SPACE GASS is a multi-purpose structural analysis and design program for 2D and 3D structures. It comes with a wide range of features that make it suitable for any job from small beams, trusses and portal frames to large high rise buildings, towers, cranes and bridges. Items such as graphical input, polar coordinates, elastic supports, pin-ended members, tension-only members, rigid member offsets, moving loads and non-linear analysis are all standard features.

SPACE GASS has been designed so that you have everything at your fingertips. The main graphics display, which is visible almost all of the time, is the central focus of the program and constantly shows the current state of the model. It lets you zoom, pan or rotate your model in a silky smooth motion even if you are working with a large fully rendered model. You can display your model in wireframe, outline or fully rendered modes. Toolbar buttons that instantly activate the most frequently used commands, and toggle buttons that turn options on or off and indicate their state at a glance, give the program a highly visual look. A logically arranged menu system gives access to all of the program’s features in a way that makes it impossible for you to get lost. Context sensitive help is available for each screen and, if that is not enough, the entire SPACE GASS user manual is included on-line!

SPACE GASS has a feature rich set of graphics tools which enable virtually all parts of the data to be input or edited graphically. This includes the structure, loads, and design data. The list of graphics tools includes draw, move, rotate, copy, mirror, erase, stretch, subdivide, intersect, connect, merge, renumber, attributes, restrain, section, material, constrain, load, area load, moving load, combine, mass, steel member, steel connect, show, label, annotate, redraw, zoom, pan, viewpoint, filter, query, grid, snap, ortho, attach, plane, coordinates and scale.

As an alternative to graphical input, an enhanced form of spreadsheet input, called Datasheet Input, is available for all types of data. Special buttons for generation and other data specific items such as section property shape input or material library input make datasheet input indispensable. SPACE GASS also offers pro-forma text file input and standard structure wizard input.

Although SPACE GASS is very easy to learn and use, it contains a huge number of sophisticated features and capabilities. Most of these come as standard, however a few of the more specialized ones are supplied as options.

Standard Features in SPACE GASS

• Intuitive and easy-to-use graphical user interface.
• Simple and logical menu system offering access to all program features.
• Toolbar buttons offering instant access to the most commonly used commands.
• Maximum use of buttons with icons or pictures in place of words or codes.
• Metric, Imperial or any mixed units system.
• Graphical input.
• Undo / redo with unlimited steps.
• Filters that let you control what you see graphically.
• Context sensitive menus that are activated by right clicking the mouse.
• Datasheet input and text file input.
• A structure wizard that guides you through the generation of standard structures.
• Full data generation facilities for linear and curved structures.
• Rigid, sliding and pin-ended members.
• Semi-rigid joints.
• 3D member offsets.
• Tension-only and compression-only members.
• Rigid, sliding, pinned and elastic supports.
• Standard section, material, spectral, vehicle, bolt, plate and weld libraries.
• Library editor.
• Shape builder for built-up shapes and non-standard sections.
• All types of node and member loads (concentrated and distributed).
• Prescribed node translations and rotations.
• Thermal loads.
• Prestress loads.
• Area loads.
• Moving loads.
• Automatic self weight generation.
• Pattern loading tool.
• Load combinations.
• Load case enveloping.
• Automatic stabilization of unrestrained nodes.
• Linear and non-linear analysis.
• Small, finite and large displacement theories.
• Analysis optimization.
• Batch processing of analysis, design and reporting tasks.
• Deflection optimizer tool.
• Floor and diaphragm generation tools.
• Storey shear and storey drift calculations and charts.
• Wind load generation for enclosed multi-storey buildings.
• Export/import facilities with MS-Access and MS-Excel.
• Direct link with Autodesk’s Revit Structure (links to Tekla, Prosteel, Microstation and others).
• IDEA StatiCa connection design link.
• Highly customizable output reports which can be previewed before printing.
• Reports in PDF format.
• Full node, member and plate renumbering before or after other data has been input.
• Virtually unlimited capacity (subject to sufficient memory and disk space).
• Loading diagrams.
• Deformed geometry diagrams.
• Bending moment, shear force, axial force and stress diagrams.
• Plate and member contour diagrams.
• Query function for the model and its analysis result diagrams.
• Full 3D rendered geometry view.
• Descriptive on-screen notes.
• Ability to add attachments to a job that are then saved with the job.
• Ability to add and view dimensions.
• Measurement tool.
• Project gridlines.
• Customizable toolbars.
• Haunched and tapered members.
• Member alignment adjustments.
• Lightning fast analysis speed.
• The ability to merge jobs.
• Script files for controlling SPACE GASS from other programs.
• Macro facility for running other programs from SPACE GASS.
• Context sensitive on-line help.
• The complete SPACE GASS user manual on-line.
• 64-bit sparse matrix solver with parallel processing on multi-core CPUs.
• Hardware accelerated graphics.

Optional Features in SPACE GASS

• Plate/shell element (with new advanced meshing tools).
• Master-slave constraints.
• Catenary cable element.
• Dynamic frequency analysis.
• Dynamic spectral response analysis.
• Dynamic harmonic response analysis (new).
• Dynamic transient response analysis (new).
• Buckling analysis.
• Steel member design.
• Steel connection design.
• Reinforced concrete beam design (new).
• Reinforced concrete column design (new).
• Reinforced concrete slab design (new).
• Portal frame builder (all new version).
• Tank builder.
• Integrated CHECKWIND module for wind loads (new).

Everything is Integrated

All of the standard and optional features are fully integrated into SPACE GASS and form an integral part of its menu structure. Transfer of data between the various modules is automatic because they all share the same database.

Hardware Requirements