Home > User Interface > Results Processing > Structural Code Check Post-Processing > Code check study

Code check study

A new structural code check study can be created by right-clicking on the Structural Code Check node of the tree view:

When you double-click on the new element of the tree that has just been created (or select the item Edit... from its contextual menu), a dialog box opens.

The input data of the study have to be filled in the different tabs:

Selection: The lines or segments on which the code checks computations are performed.
Parameters: The code checks parameters relative to each line or segment.
Study: The code checks for which the computations of the UC ratios are done in accordance with the corresponding regulations.
Analyses: The analyses used to retrieve the efforts.
Output: The outputs which contained the ratios.

In the next subsections, the different tabs are described precisely.

Once the input data of the study are filled, the code check(s) computation can be launched by pressing the Launch button, as described in the Launching the study section.

Once the computation has finished, the results can be consulted in output files whose formats are chosen by the user in the Output tab. Moreover, a new tab Result is added at the end of the dialog box. Some indications about the computation are displayed in the text area.

Selection

Selection is the first tab of the dialog box. It is showed in the previous figure.

Elements to which a code check computation must be performed can be selected on the tree of the available elements.

In accordance with the type of elements on which apply a code check, the tree of elements show the corresponding elements:

Code checks on beams apply on segments or joints in DeepLines.
Code checks on (cylindrical or rectangular) shells apply on lines in DeepLines at a particular abscissa.

Parameters

In this tab the user can enter the values of the parameters used by the code checks. These parameters have each one value by element to check. These values are displayed in a table where the selected elements appear on lines and the parameters on columns.

The rows of the elements which have not been selected (confer the tree of elements of the Selection tab) appear grayed out in the table. Note that, even if the cells are grayed for unselected elements, their values can be changed and saved. So it is possible to change the values of the parameters for all the elements, for example by copy/paste from an Excel sheet.

The properties of the elements to check can be selected in this table: local section and material. A list of local sections and materials are proposed which are defined as Structure properties:

In this way, it is possible to check reinforced local sections.

The other parameters are specific for each type of code check study:

The different forms of this tab will be described on section which is dedicated to the characteristics of the different type of code check study.

Study

In this tab the user can choose a name for his study: the same name will be displayed on the model tree. This name will be the base name of the result files followed by their extension:

.csv : results file in CSV format,
.lst : listing,
.pun : detailed listing,
.day : computation history file.

If the code checks computation detects an error, a message will be written to a file with the extension .log.

The choice of a title for the study is optional, it is simply indicated in the listing.

The list of available code checks are listed on the left. The user must select the code checks of his study by making them appear on the list on the right. For this, the user selects one or more code checks from the list on the left and presses the button representing an arrow between the two lists: the selected code checks then appear in the list on the right.

Options of the code check can be chosen by the user for any code check on the right list in three ways:

Double-clicking on a code check name in the right list.
Selecting one or more code checks in the right list and pushing the button Options.
Right-clicking the mouse and selecting the Choose options... item of the contextual menu.

Whichever open choice you make, a dialog box is open. For example, for the code check API-RP-2A-LRFD-1993:

The first part of the Options dialog box contains specific options to the corresponding code check.

Then, the edit boxes allowing to choose the report name and title, are common to all the code checks.

For most code checks, the dialog box contains finally edit boxes to specify the permanent and environmental load factors.

Note that the same code check name can be passed to the right list, so it is possible to compute the same code check but with different options in the same study. In that case it is necessary to distinguish the two code checks when they will be referenced in the results: the report name is used to uniquely identify a code check with a set of options. These report names appear in a column on the right-list.

The different options available to the code checks will be described on section which is dedicated to the characteristics of the different types of code check study:

These options are common to all the elements to check unlike parameters which can have a different value for every element to check.

Analyses

Each code check computation is done for a "load case" (one time for one analysis) which is characterized by six values of the effort (3-components of the force and of the moment) for a given time. These efforts are read from the results database of the analyses. In this tab the user can choose:

The analyses concerned by the code check computation in the analyses tree.
The initial and final times for all the analyses selected in the tree (you can choose a final time greater than that of a specific analysis).
The static reference analysis which will be used to compute the effort used by the code check computation (see below) and its reference step.
The execution mode used by the study:
- Standard mode: the consumed memory increases linearly with the number of the load cases, but the listing of results is usable.
- Minimize memory mode: consumption of the memory is independent of the number of load cases and depends only on the number of elements to check. This mode is appropriate for many analyses and/or times. In return, the listing of results is unusable, but other outputs are available: results can be saved in CSV files (see below).

