App: xsec
Developer: Phillip Thompson
Genres: Utilities, Productivity

Concrete structural members are designed and analyzed by this application. Specifically, it does cross-section analysis. 

It uses an innovative cross-section analysis algorithm that is very universal. The enterprising design professional can take full advantage of their knowledge of the materials: 
	•	to design innovative concrete members, 
	•	to assess the remaining strength in irregular shaped surviving parts of deteriorated or damaged members. 

There are no curbs on the input to ensure it is within the realm of established technology. That full universal nature is available. 

The established design methods use a variety of shapes for the stress-strain relationship of concrete: the rectangular stress block, the parabolic stress block, linear, cracked linear are examples. Also there are established methods for a variety of cross-section shapes: rectangular, circular and Tee are examples. 

This application will accept any shape for the stress-strain relationships, any shape of the cross-section and any arrangement of reinforcing steel. 

Also with most of the established methods the results from the application will agree with the results from the established method  when the input is the same. Many of the worked examples illustrate this point.

The algorithm is described by Thompson, P. J., Discussion of "Ultimate Strength Domain of Reinforced Concrete Sections under Biaxial Bending and Axial Load", ACI Structural Journal, Nov-Dec 2013, pp 1109-1112. 

A warning:
The user of this application needs to be aware of the limitations of the established design methods and aware that this application does not have those limitations.

Release notes:
The user control of the automatic trial and adjustment has been improved. Some bugs have been fixed.