YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF AUGUST 2008 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.47h is a maintenance release that includes the following changes;

• Adjusted the calculation of bilinear deflections where the section properties at midspan are used throughout the length of the beam.  This method is used when the "Use Midspan Properties for Full Length of Beam" calculation option (Deflection tab) is turned on.  This option is only used for comparison with hand calculations only.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF JUNE 2008 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.47g is a maintenance release that includes the following changes;

• Corrected a bug that caused the licensee name to change temporarily when loading some previously saved files.  Thanks to Abdo Makhoul of AlMarshad Tarraf Precast Co. for reporting this problem.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF JUNE 2008 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.47f is a maintenance release that includes the following changes;

• Corrected a bug that caused the strength reduction factor for flexure under ACI318-02 & 05 and AS3600 to be miscalculated for transitional and compression controlled beams.  Thanks to James Gerloff of Computerized Structural Design for reporting this problem.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF FEBRUARY 2008 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.47e is a maintenance release that includes the following changes;

• Adjusted the calculation of flexural strength for cut strands within their development length.  Thanks to Melgre Mariano of AlRashid-Abetong Company for pointing out the issue.
• Corrected the display of the over-reinforcement warning for prestressed beams under ACI318-02/05.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF FEBRUARY 2008 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.47d is a maintenance release that includes the following changes;

• Corrected a bug in the calculation of the c/d ratio for beams with large amounts of prestressing near the compression face of a beam.  Thanks to Kaz Simbeya of Cook Engineering for reporting this problem.
• Corrected the search for tension steel to resist cracking at transfer.  Thanks to Dwayne Van Harberden of Stubbe's Precast.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF NOVEMBER 2007 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.47 includes the following changes;

• New Load Distribution Facility - A new load distribution method has been implemented in Concise Beam.  Each individual applied load can be assigned a pre-defined, or user-defined, load distribution.  This will allow concentrated or line loads to be input as the full load while the  load results are distributed to adjacent beams.  This load distribution contains independent patterns for shear, moment and torsion effect.  By default each applied load is assigned a special pre-defined load distribution which results in no load distribution to adjacent beams.
• New Lifting Load Case - Prior versions of Concise Beam performed a stress analysis at the transfer and in-service stages.  The support conditions for these stages are defined in the Beam dialog.  This version adds a new stage at lifting shortly after transfer.  The new support conditions (lifting points) can now be defined in the Beam dialog.  A stress analysis is performed at this load stage for all design codes except the Australian code where a strength check is performed at this stage.
• Long-Term Deflection Modifier Changes - Changed the adjustment of long-term deflection multipliers for rebar by measuring the rebar properties at the point of maximum moment instead of at every section.  This avoids discontinuities in the deflection curve where there is a sudden change in the rebar or strand amounts - particularly where all strands stop short of the end of the beam.
• Summary Report Changes - The analysis results in the Summary Report now show the load combination that governs the factored results.  The Summary Report has also been updated to reflect the addition of the lifting stage.
• Combined Graphs - The number of design graphs has been reduced by combining graphs for the top and bottom of beam stresses.  There have also been some changes to the graph titles.
• New Help System - For the Windows Vista release Microsoft has dropped support for it's Microsoft Help system used by Concise Beam for it's on-line manual.  I have converted the manual to Microsoft's alternate HTML Help system.  The new help system will be familiar to most users.
• New Libraries and Library Names - The Canadian and American libraries have been updated to reflect the content of the latest editions of the CPCI Design Manual, 3rd Ed. and the PCI Design Handbook, 6th Ed.  The library files have also been renamed to reflect the source of their contents.  The Canadian library names are now CPCI_3.*, the American are PCI_6.*, and the Australian are NPCAA_1.* for the NPCAA Precast Concrete Handbook, 1st Ed.
• New Text Report Creation Method - Unannounced security changes made by Microsoft to some versions of Windows through their updates has prevented some users from being able to open text reports within Concise Beam.  Concise Beam uses temporary files to generate the text reports (a memory saving scheme required by the limited computer memories of the early 1990's).  Some standard directories used by Concise Beam have been (silently) declared off limits by Microsoft in their fight against viruses.  I have rewritten Concise Beam to eliminate the creation of these temporary files.  The reports are now stored in memory.  Given the small size of the reports and large memories of current computers this won't be noticeable to the user.
• New File Format - A new file format has been created for the problem files to accommodate additional data used by the program.  It still uses the *.con extension but cannot be read by versions of Concise Beam prior to version 4.47.  Version 4.47 will read files created by Concise Beam version 3.x and all prior versions of Concise Beam 4.x.  Files will now be saved in the new file format.
• Corrections - Corrected a problem in selecting the library directory in the Library Management dialog.
• Corrected a bug that would allow the program to crash if any section of the beam is unreinforced.
• Many changes for the sake of efficiency or for future use.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF SEPTEMBER 2007 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.46h is a maintenance release that includes the following changes;