Design efforts

The component V_Design of the force or the moment used by the code check computation is determined from the static reference value V_Stat and the dynamic value V_Dyn read on database, as follows:

V_Design = C_Stat . V_Stat + C_Dyn . (V_Dyn - V_Stat)

where the coefficient C_Stat and C_Dyn are, respectively, the permanent and environmental loads factors which can be chosen by the user on the dialog box of the code check options (see previous section).

The tables below show how a design variable used in the code check computation is determined from the post-processing variables available in the DeepLines database.

For code checks on shells, tubes or joints
Static and dynamic values computed from DeepLines post-processing variables V=V_Stat or V_Dyn	Value used to compute code check ratio: V_Design = C_Stat . V_Stat + C_Dyn . (V_Dyn - V_Stat)
ReactionLocalForceZ : Reaction local force Z If (changeSignCriterion) ReactionLocalForceZ = -ReactionLocalForceZ For code checks on tubes or joints: V = ReactionLocalForceZ For code checks on shells: Endcap : End cap (available since the V5R5 version) V = ReactionLocalForceZ + EndCap	Design axial force
V : Reaction local force X If (ChangeSignCriterion) V = -V	Design shear force X
V : Reaction local force Y If (ChangeSignCriterion) V = -V	Design shear force Y
V : Reaction local moment Z If (ChangeSignCriterion) V = -V	Design torsional moment
V : Reaction local moment X If (ChangeSignCriterion) V = -V	Design bending moment X
V : Reaction local moment Y If (ChangeSignCriterion) V = -V	Design bending moment Y

The ChangeSignCriterion is computed like this:

Tension : Effective tension (for the last node the tension is taken from its previous node)
ForceScalarProduct = ReactionLocalForceZ . Tension + ReactionLocalForceX . LocalForceX + ReactionLocalForceY . LocalForceY
MomentScalarProduct = ReactionLocalMoment . LocalMoment
if (MomentScalarProduct > ForceScalarProduct) then
if (MomentScalarProduct < 0) ChangeSignCriterion = true
else ChangeSignCriterion = false
else
if (ForceScalarProduct < 0) ChangeSignCriterion = true
else ChangeSignCriterion = false

Output

Code check ratios can be saved in text files with different formats.

The base name of all the output files is the study name. Each output file is characterized by its extension. The result files are created in the output directory that has been specified in the Output path edit box.

Note

If a type of output does not interest the user, it is strongly advised not to select it in the Output tab: some outputs can have a significant cost in time and/or generates very large file.

Text files with results in columns

When the Create text files with results in columns check-box is checked, a text file is output with the results displayed in a table. These results contained in this file are similar to those that appear on the Results tab but with more information, including the information that appears in the summary table at the end of the listing (see below).

This file has the extension .cvs if the chosen format is CSV and can be directly opened in Excel, otherwise it has the extension .txt.

For code checks applying to elements having a notion of "section" and if the With all sections check-box is selected, a file whose radical is suffixed by _BySection is created in addition to the previous one. It contains the detail of the results for all the sections of the elements.
Sections correspond to finite elements for tubes and panels for rectangular shells.

If the By analysis check-box is checked, two additional files are created: - One whose its base name is suffixed by __ByAnalysis gives the results by analysis. - Another, suffixed by __ByAnalysis__Summary, gives a summary of max ratios by analysis for each element.

If both With all sections and By analysis check-boxes are checked, an additional file whose the base name is suffixed by __ByAnalysis__WithAllSections gives the results by analysis and by section.

Note

Outputs by analysis are not available in the Standard execution mode.

Text files with results in columns : options

By clicking on the Options ... button it is possible to choose the columns to output, their order and the column that will be chosen to sort the results by row:

A code check regulation generally offers a set of ratios that must be checked. These ratios are referred as the detailed ratios of the code check. Currently, the outputs shows the time and analysis that gives the maximum ratio of detailed ratios. If the detailed ratio which gives its value to the maximum ratio is then known, the other detailed ratios have their values given at the same time and analysis as the maximum ratio. For example the Results tab (see below) displays the detailed ratios at the time and analysis of the maximum ratio. In the Options for columns text file dialog box, the Detailed_Ratios item outputs also detailed ratios at the time and analysis of the maximum ratio.

If the user wishes to output, for each detailed ratio, its maximum value over all the analyses times, he has to select the Max_Detailed_Ratios item.

