reports or graphical printouts, and sometimes showing the wrong filter name in the report headings has been fixed. This occurred only if filters were not numbered sequentially.

Version 10.20

An option for SPACE GASS to check for program updates via the SPACE GASS website has been added.
The moving load generator is now able to generate combination load cases that combine the moving loads with other static loads.
Moving load travel path coordinates, when used in conjunction with travel path node numbers, are now treated as offsets from the path defined by the node numbers.
The number of moving load wheels per vehicle has been increased to 200.
Custom libraries are now stored in a separate file to the standard libraries. They can also be stored in a different folder to the standard libraries.
Your company logo can now be scaled to an exact height that you specify and can optionally be included on every page or just the first page. JPG image formats are now also supported.
Saving of loads after graphical editing, importing of text files and report generation have all been sped up dramatically.
Zooming via the mousewheel is now centered on the mouse position.
An option for allowing duplicate members to be drawn has been added. Finding and filtering duplicate members has also been added to the cleanup, find and filter functions.
Deleting members with zero length has been added to the cleanup function.
Filters defined in terms of analysis members now also affect steel design reports.
Options for suppressing automatic re-scaling of load and analysis results diagrams have been added.
The lowest buckling load factor is now displayed at the end of a buckling analysis.
The end offset distance for members exported to a DXF drawing file can now be specified.
The problem of some members being shown in the VRML viewer with the incorrect orientation has been fixed. This problem only affected near vertical members (ie. those with a horizontal difference of less than 1mm between the coordinates at each end) that had their local x-axis pointing downwards. It did not affect members that were exactly vertical or members that weren't close to being vertical.
Filtered reports now include the name of the filter in the heading.
The data generated by the structure wizard is now adjusted according to the vertical axis setting.
The default gravity direction in the self-weight datasheet is now adjusted according to the vertical axis setting.

The following items relate to features that were changed or removed in SPACE GASS 10.00 and have now been re-introduced due to popular demand.

New members being drawn graphically can now be optionally given the default attributes or those of the previously accessed member.
The starting page number for reports can now be specified.
Reports can now be left open while working on other parts of the program.
Query toolbar buttons for the frame, analysis results and steel member design results have been restored.
The analysis results query window can now handle 500 lines of data.
The steel member design "Use previous" button for data input has been restored.

Version 10.10 (limited release only)

Auto-created steel members are now terminated at pin-ended members.
The default bolt, plate, weld, rebar, spectral and vehicle library names can now be specified in the configuration.
Selection of the local XY and/or XZ planes for the display of moments, shears and stresses can now be made direct from the side toolbar rather than via a filter.
An option for selecting steel members and connections graphically and then viewing or editing them in a datasheet has been added.
The problem of dynamic response analysis results not being proportional to the spectral curve multiplier (SCM) for very small values of the SCM has been fixed.

Version 10.01b/10.01c

If not all steel members have been designed or checked, when you attempt to show the results graphically an error message appears stating that the results data cannot be read. This message is incorrect and has now been removed.

Version 10.01a

Fixed a units conversion problem with the steel member design if the selected length, force and moment units were not consistent with each other.
Prevented the screen graphics being displayed in mono if the printed graphical output was specified for mono.

Version 10.00/10.01

A major new version with a substantial number of changes and new features.

Version 9 - End of Life - no longer supported, maintained or available

Version 9.03

When designing with single angle sections, the method that was introduced in v9.00 to convert the compression effective lengths from non-principal axes to principal axes may, in some cases, result in unconservative designs.

The pre-v9.03 procedure calculated the principal effective lengths so that the member's Euler buckling capacity for buckling about the principal axes using the principal effective lengths was the same as its capacity for buckling about the non-principal axes using the non-principal effective lengths.

This results in a minor axis principal effective length (Ly) that is often smaller than either of the non-principal effective lengths (Ln and Lp). It also means that Ly/ryy is often smaller than Lp/ryy which some codes such as AS3995 base their strut design upon.

Consequently, a change has been made that prevents Lx and Ly from being less than the minimum of Ln and Lp.

Note that this change does not affect members designed to AS3990 or SABS0162.

The check for combinations that contain non-existent load cases that was introduced in v9.02 has now been made optional.
The problem of "unstable" buckling modes being incorrectly reported for some load cases after a buckling analysis has been rectified.
The problem of bolted end plate flange fillet welds being incorrectly reported as being required on "1 side" only has now been changed to "2 sides".

