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GSA Design Features

GSA 10 offers a range of design features

  • Design of steel members with I, H, CHS, RHS and EA sections. Tees and Channel sections are supported from GSA 8.6 onwards.
  • Design of concrete slabs and walls

Steel member design features include

  • Results are available in various forms, including numeric utilization ratios and calculations as rich text.
  • The different forms of result available mean that the user can avoid information overload, but can still audit the calculations at a very basic level when appropriate.
  • Utilization ratios can be plotted (contoured) on the model just like any other numeric result, so enabling rapid understanding of which parts of a structure are overstressed or are overdesigned.
  • Calculation results are marked up in colour to draw attention to problems and important results within the calculations. They are available in both brief and verbose formats.
  • Restraints can be specified in detail so that the program can evaluate the effective buckling lengths of complex multi-span beams. Alternatively, the user can specify the effective lengths (as is common in other steelwork design packages). Assistance is available to set up restraints, which are necessarily more complex than restraints used in analysis models.

Concrete slab and wall design features include

  • Output of reinforcement areas
  • All forces and moments are considered in calculating reinforcement areas, i.e. in-plane forces in both directions, in-plane shear force, out-of-plane bending moments in both direction and twisting moment.
  • No limit for the shape of the slabs and walls, i.e. not limited the slabs/walls to be rectangle, they can be any shapes, e.g. triangle and polygon etc.
  • The reinforcements in the two directions are allowed to be in any angle, i.e. not limited to be right angle

Design Codes

GSA includes the ability to specify and check structural members to a number of steel and concrete design codes.

Steel design codes

The table below shows the current or most recent steel design codes that are available in GSA.

CodeTitleCountryDateOther versionsNotes
AISC LRFDAmerican Institute of Steel ConstructionUSADesign checks of I, H, RHS, Tee, Channel and CHS including local capacity and member buckling checks (non-sway frame only).
ANSI/AISC360Specification for Structural Steel Buildings,American Institute of Steel ConstructionUSA20102005Design checks of I, H, RHS, CHS, Tee, Channel and Angle sections (strut and tie action only for angles) including local capacity and member buckling checks.
AS4100Standards AustraliaAustralia1998Design checks of I, H, RHS, CHS, Tee, Channel and Angle sections including local capacity and member buckling checks.
CSA S16Design of steel structures, CSACanada20142009
BS5950-1Structural use of steelwork in building. Code of practice for design - Rolled and welded sections, British Standards InstitutionUK2000Design checks of I, H, RHS, CHS, Tee, Channel and Angle sections (strut and tie action only for angles) including local capacity and member buckling checks.
Eurocode3 EN 1993-1-1Eurocode 3: Design of steel structures, European Committee for StandardisationEurope2005Design checks of I, H, RHS, CHS, Tee, Channel and Angle sections (strut and tie action only for angles) including local capacity and member buckling checks. National Annex included for GB, DE, IE, NL, FR, and SG
EN 1993-1-2 Eurocode 3Eurocode 3: Design of steel structures - Fire, European Committee for StandardisationEurope2005National Annex for UK
HKSUOSCode of Practice for the Structural Use of Steel, Building Authority Hong KongHong Kong20112005Design checks of I, H, RHS, CHS, Tee, Channel and Angle sections including local capacity and member buckling checks.
IS800General Construction in Steel – Code of Practice, Bureau of Indian StandardsIndia20071984Design checks of I, H, RHS, CHS, Tee, Channel and Angle sections (strut and tie action only for angles) including local capacity and member buckling checks
SANS 10162-1The structural use of steel. Part 1: Limit-states design of hot-rolled steelwork, South African Bureau of StandardsSouth Africa2011Design checks of I, H, RHS, CHS, Tee, Channel and Angle sections including local capacity and member buckling checks.
Stress CheckA simple check of axial stress and “web” shear stress in a member due to axial and bending stress. Consideration of the limitations of this approach should be made before using this checker: the standard of input data required is similar to that needed for other more robust checking methods.

Concrete design codes

The table below shows the current or most recent concrete design codes that are available in GSA

CodeTitleCountryDateOther versions
AASHTO LRFD-8AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design SpecificationsUSA2017metric
ACI318Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete (ACI318-14)USA20142011, 2008, 2005, 2002
ACI318MBuilding Code Requirements for Structural Concrete (ACI318M-14) (metric version)USA20142011, 2008, 2005, 2002
AS3600Australian Standard Concrete StructuresAustralia20182001, 2009
AS5100Australian Standard Bridge DesignAustralia2017
BS5400-4Steel, concrete and composite bridges – Code of practice for design of concrete bridgesUK1990IAN70/06
BS8110-1Structural Use of Concrete Part 1. Code of practice for design and construction (Incorporating Amendments Nos. 1, 2 and 3)UK20051997, 1985
BS EN 1992-1-1Eurocode 2-1UK2004PD6687:2010, PD6687:2006
BS EN 1992-2Eurocode 2-2UK2005
CAN CSA A23.3Design of Concrete StructuresCanada20142007, 2004
CAN CSA S6Canadian Highway Bridge Design CodeCanada2014
CYS EN 1992-1-1Eurocode 2-1-1Cyprus2004
DIN EN 1992-1-1Eurocode 2-1-1Germany2004
DIN EN 1992-2Eurocode 2-2Germany2010
DS/EN 1992-1-1Eurocode 2-1-1Denmark2004
DS/EN 1992-2Eurocode 2-2Denmark2005
EN1992-1-1Eurocode 2: Design of concrete structures – Part 1-1: General rules and rules for buildings2004
EN 1992-2Eurocode 2: Design of concrete structures. Concrete bridges - Design and detailing rules2005
Hong Kong Code of PracticeCode of Practice for the Structural Use of ConcreteHong Kong20132004 (AMD 2007), 2004, 1987
Hong Kong Structures Design ManualStructures Design Manual for Highways and RailwaysHong Kong20132002
IRC:112Code of Practice for Concrete Road BridgesIndia2011
IRS Concrete Bridge CodeCode of Practice for Plain, Reinforced & Prestressed Concrete for General Bridge ConstructionIndia1997
I.S. EN 1992-1-1Eurocode 2-1-1Ireland2004
I.S. EN 1992-2Eurocode 2-2Ireland2005
IS 456Plain and reinforced concrete – Code of PracticeIndia2000
NEN EN 1992-1-1Eurocode 2-1-1Netherlands2004
NEN EN 1992-2Eurocode 2-2Netherlands2011
NF EN 1992-1-1Eurocode 2-1-1France2005
NF EN 1992-2Eurocode 2-2France2006
NS-EN 1992-1-1Eurocode 2-1-1Norway2004
PN-EN 1992-1-1Eurocode 2-1-1Poland2008
SFS-EN1992-1-1Eurocode 2-1-1Finland
SS EN 1992-1-1Eurocode 2-1-1Singapore2008
SS EN 1992-1-2Eurocode 2-2Singapore2012
UNE-EN 1992-1-1Eurocode 2-1-1Spain2010
UNE-EN 1992-2Eurocode 2-2Spain2010
UNI EN 1992-1-1Eurocode 2-1-1Italy2004
UNI EN 1992-2Eurocode 2-2Italy2006