Suppose a fictitious code check on tubes that has three detailed ratios (Axial, Bending, Geom). If the Detailed_Ratios item has been chosen, the CSV output file has the following form (colors have been added to improve readability):

**Content of a CSV file with Detailed_Ratios**
Line	Segment	ID	Max_Ratio	Axial_Ratio	Bending_Ratio	Geom_Ratio	FE_Index	Analysis_Name	Analysis_Time	Property_Name
44	seg_1	44	1.000	0.016	0.006	1.000	9	Analysis_1	0.00001	OD508WT16
LINE0	45	45	0.018	0.018	0.001	0.001	7	Analysis_1	1.00001	OD508WT16
46	seg_1	46	0.013	0.013	0.001	0.008	0	Analysis_1	1.20001	OD508WT16
47	seg_1	47	0.013	0.013	0.002	0.004	9	Analysis_1	0.20001	OD508WT16
LINE1	58	58	0.007	0.002	0.007	0.001	0	Analysis_1	1.40001	OD406_4WT16
LINE2	94	94	0.005	0.003	0.005	0.004	0	Analysis_2	0.50001	OD406_4WT16
LINE1	223	223	0.004	0.001	0.003	0.004	3	Analysis_1	0.00001	OD406_4WT16
LINE2	224	224	0.006	0.000	0.006	0.003	10	Analysis_1	1.20001	OD406_4WT16
LINE0	237	237	0.033	0.033	0.032	0.014	10	Analysis_1	0.20001	OD508WT16
LINE0	238	238	0.012	0.012	0.004	0.006	10	Analysis_1	0.80001	OD508WT16

For each row of the table dedicated to an element to be checked, successively appears:

The value of the maximum ratio found for all the times of all the analyses, for all the finite elements and for all the detailed ratios(Max_Ratio),
The values of the detailed ratios for the finite element, the analysis and the time which give the maximum ratio (Axial_Ratio, Bending_Ratio, Geom_Ratio),
The finite element index which gives the maximum ratio (FE_Index),
The name of the analysis which gives the maximum ratio (Analysis_Name),
The time of the analysis which gives the maximum ratio (Analysis_Time).

As there is only one triplet (analysis, time, finite element) on each line, this triplet is associated with the maximum value of the ratio. Consequently, the values of the detailed ratios are necessarily given in the configuration which gives the maximum value of the ratio.

For each detailed ratio, it is desired that the value indicated on each row of the table is the maximum value for all the times of all the analyses and for all the finite elements.

By choosing the Max_Detailed_Ratios item, the maximum value of a detailed ratio over all the analyses times is determined, and the CSV output will have the following form (only the columns associated with the detailed Axial ratio have been developed, those associated with the other two detailed ratios, Bending and Geom, should appear on the right and are not shown):

**Content of a CSV file for Max_Detailed_Ratios**
			Global_Ratio					Axial_Ratio
Line	Segment	ID	Max_Ratio	FE_Index	Analysis_Name	Analysis_Time	Ratio_Name	Max_Ratio	FE_Index	Analysis_Name	Analysis_Time
44	seg_1	44	1.000	9	Analysis_1	0.00001	Geom	0.024	2	Analysis_2	1.50001
LINE0	45	45	0.018	7	Analysis_1	1.00001	Axial	0.018	7	Analysis_1	1.00001
46	seg_1	46	0.013	0	Analysis_1	1.20001	Axial	0.013	0	Analysis_1	1.20001
47	seg_1	47	0.013	9	Analysis_1	0.20001	Axial	0.013	9	Analysis_1	0.20001
LINE1	58	58	0.007	0	Analysis_1	1.40001	Bending	0.002	2	Analysis_2	0.50001
LINE2	94	94	0.005	0	Analysis_2	0.50001	Bending	0.003	4	Analysis_1	0.50001
LINE1	223	223	0.004	3	Analysis_1	0.00001	Geom	0.001	9	Analysis_1	0.60001
LINE2	224	224	0.006	10	Analysis_1	1.20001	Bending	0.004	4	Analysis_2	0.90001
LINE0	237	237	0.033	10	Analysis_1	0.20001	Axial	0.033	10	Analysis_1	0.20001
LINE0	238	238	0.012	10	Analysis_1	0.80001	Axial	0.012	10	Analysis_1	0.80001

In the table, the three green columns appear, not only for the Global_Ratio, but also for each detailed ratio.

Now assume that the detailed Geom ratio, as the name suggests, is a geometric ratio. In this case, if it is this geometric detailed ratio that gives its value to the global ratio, it hides the maximum value of the dynamic detailed ratios. To solve this problem, two new columns (in purple in the table below) for the global ratio (Global_Ratio) will be shown:

A column giving for each element the maximum value of all the geometric detailed ratios,
A column giving for each element the maximum value of all the dynamic detailed ratios.