Version 9.02

The problem of the cleanup feature deleting combinations of combination load cases has been fixed. This will affect you if you have been using the cleanup feature and you have combined combination load cases into further combinations.
The problem of other programs moving in front of SPACE GASS and hiding it after you exit from a SPACE GASS datasheet (and some other forms) has been fixed.
A few of the steel connection design datasheet column headings were out of sequence and were incorrect for the data being displayed under them. They have now been fixed. The affected headings are haunch length and depth, weld categories and flange weld type.
It is now possible to save jobs containing a space in their name to a network drive.
The steel member design module speed has been further increased.
Double angle sections have now been properly allowed for when running a steel member design with the "Equalize Design Sizes for Matching Analysis Sections" feature activated.
Segment and effective lengths have now been added to the steel member design query form.
A crash that occurred when exporting thermal/prestress loads to Excel has been rectified.
Support for Dutch factors has been added to the Eurocode 3 steel member design module.
The steel member design slenderness ratio check has now been made optional. It is not required by AS4100, NZS3404, Eurocode 3, AS4600 and BS5950, and now defaults to "Off" for those codes. This partly addresses the problem of members being over-designed as a result of the very long effective lengths that sometimes come from the buckling analysis for very lightly loaded members.
The section properties legend displayed at the bottom of the graphics screen sometimes included sections belonging to members that had been deleted. It is now strictly limited to the currently displayed members. Note that the material properties legend includes all materials, regardless of whether they belong to the displayed members or not.
Filters are now applied to reports written to a file. Previously, reports written to a file were unfiltered, regardless of the filter selected.
A check for combinations that contain non-existent load cases has been added.

Version 9.01a

Fixed the problem of incorrect results for analysed load combinations that contain primary cases numbered 16, 32, 48, etc... (ie. those divisible by 16) and further combinations of those combinations. Click here to obtain a small program that searches your computer for any SPACE GASS jobs affected by the bug.

Version 9.01

If a non-analysed load combination of another combination obtained its analysis results by a simple linear combination of the analysis results of the primary load cases then its results were incorrect. You can check for these by looking for load cases labelled "linear combination" in the analysis results report. This has now been rectified.

Note that this problem only occurs with linear analysis and does not apply to combinations that have been analysed or combinations that contain only primary load cases.

If an analysed load combination of another combination was indirectly affected as a result of changes you made to the combination load case data, its analysis results were not automatically deleted. This means that its analysis results would be out-of-date until the combination was re-analysed. The affected combination load cases now have their results deleted automatically and have to be re-analysed.

Note that this problem does not apply to combinations that contain only primary load cases.

Fixed not being able to design connections containing haunches.
Updated the reinforcement library for the new Australian 500 MPa "N" bars.

Version 9.00e

The shape builder "Save to library" button has been activated. This button also lets you create custom section libraries without having to go through the library editor.
Double angle sections imported from a library via the section properties datasheet incorrectly had a non-zero principal angle. This has now been corrected and we would recommend that you check your section data if you have used double angle sections in SPACE GASS 9.00-9.00d.
The swapping of the chords for trusses generated by the structure wizard has now been fixed.
Allowed the taper/haunch feature to work with other than I or H shaped sections.
The speed of the steel member design module has been increased substantially.

Version 9.00d

The graphical steel member design scan code "Select" button has been activated.
When defining custom shapes in the shape builder by entering perimeter coordinates, duplicate points are now allowed.
The frame buckling check included in the non-linear static analysis has now been made optional.
An "Equalize" feature has been added to the steel member design module. When activated, members that share the same section property number in the analysis data will finish up with the same design member size. For example, this would allow you to keep the left and right columns of a portal frame equal when running the member design module in "design" mode.
When designing with single angle sections, the method that was used in SPACE GASS 9.00-9.00c to convert the compression effective lengths from non-principal axes to principal axes was, in some cases, unconservative and this has now been corrected. We would therefore recommend that you re-run the design/check on any SPACE GASS 9.00-9.00c jobs that contain single angles.
Widened the datasheets and re-sized some of the column widths to allow more data to be displayed without scrolling.

Version 9.00c

When inputting loads graphically, you now have the option of applying a single set of loads to all the selected nodes or members (similar to the SPACE GASS 8 system), rather than having to specify the loads on each selected node or member individually.
Fixed the steel member design report crash if all groups had design errors.
SPACE GASS 8 libraries can now be imported directly into the new SPACE GASS 9 library format.
Library data in text file format can now be imported into the new SPACE GASS 9 library format.
The default finish load for member distributed loads is now automatically set to the same as the start load in the datasheets. This allows you to input uniformly distributed loads without having to enter the load value twice.
The incorrect units displayed in the prescribed node displacements datasheet in SPACE GASS 9.00-9.00b have now been corrected.
Fixed some minor datasheet bugs.
Fixed some minor library editor bugs.