• Corrected a problem with the calculation of the deflection of cracked sections inadvertently introduced in version 4.46g.
• Adjusted the Edit Strand Profile dialog so that you can Modify the ordinate of the ends of the strand.
• Corrected an anomaly in the deflection due to long-term prestress at the end of a cantilever.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF AUGUST 2007 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.46g is a maintenance release that includes the following changes;

• Adjusted the stress and cracking calculations to handle a beam that can have net residual tension in service due to very high prestressing.  More detailed adjustments will be included in the next major release of Concise Beam (4.47).

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

The office at Black Mint Software will be closed from June 18 to June 24, 2007 for our annual vacation holiday.  We won't be able to process any orders or payments we're back on until June 25.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF MAY 2007 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.46e is a maintenance release that includes the following changes;

• Adjusted the calculation of the flexural strength under ACI 318-99 where the maximum concrete strain is reduced to avoid slippage to ensure that the strength isn't reduced unless the maximum concrete strain is close to the limit.
• Corrected a bug in the Beam Definition dialog that could incorrectly convert the beam length when switching metric and Imperial units.  This would result in a warning message about the location of the supports.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF MARCH 2007 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.46d is a maintenance release that includes the following changes;

• Further corrections to a problem that could prevent text reports from being opened on some machines.  This seems to be a moving target due to some security changes made by Microsoft.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF MARCH 2007 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.46c is a maintenance release that includes the following changes;

• Corrected the calculation of the flexural strength reduction factor under ACI 318-02 & 05 within the development length of strands for very short beams.
• Adjusted the calculation of the flexural strength reduction factor under ACI 318-02 & 05 where the maximum concrete strain is reduced to avoid slippage to ensure that the section isn't classified as compression controlled unless the maximum concrete strain is close to the limit.
• Corrected a problem that could prevent text reports from being created on some machines.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF MARCH 2007 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.46b is a maintenance release that includes the following changes;

• Increased the maximum length of directory path for a local user's
  temporary file directory (i.e. "C:\Documents and Settings\User\Local Settings\Temp")

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF FEBRUARY 2007 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.46a is a maintenance release that includes the following changes;

• Corrected a problem in the calculation of the long-term deflection multipliers caused by sections where all strands are debonded.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF FEBRUARY 2007 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.46 includes the following changes;

• An option has been added to the loading dialog to allow the user to specify that a live load represents a storage occupancy, equipment are or service room when using CSA A23.3-04. This will cause the companion live load factor to be increased from 0.5 to 1.0. The load case summary in the Summary Report now shows any changes to the default load factors due to special situation such as above.
• The cracking calculations have been adjusted to handle crack depths that are equal or less than the depth of the tension steel.
• Up to this point Concise Beam has implemented the recommendations in PCI Standard Design Practice document TR-7-05 for ACI users. For instance Concise Beam has used the higher concrete and steel stress limits at transfer as recommended in TR-7-05. The use of TR-7-05 is now optional and can be turned off in the Calculations Options dialog.
• Adjusted the headings for the "NET DEFLECTION ESTIMATE AT ALL STAGES" report to clarify the difference between the net deflections and the changes in deflection.
• The CSA and ACI codes allow a higher tensile concrete stress limit at transfer of prestressing at the simply supported ends of a beam. Neither code defines the extent of the end of the beam over which this higher limit should apply. Prior versions of Concise Beam arbitrarily took the end zone of the beam to be the end 1/10 of the beam length. I have changed this definition within Concise Beam to be twice the
  transfer length of the strand. This places the potentially high tensile stress at the transfer point of the strand in the middle of this zone. I believe this more accurately addresses the intent of the higher stress limit which, according to the code's commentary, is intended to excuse the potentially high tensile stress at the transfer point.
• Added the ability to switch units within the concrete parameters dialog for custom codes.
• Adjusted the text labels of the Beam Definition dialog related to the support locations for better clarity.
• The bearing width, if specified, is now shown in any images of the beam.
• In A23.3-04, clause 11.3.6.4, equation 11-13 the area of non-prestressed steel, As, is reduced in proportion with the development length of the bar. There is no mention of similarly reducing the area of the prestressing steel, Ap, in the denominator (resisting strength). With this version of Concise Beam the area of prestressing, Ap, in the denominator is now also reduced in proportion with the strand development length to be consistent with the treatment of the rebar. Note that the term Apfpo in the numerator (decompression force) is reduced in proportion with the transfer length of
  the strand and fpo is taken as 0.7fpu when fully transferred. This has not changed in this version of Concise Beam.
• The name of the ACI standards have been shortened from ACI318/318M-xx to ACI318-xx. Concise Beam uses the factors in ACI318-xx and hard converts them to metric as required. ACI318M-xx uses soft converted factors from ACI318-xx which can vary by as much as 20% from the hard converted values. For consistency I had decided many years ago to only support ACI318-xx, the dominant form of the standard, to avoid these differences. The name change confirms that the values from ACI318-xx only are being used by Concise Beam. You are, of course, still able to work in either US Customary units, or metric.
• With reference to feet and inches the term US Customary units is now being used in place of English units since most users of this system in Concise Beam are American. The term Imperial units is still used for the same (almost) unit system for our Canadian and Commonwealth users. Units that differ between the US Customary
  and Imperial unit systems (such as tons) are not used in Concise Beam.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF JANUARY 2007 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.45f is a maintenance release that includes the following changes;

