Introduction to STAAD

for Structural Analysis

and Design
Term Paper in Construction Method and
Project Management
A short discussion about the importance of STAAD.Pro in the
construction industry. Sample analysis and design for a
simple frame was also provided in this paper.
JOVY B. NOTORIO, CE-5A
10/10/2016

Republic of the Philippines

CAMARINES SUR POLYTECHNIC COLLEGES
Nabua, Camarines Sur
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
ISO 9001:2008

INTRODUCTION
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design,
construction and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment including
works like roads, bridge, canals, dams and buildings.
It is the second-oldest engineering discipline after military engineering and is
defined to distinguish non-military engineering from military engineering. It is
traditionally broken into several sub-disciplines including architectural engineering,
environmental engineering, geotechnical engineering, control engineering, structural
engineering, earthquake engineering, earthquake engineering, water resources
engineering, materials engineering, wastewater engineering, offshore engineering,
faade engineering, coastal engineering, construction surveying and construction
engineering. The earliest practice of civil engineering may have commenced between
4000 and 2000 BC in ancient Egypt, Indus valley civilization and Mesopotamia when
human started to abandon a nomadic existence.
One of the oldest known constructions were the Great Pyramid of Egypt (2700
2500 BC) and Qanat water management system (3000 BC). Throughout the ancient
and medieval history most architectural design and construction was carried out by
artisans such as stonemasons and carpenters rising to the role of master builder.
Knowledge was retained in guilds and seldom supplanted by advances. Most structures

Republic of the Philippines

CAMARINES SUR POLYTECHNIC COLLEGES
Nabua, Camarines Sur
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
ISO 9001:2008

are repetitive and increase in scale was incremental (Wikipedia, 2016). Most of the
structure was planned and carried out using common knowledge only since
mathematical methods were not yet developed at that time. Egyptians were the first
known people to apply mathematics in construction and the Great Pyramid was the
proof of it.
Early materials were the use of adobe (clay bricks) and large stones. Bamboo or
other woods were used as reinforcement. Some used hay or straw in addition to the
mixture to improve its property. The improvements of these construction methods were
based on the experience and observations, no scientific studies were done.
As time passes, together with the discovery of mathematical concepts and
scientific methods, people was able to improve the construction into a great leap. From
adobe and small huts, now the people can build a hundred meter tall buildings.
Structural analysis has been developed from determinate to indeterminate structures.
Due to the great demand of needs, manual calculation of analysis was not enough
to sustain therefore creation of software with the aide of computer was born. One of the
leading software nowadays was STAAD.

Republic of the Philippines

CAMARINES SUR POLYTECHNIC COLLEGES
Nabua, Camarines Sur
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
ISO 9001:2008

1. What is STAAD?
STAAD or STAAD.Pro is a structural analysis and design computer
program originally developed by Research Engineers International at Yorba
Linda, CA in 1997. In late 2005, Research Engineer International was bought by
Bentley Systems. It is one of the most widely used structural analysis and design
software products worldwide. It supports several design codes from different
countries.
It can make use of various forms of analysis from the traditional 1 st order
static analysis, 2nd order p-delta, geometric non-linear analysis or a buckling
analysis. It can also make use of various forms of dynamic analysis from modal
extraction to time history and response spectrum analysis (wikipedia, 2016).
Earlier it took days to complete and finalize a building design, but now with
STAAD.Pro

software,

designing

can

be

done

in

few

minutes

(multisoftvirtualacademy, 2015).

2. What are the benefits of using STAAD software?

a. Flexible modelling environment. STAAD.Pro v8i is based on latest
programming technology that enables it to create an exact three dimensional
replica of the required building or structure. The new STAAD.Pro software is

Republic of the Philippines

CAMARINES SUR POLYTECHNIC COLLEGES
Nabua, Camarines Sur
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
ISO 9001:2008

equipped with advanced graphical environment and about 70 international

design codes in 7 different languages. The flexible modelling environment of
STAAD.Pro v8i software is due to the availability of a wide variety of
advanced structural analysis and design features.
b. Availability of a wide range of design codes. STAAD.Pro v8i software has
included both concrete and steel design together, thus making it a one-stoppoint for building design. Due to the availability of a large variety of design
codes, this software can easily determine the drift, deflection and depth of any
construct. This software can also calculate the reinforcement for the concrete
columns, beams and shear walls.
c. Interconnected and open architecture. Unlike other structural designing
software, STAAD.Pro can be modified to suit the design needs. STAAD.Pro
has been developed with an open architecture called OpenSTAAD. All the
input and output functions are already included in the software itself. The
software also has a pre-built collection of most used structures, such as
trusses, buildings, mats, etc. that can be remodelled as per the requirement.
New templates can also be added to the software. As it is an open
architecture software, you can link your model to the Excel or Match CAD, so
when the model changes, Excel also changes. One most exciting feature of
this software is that it has embedded VBA that permits you to write your own
designs and templates.

Republic of the Philippines

CAMARINES SUR POLYTECHNIC COLLEGES
Nabua, Camarines Sur
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
ISO 9001:2008

d. Contains All Features of Structural Engineering. STAAD.Pro software

contains all the necessary tools required to design a structure. It works insync with other programs such as STAAD.Pro Foundation, STAAD.offshore,
and RAM Concept for designing of foundations, offshore structures and steel
connection, respectively. Also, If you are designing bridges or pipes, the
software includes their respective features as well( multisoftvirtualacademy,
2015).
3. What are the elements of STAAD.Pro Screen/User Interface?

4. Sample Analysis
Consider the simple frame shown below:

SPIRAL COLUMN

RECTANGULAR COLUMN

Given:
Dimensions
Column

Beam

Rectangular

300mmx275mm

Spiral

350mm

Rectangular

350mmx275mm

Length:

Column

3.5m

Beam

3.5m

Joints: Fixed

Material Property
Name

Concrete

22KN/m2

Poissons
Ratio
0.17

Density

Code Used

Fy

Fc

CLT

CLS

CLB

23.5KN/m3

AISC 360-10

415MPa

25MPa

20mm

20mm

20mm

Loads
Dead Loads

Direction

Wind Load

Direction

Self-weight

-23.5KN/m3

GY@B1&2

Uniform Load

2941.99KN/m

GX@C1

Uniform Load

-3922.66KN/m

GY@B1&2

Uniform Load

4903.33KN/m

GX@C3

Live Loads
Uniform Load

Combination
-5883.99KN/m

GY@B1&2

1.2DL + 1.6LL + 1.3WL