Version 9.00b (released to universities only)

Removed the check for the old spectral library from the dynamic response analysis.
Fixed the case sensitivity of spectral curve names during a dynamic response analysis.
Fixed student and university versions not being able to open SPACE GASS 8 jobs.

Version 9.00a

Changed the buckling analysis so that buckled members had all their stiffness terms zeroed rather than just the bending terms. This fixed the problem of the buckling analysis and the static analysis buckling check not always agreeing.
Capped the buckling Pcr at the local member buckling capacity in buckling reports and steel member design. This effectively imposed a lower limit on effective lengths for members where Pcr previously exceeded the buckling capacity.
Lowered the default compression effective length ratio limit to 100.
Added messages about why effective lengths could not be calculated for some members in buckling analysis output reports.
Fixed some installation problems.
Sped up the saving of loads.

Version 9.00

A major new version with a substantial number of changes and new features.

Version 8 - End of Life - no longer supported, maintained or available

Version 8.07b

Unit labels KN, KNm, KPa and gs are now shown as kN, kNm, kPa and g's.
Analysis and import error messages are now retained after the Ok button has been clicked.
Fixed the incorrect self-mass value displayed in graphics mode shape displays.
Subset node or member lists are now renumbered whenever nodes or members are renumbered.
Fixed the reinforced concrete column input data being lost if the job was saved un-analysed.
Allowed for member offsets in bill of materials reports.
Addressed a number of other minor bugs and enhancements.

Version 8.07a

Dots are now allowed in path and file names.
Increased stack size to avoid stack overflow errors in Windows ME.
Fixed steel member and connection subsets so that only those groups/connections listed in the subset are enabled.
Fixed the insufficient memory error message that sometimes appeared during renumbering.

Version 8.07

A new type of hardware lock that plugs into a USB port is now available.
Fixed the EURO library plastic modulus being incorrectly input as the elastic modulus.
Fixed supressed members (via a subset) being active if one node was off-screen.
Changed the strength of "R" reinforcing bars from 400MPa to 250MPa.
Fixed not being able to print graphics when viewport 1 is closed.
Fixed a number of minor bugs that caused the program to crash under certain circumstances.

Version 8.06e

A problem with incorrect units in SPACE GASS versions 8.06 - 8.06d has been fixed. The problem affects some jobs that were saved with SPACE GASS versions 8.06 - 8.06d and causes them to be saved with the wrong units. This means that their analysis results could be out by a factor of 1000 or more. Jobs affected by the problem are as follows:

a) Any jobs that were saved with SPACE GASS 8.06d, or
b) Any SPACE GASS 7 jobs that were opened in SPACE GASS versions 8.06 - 8.06d and then re-saved.

It may be prudent to assume that all jobs saved with SPACE GASS versions 8.06 - 8.06d are affected. Affected jobs can be fixed with SPACE GASS 8.06e as follows:

a) Open the job with SPACE GASS 8.06e.
b) Obtain a complete report of the input data.
c) Compare the data with the units displayed at the top of each section.
d) If all of the displayed units match the data then the job is Ok. If not, proceed as follows.
e) Go to the units selection form and change the units so that they match the data.
f) Ensure that the "Convert the current job for any unit changes" check box is not ticked.
g) Click the Ok button.
h) Confirm via another input data report that the units now match the data and, if so, save the job.

Version 8.06 - 8.06d

Mixed units can now be used and you can specify different units for different parts of the input or output data. For example, you could specify lengths in feet, section properties in inches, moments in Kip-feet and stresses in Psi. Alternatively, you could have lengths in m, section properties in mm, strengths in MPa, moments in KNm and translations in cm. You can even mix imperial and metric units.
When you change units, SPACE GASS can now optionally convert all of your data to match the new units.
LIMSTEEL 3.3 has been incorporated.

Version 8.05b - 8.05e

Incorrect alignment of report headings on two column reports has been fixed.
Delays that occurred in network copies of SPACE GASS at the start of an analysis or design (and some other locations) have been removed.
Incorrect page numbers on single column reports has been fixed.
Some further installation problems have been fixed.
Some network installation problems have been fixed.