• A recent update to Microsoft's software development tool (compiler) used
  for Concise Beam has caused a problem with the print preview feature in the
  last version (v4.45e) of Concise Beam. The program will crash when using
  print preview on a text report. Until I can get a solution from Microsoft
  of find a work-around, I have reverted to an older version of their compiler
  for this version of Concise Beam to avoid the print preview problem. Apart
  from the change in compiler this version is the same as Concise Beam version
  4.45e.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF JANUARY 2007 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.45e is a maintenance release that includes the following changes;

• Adjusted the calculation of shear depth for beams that are in negative bending.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF DECEMBER 2006 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.45d is a maintenance release that includes the following changes;

• Corrected a bug in the long. steel shear calculations under A23.3-04 with draped strands (right end of beam).
• When checking the shear/torsion interaction limits Concise Beam used the full shear at the bearing. This has been changed to use the limited applied shear a distance d (or h/2) from the face of the bearing if applicable.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

The set-up file for Concise Beam has been renamed to

"ConciseBeam4.45cSetUp_updated.exe",

and reposted to this web site with a updated license protection system.  Concise Beam version 4.45c itself hasn't changed (see description below).  This update corrects a problem with our third-party license protection system that would cause "NOT FOR COMMERCIAL USE" to be printed on the output of our commercial users.  This update is recommended for all commercial users who had previously downloaded version 4.45b or 4.45c.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF NOVEMBER 2006 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.45c is a maintenance release that includes the following changes;

• Corrected a bug in the stress calculations that can through off the deflections of large cantilevers.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

The setup file for Concise Beam has been renamed to "ConciseBeam4.45bSetUp.exe", and reposted to this web site with a updated license protection and installation system.  Concise Beam version 4.45b itself hasn't changed (see description below).  There is no need to download this version again if your previous installation worked.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF OCTOBER 2006 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.45b is a maintenance release that includes the following changes;

• The PCI Standard Design Practice, TR-7-05, discusses using a higher
concrete tensile stress limit at transfer of 7.5 sqrt(f'c) over the full length of the beam. In conjunction with this higher limit they recommend the equivalent of two #4 reinforcing bars at the tensile
face where the tensile stress is below this limit. The ACI code gives a limit of 6 sqrt(f'c) at the ends of the beam and 3 sqrt(f'c) elsewhere. Tensile reinforcing is not required where tensile stresses are below this limit. I've adjusted Concise Beam to accommodate both documents. For tensile stresses below the ACI limits no tensile steel will be required. This can be important for hollowcore producers who won't want to add steel if not required. For tensile stresses above the ACI limits the amount of tensile steel required will be the greater of two #4's or that required by ACI based on the tensile force. The tensile limits shown in the text reports and graphs will be the ACI limits.
• Adjusted the flexural calculations to avoid anomalies (spikes, etc) caused by excessive numerical error when a reduced concrete strain is used.
• Corrected a problem in the "Av/s Provided" curve for sections adjacent to portions of the beam that do not have stirrups (CSA code only).

