News in Brief – July/August 2008

SCI is preparing a series of simple tools that engineers can use with hand calculations to make the use of Eurocodes easier. Generally, the Eurocodes provide formulae which may look complicated, but are ideal for spreadsheets. SCI will be making a number of simple Excel worksheets available, with some useful tools, and in some cases functions to speed a laborious calculation. The aim would be for designers to use these in their own spreadsheet design aids. The first items, freely available to SCI members from www.steelbiz.org, are a spreadsheet to calculate “k” factors used in combined axial load and bending, and the same formulae presented as graphs.

A BCSA conference on CE Marking will be held on 28 October at the Institute of Directors, 116 Pall Mall, London. The event is open to specifiers, designers, contractors and the steel construction industry. A new BCSA ‘Steel Construction Guide to CE Marking’ will be launched at the conference.

Jim Carmichael has been appointed as the new Manager of the Steel Construction Certification Scheme (SCCS). He is a registered lead auditor, European welding inspection specialist  and a senior welding inspector. He will be based at the BCSA’s Yorkshire office.

Tekla has released its annual main version of Tekla Structures BIM software. The new version 14 includes several improvements towards a more user and environmentally friendly software.

Ayrshire Metal Products has announced some major enhancements to its product range within Acecad’s StruCad system. The company’s range of Ayrshire cold rolled sections has been integrated into the latest StruCad versions, and is combined with a number of new connection macros.