Version 8.05a

An undo / redo feature has been added.
Support for long file and path names has been added.
Support for printing through USB ports has been added.
Shear stresses in the analysis "Stresses" report are now calculated using the appropriate areas for each section type rather than using the gross cross sectional area. Note that shear stresses calculated during a design have always used the correct areas.
Shear stress diagrams can now be displayed graphically.
SPACE GASS can now open job files that have been renamed externally.

Version 8.05

Not released commercially.

Version 8.04b

Support for a new type of hardware lock that works with all versions of Windows, including Windows 2000, has been added.

Version 8.04a

The very thick lines in graphical printer output that occurred on some systems in 8.04 has been fixed.
The crash that occurred in 8.04 when exiting from the shape builder has been fixed.

Version 8.04

Steel member design for AISC-LRFD has been added.
An uninstall option is now available.
You can now double click on a job file to start SPACE GASS with the job loaded.
You can now specify the printer line thickness for graphical output. Previously, SPACE GASS lines on high resolution printers came out very thin.
Support for Windows 3.11 has been discontinued.
If you zoom in on a member so that both of its ends are outside of the drawing area, the visible part of the member is still drawn. Previously, members were not drawn unless at least one end was visible.
The problem of node loads not always being deleted with their nodes when requested has been fixed.
The US standard sections library has been updated.
The text editor (with path) can now be specified in the SPACE GASS configuration.
A new installation program that avoids the clashes that occurred with some hardware drivers has been incorporated.
The problem of built-up shapes (library or standard) being treated as custom shapes when read back in to the shape builder has been fixed. This bug was introduced in 8.03d.

Version 8.03d

The subset capacity has been increased to 64.
Nodes connected only to suppressed members in a subset are now also suppressed. Similarly, members connected at both ends to suppressed nodes in a subset are now also suppressed.
A one-way loading option has been added to the area loader.
The very narrow triangular loads placed at the ends of some members by the area loader have now been eliminated.
During arc generation, arcs can now be defined by specifying the radius, chord deviation, centre angle or arc length.
The problem associated with renumbering of nodes that have spring restraints has been fixed.
Not being able to edit the coordinates for custom shapes in the shape builder has been fixed.
It is now possible to get analysis results for items selected using Find.

Version 8.03c

Steel member design for Eurocode 3 has been added.
Calculation of the R value in BS5950 clause 3.5.4 has been changed.
Fixed not being able to create a nodes subset from the right mouse menu.

Version 8.03b

Not released commercially.

Version 8.03a

A BS5950 steel member design check for channels with Iw = 0.0 introduced in 8.02b was inadvertently applied to all sections rather than just channels. This has now been fixed.

Version 8.03

An area loading facility is now included as a standard feature. This allows you to select a group of members that form one or more surface areas, specify a surface pressure and direction, and then have SPACE GASS calculate the equivalent member distributed loads.
Member concentrated loads and distributed forces are now automatically sub-divided and re-distributed whenever members are sub-divided or broken into as a result of a SUB-DIVIDE, DRAW, MOVE or INTERSECT operation.
A new scale nodes feature has been added. You can use this feature to enlarge or shrink parts of your model by a scale factor that you specify.
SDNF (Steel Detailing Neutral Files) files can now be imported and exported by SPACE GASS for direct interfacing to steel detailing packages such as Frameworks, XSteel and others.
Real numbers in SPACE GASS text files no longer have to contain a decimal point and are no longer limited to 10 digits. Furthermore, real numbers in text files generated by SPACE GASS are now 15 digits long. If you have programs that read SPACE GASS generated text files then you may have to adjust them to allow for this.
SPACE GASS text files can now contain comment lines (preceded by the # character).

Version 8.02d

The bug addressed in version 8.02c (see below) still persisted for the material ID number in some circumstances. This has now been fixed.

Version 8.02c

A bug introduced in version 8.02b has been fixed. The bug occurred when you selected multiple members graphically and then changed the section or material ID number in the member properties form, resulting in only one of the selected members having its section or material ID number updated instead of all of them.

Version 8.02b

The steel member design module for the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) - Allowable Stress Design (ASD) specification (June 1, 1989 edition) has been finalised.
LIMSTEEL Integrated has been updated to version 3.1.
The BHP Duragal sections library has been updated. The changes involve the mechanical properties of the 2.5mm thick CA Duragal Angles in which the yield stress has been reduced from 450 to 350 MPa and the tensile stress from 500 to 400 MPa.
Comment lines (starting with #) and blank lines are now allowed in text files.
The structure of some of the program's menus and popups has been changed.
The second paragraph in section 10.12.7 of the SPACE GASS reference manual beginning "If Ly exceeds..." should be replaced with:

"Ly is taken as the segment length for segments where Ly exceeds the segment length and:

(a) both ends of the segment have full or partial flange restraints; or
(b) both ends of the segment have full, partial or lateral flange restraints and the member is a tube or an equal flanged I-shape or box girder."

