Hi Support Team,
I have a few suggestions that I feel would benefit most RAM Concept users.
1) It would be very handy to have an option to set the elevation of a tendon profile point to 'mid depth.' Similar to the other current options, a user would not have to continually changed this depth as concrete element depth changes. Almost all anchorages profile points will be mid depth (unless pan stressed).
2) Currently the only way to model long term PT losses is to model 'manual' tendons by jacking them. I believe there should be the option to jack Tendon Parameters instead of using an 'effective force' method. These affects can be significant in long tendons and could have a great impact on design and deflections.
3) In preliminary analysis, there could be analysis run time saved if the span segment cross sections could be determined based their length and %span. For example my code bases deflection calculations on cross sections at quarter points (section at both ends, middle and quarter points). I suppose an alternative to this would be to set the max division max really high and use the min division options. But the former suggestion would be based purely on span length.
4) Is it possible for beams to be recognised as supports, similar to columns in that you don't need to manually specify a support width? Can become troublesome when changing beam widths, yet to span segment's first cross section won't change.
5) Modelling tendons through steps, folds and other elevation changes can be very tricky, especially ensuring that you are maintaining the correct cover at all times. I wonder if there is scope to implement a tool (similar to the plot distribution tool), that could preview a section of the tendon profile along a particular 'cut' made by the user. This would no doubt assist in the 'sanity' checks of PT modelling and to make sure you won't be blowing the corner off a concrete step!
6) I've mentioned this previously, but keyboard hotkeys or shortcuts would be great for general modelling. Especially tools like select, move, stretch.
If I think of any more I will post them here.
Thanks for taking the time to consider these suggestions.
Trent