STAAD.Pro Steel Design

Instructions

Design Workflow — 5 Steps

Step 1 — Create design brief

brief_ref = design.CreateDesignBrief(1067)  # AISC 360-16

Step 2 — Assign design commands to members

design.AssignDesignCommand(brief_ref, 'CHECK CODE', '', beam_list)
# Returns True on success and raises on failure (execute_code reports any error)

Step 3 — Save to persist design commands

staad.SaveModel(True)

Step 4 — Run analysis + design

staad.SetSilentMode(True)
status = staad.AnalyzeEx(1, 0, 1)   # silentMode=1, hiddenMode=0, waitTillComplete=1
staad.SetSilentMode(False)
# status == 2 means success

Step 5 — Read results

out = staad.Output
# Verify first
blk_count = out.GetSteelDesignParameterBlockCount()   # must be > 0

# Per-member full results
r = out.GetMemberSteelDesignResults(bid)
# Returns: (codeName, status, ratio, allowable, critLC, critPos, clause, section, forces[FX,MY,MZ], klr)
# status: 'PASS' or 'FAIL'; ratio > 1.0 = failure

# Quick ratio only
ratio = out.GetMemberSteelDesignRatio(bid)  # -999=not designed, -1=no analysis

# Model-wide extremes
max_r = out.GetMemberSteelDesignMaxFailureRatio()
min_r = out.GetMemberSteelDesignMinFailureRatio()

Design Parameters

Assign parameters before running analysis:

design.AssignDesignParameter(brief_ref, paramName, paramValue, member_ids)
# Returns True on success and raises on failure

Design Groups

Group members to use the same section during optimization:

design.AssignDesignGroup(brief_ref, 'scSteelGroup', 'ColumnGroup', sameAsMember=1, member_ids=[1,2,3])
# Returns True on success and raises on failure

Querying Design Parameters

params = design.GetMemberDesignParameters(brief_ref, memberNo)
# Returns dict with status, count, parameters

Section Mapping (before design runs)

beam_to_section = {}
for sid in list(prop.GetSectionPropertyList()):
    name = prop.GetSectionPropertyName(sid)
    for bid in list(prop.GetSectionPropertyAssignedBeamList(sid)):
        beam_to_section[bid] = name

Example

See aisc360-design.py for a complete working example.

Gotchas

• Use AnalyzeEx(1, 0, 1) not AnalyzeModel — only AnalyzeEx triggers design
• GetSteelDesignParameterBlockCount() returns 0 until AnalyzeEx completes
• AssignDesignCommand, AssignDesignParameter, and AssignDesignGroup return True on success and raise on failure — call them directly (do NOT check for a non-zero return code); execute_code reports any uncaught error
• CreateDesignBrief validates the design code and raises on an invalid code
• GetMemberDesignParameters validates its arguments and raises on error
• GetMemberSteelDesignResults raises an error for members not assigned CHECK CODE
• Design section in results may differ from table section if the optimizer re-selected
• Parameter values are passed as strings to AssignDesignParameter