This is different to previous versions in which Ly was taken as the segment length for segments where Ly exceeded the segment length and both ends of the segment had full, partial or lateral flange restraints regardless of the member type.

AS4600 segment lengths are now based on the distance between torsional restraints. Lateral restraints on one flange only are ignored.
The torsional effective length is now reported for steel member designs to AS4100, NZS3404 and AS4600.
The shape builder root radius calculations have now been fixed.
The problem of the section source not being changed to "manual" when a property value was changed manually in the member properties form has been fixed. Note that this only occurred when more than one member was selected.
The problem of members excluded from a subset with one or both nodes non-existent being shown drawn to infinity has been fixed.

Version 8.02a

A pre-release version of the steel member design module for the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) - Allowable Stress Design (ASD) specification (June 1, 1989 edition) is included. This can be activated on request.
The British sections library has been fully updated in accordance with the August 1998 British Steel specifications.
SPACE GASS text files with extensions of CSV (MS-Excel) can now be imported into the program.
The shape builder calculation of torsion constants for single angle sections is now more accurate than before.
The shape builder calculation of moments of inertia for fillets has been fixed.
The shape builder calculation of Sx and Sy is now taken about the plastic centroid rather than the elastic centroid which was incorrect for unsymmetrical sections.

Version 8.02

The help system has been completely updated to exactly match the printed reference manual and the program's features.
The problem of flipped Tee sections being considered internally by the program as unflipped has been fixed.
The problem of no bolt holes being removed from Duragal flanges has been fixed.
A warning is now issued in the steel member design output if your specified number of bolt holes per cross section doesn't fit. Previously, only the bolt holes that could be fitted into the cross section were considered.
An error in the shape builder causing the torsion constant for solid rectangular or square shapes to be slightly miscalculated has been fixed.
On a small number of network types, previous 32-bit versions of SPACE GASS had difficulty opening jobs on a network drive or being run remotely across the network. This has now been fixed.
The problem of a steel member design flange restraint sometimes being ignored (and thus causing a longer than expected segment length) has been fixed.
A discontinuity in the interaction curve of reinforced concrete columns containing voids has been fixed. This may have caused an incorrect load factor if a line joining the origin with the load point crossed the interaction curve at a point affected by the discontinuity.
A number of internal changes preventing invalid input data and resolving some reported program crashes have been made. This includes a problem with jobs that contained spring restraints which, under some circumstances, caused the program to crash.

Version 8.01b

The problem of prestress on a cable member having no effect if the cable material's coefficient of thermal expansion is zero has been fixed.
DXF files exported from SPACE GASS are now compatible with all new versions of AutoCAD.
The dynamic response analysis units conversion problem that occurred with unit systems other than kN,m has been fixed.
Enveloping is now available for each intermediate member station rather than just having an envelope for the entire member. This builds on the new enveloping enhancements introduced in version 8.01 (see below).
Analysis warning messages now appear in all output reports regardless of the enveloping or sorting options selected.
A message has been added to the steel member design output indicating if L/r failure occurred in a non-critical load case.

Version 8.01a

Contains some internal security changes that don't affect the user.

Version 8.01

Contains new facilities for generating envelopes of analysis results in output reports.
Load case numbers are now shown with all node and member maximums and minimums. You can also report the matching coincident values that occur at the same location and load case as each maximum and minimum.
Finally, you can obtain a summary envelope showing the maximums and minimums for a group of nodes and/or members. The summary report also shows the load case numbers and the matching coincident values.
By default, envelope reports include an envelope summary at the end, however you can limit your report to just the summary by checking the box marked "Produce Envelope Summary Only" in the report generation form.
Incorporates the new fully integrated concrete column design module.
This module is not a standard feature and must be purchased before it can be used. However, if not purchased, you can still access and operate it in a mode that restricts you to a pre-defined column shape. All other features are fully enabled.
Features of the concrete column design module include:
- Rectangular, circular, trapezoidal, tee, cruciform and non-standard shapes.
- Multiple rectangular and circular voids.
- Multiple reinforcing bars of any size and location.
- Reinforcing bar library.
- Numerous methods of quickly generating bar layouts.
- Calculation of interaction curves for the actual reinforcement, and for other reinforcement percentages that you specify.
- Allowance for both column tension and compression.
- Calculation of load factors for X-axis, Y-axis and biaxial bending.
- Automatic transfer of column geometry, including cross section shape from your frame analysis model.
- Automatic transfer of loads from your frame analysis model.
- Allowance for input of extra user-defined load cases.
- Calculation of multiple load cases simultaneously.
- Graphical display of the cross section showing all bars and voids.
- Graphical display of the load application point and the direction of moments on the cross section.
- Graphical display of the interaction diagrams showing load points and key curve points.
- Comprehensive output report showing all input and output data in a combined graphical and text format.
- Single screen user interface that is extremely logical and easy to understand.
The SPACE GASS AUST300 steel sections library has been completely revised to include the entire range of BHP's 1998 hot-rolled steel sections. All of the 300 grade steel sections available from BHP are included.