**Content of a CSV file with the maximum values of the geometric and dynamic ratios**
			Global_Ratio
Line	Segment	ID	Max_Ratio	Geom_Max_Ratio	Dyna_Max_Ratio	FE_Index	Analysis_Name	Analysis_Time	Ratio_Name
44	seg_1	44	1.000	1.000	0.024	9	Analysis_1	0.00001	Geom
LINE0	45	45	0.018	0.001	0.018	7	Analysis_1	1.00001	Axial
46	seg_1	46	0.013	0.008	0.013	0	Analysis_1	1.20001	Axial
47	seg_1	47	0.013	0.004	0.013	9	Analysis_1	0.20001	Axial
LINE1	58	58	0.007	0.001	0.007	0	Analysis_1	1.40001	Bending
LINE2	94	94	0.005	0.004	0.005	0	Analysis_2	0.50001	Bending
LINE1	223	223	0.004	0.004	0.003	3	Analysis_1	0.00001	Geom
LINE2	224	224	0.006	0.003	0.006	10	Analysis_1	1.20001	Bending
LINE0	237	237	0.033	0.014	0.033	10	Analysis_1	0.20001	Axial
LINE0	238	238	0.012	0.006	0.012	10	Analysis_1	0.80001	Axial

Note

For a code check on joint, the CSV output is the same, whichever the Max_Detailed_Ratios or Detailed_Ratios item chosen, because a code check on joint has generally only one geometric ratio and only one load ratio.

Note

If you select both the With all sections box and Max_Detailed_Ratios output, max detailed ratios are not given in the CSV results file suffixed by _BySection: only the max detailed ratios by element are available in the main CSV results file by element. To have the max detailed ratios by section in the CSV results file suffixed by _BySection, you have to select the With detailed ratios for sections box at the top of the dialog box shown at the beginning of this section.

Listing of results

The listing file has a .lst extension.

For each checked element, a summary of the code check computation is given:

the values of few input data,
the maximal ratio over times,
detailed ratios corresponding to different checks of a code check regulation,
the maximal ratio over times by section for code checks which apply on tubes,
for certain code checks, the values of allowable and effective stresses.

Some options allow the user to customize the form of output.

Selected widget	Meaning
Only report	No output by element. Only the summary of the ratios is written.
Only ratio greater than	Output for all elements which have a maximum ratio greater than the specified threshold ratio.
Full	Output for all elements.

For code check applying on elements having a notion of "section", such as tubes whose sections correspond to finite elements, the With all sections check-box can be checked by the user. If the check-box is unchecked, each element has output for up to 3 sections, with the writing of allowable and effective stresses: the output sections are always the two end sections and, if the maximum ratio is not given by one of these two end sections, the section that gives the max. Otherwise, if the With all sections check-box is checked, each section has an output.

If the With all stresses check-box is unchecked, allowable and effective stresses are written only for the section which gives the maximal ratio. Otherwise the allowable and effective stresses are written for all the sections. This check-box is present only for code checks applying on tubes.

It is possible for the listing and the detailed listing (see below) to specify a minimum ratio from which information about an item subject to a code check will be detailed. Indeed, for a large number of elements, listing files can be voluminous (and their writing consume time), especially with detailed listing. Anyway, even if the ratio of an element is lower than the minimum threshold, it will appear in the summary of the values of ratios at the end of listing, but, it will not appear in the outputs by element.

Warning

This listing can become very large when it is selected with the MimimizeMemory execution mode: in that case, the information by element is written by load case. In the Standard execution mode, this information by element is given for one time: the time which gives the maximal ratio.

Listing of detailed results

The detailed results file has the extension .pun.

Some intermediate results are provided in this file which correspond with the formulae of the regulation.

Warning

This detailed information is given for each checked element and each load case so this file can become huge and slows down the execution time: select this file only for a computation with a very small number of elements to check and a very small number of times.

Time series files

A time series file contains at each time step the value of the max ratio. Such a file has a name of the following form:

AnalysisName_TEV_CCRatios__CodeCheckStudyName__ReportName__ElementID.txt

These output files are distributed in a tree whose root is the export_txt\ directory. They are then grouped into directories that carry the names of the analyses.

Calculation history file

This file is always created and has the .day extension. It recalls:

The configuration used to launch code checks computation:
- Path and version of the DeepLines executable,
- Version of the Code check DLL,
The characteristics of the computation:
- DSK file,
- Study name,
- Output directory,
- Execution mode (Standard or MinimizeMemory),
- Code check(s) name(s),
- Number of elements to treat,
- Number of selected analyses,
- Start and end times of analyses.

