More Productivity
Version 24 provides:
- New catenary and cable elements - easier to use. Specify characteristics and evaluate cable sagging and vibration.
- Vehicle Load optimisation - new carriageway definition, with divergent carriageways supported.
- Improved Free Cantilever Method (FCM) Wizard
- build models to any alignment.
In addition to these new productivity options, new embedded beam elements speed-up modelling of piles and soil anchors in geotechnical and soil-structure interaction analysis.
State of the art cable elements
Overview
Analyse and design complex cable structures, including cable-stayed bridges, cable masts, and cable nets, using our new advanced cable elements, which offer two powerful formulations tailored to different engineering needs.
- For fast and efficient analysis, the well-established Ernst formulation provides a practical and computationally efficient approximation of cable behaviour.
- For more advanced nonlinear analysis, the catenary formulation offers a higher-fidelity representation, with the form-finding of the cable shape automatically determined from user-defined parameters such as cable length, maximum sag, or specified target tension.
These enhancements further strengthen LUSAS as a leading solution for the analysis of cable structures, with advanced capabilities including cable tuning and cable vibration analysis.
Vehicle load optimisation
Define carriageways for Vehicle Load Optimisation (VLO) using simpler, more flexible tools.
Instead of kerb lines, you can now also specify lanes directly from a centreline or any longitudinal deck line.
Create complex layouts, like divergent carriageways and varying lane widths with ease, and reduce analysis times by setting independent traffic directions for each lane.
Enhanced visualisation provides a clear representation of carriageway extents and traffic directions.
Improved Free Cantilever FCM wizard
More control
Have full parametric control over your balanced cantilever bridge models using our improved balanced cantilever bridge wizard (also known as FCM Bridge Wizard), from construction sequencing to tendon profile definition.
In addition to conventional straight or curved alignments, the wizard now supports virtually any reference path for bridge alignment. LUSAS then automatically computes the exact bridge geometry and tendon positioning, greatly simplifying the setup of complex models.