Please note that some of the section names have changed slightly from previous versions of AUST300. This may mean that for old jobs, the SPACE GASS steel design modules may not be able to find the sections that have had a name change unless you first re-input them from the new library into your frame analysis model.

Note also that this new library supersedes the SPACE GASS library that BHP is distributing directly to engineers on diskette. The BHP diskette is marked "BHP Structural Steel Library 1998" and contains an out-of-date SPACE GASS library.

Inconsistent margins in output reports from different printers has been fixed.
The error that occurred when reading some files that were generated with new versions of Microstran has been fixed.

Version 8.00E

The SGWIN.EXE self check introduced in version 8.00e was found to fail when SPACE GASS was run remotely across some networks. This has now been fixed in version 8.00E.
During a steel member design, SPACE GASS now correctly calculates the load height factor for cases when a top flange load is applied at the end of a segment (in the absence of any self weight or other transverse loads within the segment). It does this by detecting the presence of shear force at the segment ends and hence treats the case of shear transfer from other interconnecting members the same as transverse loads at the segment ends.
Note that previously, in the absence of self weight or other transverse loads within the segment, any transverse loads at the segments ends were ignored when calculating kl.
The first two paragraphs in section 10.12.9 of the SPACE GASS reference manual should be replaced with:
"The load height factor kl relates to the point of application of gravity loads. It is always 1.0 if the loads are applied at or below the member's shear centre. It can, however, exceed 1.0 if the top flange is loaded with a downwards load causing a destabilizing effect.
If the top flange is loaded within the segment then kl = 1.2 for all codes, except AS4100 and NZS3404 where kl = 1.4 if both ends of the segment are fully, partially or laterally restrained or kl = 2.0 if either end is unrestrained.
If the top flange is not loaded within the segment and shear force is detected at a segment end that is unrestrained then kl = 1.2 for all codes, except AS4100 and NZS3404 where kl = 2.0.
For all codes, kl = 1.0 if the load height position is specified as "C". If the load height position is specified as "T" then all transverse loads (including self weight) are considered to be acting at the top flange."

Version 8.00e

Sxp and Syp being transposed incorrectly in the shape builder if Iy>Ix has been fixed.
A duplicate node being created when you "MID/END" attached a new member to the end of an existing member has been fixed. This only occurred when the aperture circle touched the existing member away from its end node.
A fault in converting some pre-v6.00 jobs to the latest format has been fixed.
A problem with the shape builder calculating the wrong section properties for box girders has been fixed.
The BS5950 shear check has been changed. The reduced value of Pyw is only for the calculation of moment and compression and is no longer used in the shear check.
A BS5950 reporting problem for when clause 4.8.2 (tension) governs has been fixed. The equation now reports Py instead of Pydes.
The default graphics input load case is now the same as the displayed one if there is only one displayed.
The load cases combo box on the toolbar can now be changed even if a load case specific diagram is not displayed.
The problem of a graphics command exiting automatically when first used after viewing a report on the screen has been fixed.
The problem of output for linear combinations (non-analysed combinations) ignoring primary load cases that have a negative multiplying factor has been fixed.
The buckling analysis crash that happened if the highest spectral load case number was larger than the highest static load case number has been fixed.
Spaces at the end of spectral curve names are now disallowed.
Spaces at the end of section names when saved to a library from the shape builder are now disallowed.
The program now checks the integrity of the main SPACE GASS program file whenever it is started. This detects any changes to SGWIN.EXE and ensures that no corruption or virus contamination has occurred.

Version 8.00d

An academic version that was not released commercially.

Development History