At the end of the file, the percentage of calculation progress time is updated while calculation is running. In the MinimizeMemory mode, the percentage increases according to the number of processed analyses and gives a realistic indication of calculation progress. On the other hand, in the Standard mode, this percentage does not give a real indication of the time consumed: a percentage less than 100% indicates that the calculation is in progress and a percentage of 100% ensures that the calculation is completed.

This same distinction between the two execution modes also concerns the progress bar above the Abort button.

Launching the study

Once the data of the study are filled as indicated in the previous sections, the launching of the calculations of the code check (s) is done by pressing the Launch button.

Messages concerning the progress of the calculation, in particular any errors detected, are displayed in the message reception area and are reproduced in the file LOG_History. If an error was detected during the calculation, this message is also contained in a file with the name of the study followed by the extension .log.

The result files are created in the output directory that has been specified in the Output tab.

Once the computation has finished, a new tab Result is added at the end of the dialog box. Some indications about the computation are displayed in the text area.

You can abort the current computation with the Abort button.

Once the computation has finished:

A new tab Result is added at the end of the dialog box: it is described in the next section.
Some indications about the computation are displayed in the text area.
As long as the Result tab is present, all the input data cannot be changed, in order to maintain the correspondence between the input data and the results. To perform a new calculation, you have to click the Discard result button which allows changing input data but the Result tab is removed.
The Display button allows to display the code checks ratios on the model in the 3D view: see section Displaying code check ratios.
By clicking the Save button, the input data are saved as well as the results (if the calculations have been launched) and the dialog box closes.

To launch code check computations in batch mode, consult the Running a code check study section.

Result

The Result tab appear only after the code checks study has finished its computations. It displays the results in a table whose columns have the following meaning.

Column	Meaning	Commentary
Line	Line containing the element to which the code check calculation is performed.
Segment	For code checks on tubes, segment of the line where the code check calculation is performed.	The column is present only for code checks on tubes. If the element is a joint, this segment is a brace of the joint to which the code check calculation is performed. For code checks on shells, this column is replaced by the next Abscissa column.
Abscissa	For code checks on shells, abscissa of the line where the code check calculation is performed.	The column is present only for code checks on shells. For code checks on tubes, this column is replaced by the previous Segment column.
ID	In listing a checked element is identified by a number called ID. This column allows to make the correspondence between this ID and the segment or the abscissa of the line concerned by the computation.
Joint name	For code checks on joints, this column remembers the joint name to which the brace belongs.	For code checks on tubes or shells, this column is absent.
Joint ID	For code checks on joints, this column remembers the joint ID to which the brace belongs.	For code checks on tubes or shells, this column is absent.
Report	Report name which is used to identify the code check which gives the maximal ratio when different code checks are computed in the same study. The code check name is not enough to identify the concerned code check in the case that same code checks with different options are computed in the same study.
Analysis	Analysis whose the time gives the maximal ratio.
Time	Time which gives the maximal ratio.
FE index Point/Panel	Section index which gives the maximal ratio.	For a segment, a section is a finite element. For a cylindrical shell, a section is a calculation point over the local section. For a rectangular shell, a section is a panel over the local section.
Max ratio	Maximal ratio obtained over all the times (and sections).

You can reorder the lines in descendant or ascendant order by clicking on the column title.

At the beginning of the tab, four buttons allow you to edit the listings files if they exist (.lst, .pun, .log, .day). The buttons are available only if the files are created.

The detailed ratios can be displayed in the table by clicking on the Maximum ratios by check radio button. In general, a same regulation contains several checks having each a ratio to check. A detailed ratio is a ratio of one of theses checks.

The order of elements in the results table is given by the ascending order of their ID. The Order by ratio radio button allows you to order the elements according to their maximum overall ratio. By pressing a column header in the table, you can also reorder the elements of the table according to the values of the quantity named by the header. A button on the right allows the user to export the results into an Excel sheet.

Once the study computation is terminated, the results can be saved in the DSK file. To be sure that the results correspond to the input data displayed in the previous tabs, these input data are frozen. The user cannot change these input data until he explicitly removes the results by clicking on the Discard Result button at the bottom of the dialog box: a dialog box asks you if you want to delete all the study results files. Whether the answer is yes or no, the Result tab will be removed. To keep the tab you must respond cancel and nothing will be removed. Be careful, however, if you answered no to avoid deleting the study results files, you must rename the study (or move or manually rename these files) so that they are not overwritten during a future launch.

With the Display button, the code checks ratios can be displayed on the structure in the 3D view of the model: see section Displaying code check ratios.