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF OCTOBER 2006 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.45a is a maintenance release that includes the following changes;

• Adjusted the order of the graph lines and colours for the "Longitudinal Steel for Flexure, Shear and Torsion" graph.
• Corrected the calculation of the tensile strength of the long. steel for flexure and shear (CSA codes) within the development length.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

October 17, 2006 - Concise Beam version 4.45 is now available for download

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF OCTOBER 2006 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.45 includes the following changes;

• Added a new field to the Beam dialog to allow the user to specify a bearing width (along the length of the beam). This width is used in the shear calculations to locate the edge of support. This width is used for both supports.
• Added a new graph for longitudinal steel under shear loading for the CSA codes.
• Altered the longitudinal shear steel table (CSA codes) to show the steel requirements at the top and bottom of the beam instead of the flexural tension and compressive side of the section.
• Corrected the amount of horizontal interface ties shown in the graph.
• Adjusted the calculation of long. steel load and capacity with shear under the CSA codes near the supports.
• Corrected the estimate of steel required for negative bending in the Trial Design facility.
• Corrected a unit conversion problem in the rebar dialog (left offset in the
  rebar group list).
• Corrected a problem in the Prestressing dialog, when editing a strand profile, that can lead to a crash when viewing the Summary Report.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF SEPTEMBER 2006 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.44 includes the following changes;

• A new command has been added to the Options menu and the toolbar called "Switch to Metric (or Imperial)". This command allows the user to switch unit system without having to enter the Units of Measure dialog. To change the individual units such as inches to feet the user will still need to use the Units of Measure dialog. As per standard Windows behaviour the Switch to Metric(Imperial) command is not available
  within any dialogs. To avoid this restriction a button has been added to the bottom right corner of most unit dependent dialogs which allows the user to switch unit system. Dialogs associated with the library files do not allow switching of the unit system since the library files are dependent on a single unit system. A new field has also been added to the status bar at the bottom of the main window to indicate the currently selected system of units.
• The metric and Imperial individual units of measure are now independent of each other.
  Prior to this release if a user selected "mm" in metric then they were also implicitly selecting "in" in Imperial. Similarly for "m" and "ft", "N" and "lbs", "kN" and "kips", etc. A user can now select "mm" in metric and "ft in Imperial from the Units of Measure dialog.
• New keyboard shortcuts have been added to a few of the menu commands;
  Ctrl+U = Options Menu -> Switch to Metric (or Imperial)
  Ctrl+A = Options Menu -> AutoSave 
  Ctrl+R = View Menu -> Image and Graph Reset
• Adjusted the search for resisting tensile reinforcement in the tensile zone of a prestressed beam at transfer. It will ignore any steel near the neutral axis which isn't near the tension face of the beam.
• Made a few adjustments to the Shear graph.
• The minimum concrete component of the shear strength, Vc, for fully prestressed beams under the ACI codes has been increased from 1.7sqrt(f'c)bwd to 2.0sqrt(f'c)bwd in the detailed calculation method in accordance with the PCI Design Handbook. Previous versions of Concise Beam only used the higher limit for the simplified method in accordance with the code.
• Reworked the stress table in the Summary Report to ensure that the most critical section is found. This section isn't always the highest stress point if the stress limit varies along the beam (e.g. tensile limit at transfer).
• Corrected the check of factored shear versus shear strength near the supports. Also
  corrected the note associated with this check.
• Corrected the concrete shear strength under A23.3-04 at the very end face of the beam
  where no cantilevers exist.
• Corrected the check of compression side long. steel under A23.3-04 in the shear design tables.
• Corrected the reading of the shear steel specifications of some older files.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF SEPTEMBER 2006 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.43a is a maintenance release which includes the following changes;

• The calculation of shear width, in the section editor, has been adjusted to improve
  the results for tapered stem sections such as double tees. The shear width is the
  average of the stem width for such a section.
• Corrected a problem with the concrete section libraries where sections that didn't
  lie on the y = 0.0 axis would be found to have incorrect section properties.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF AUGUST 2006 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.43 includes the following changes;

• The user is now able to specify the support locations at transfer in addition to in service. Prior versions of Concise Beam used the same support locations for transfer and service. This was a problem for beams with large cantilevers. Concise Beam now also includes a number of new text reports and graphs that distinguish between the transfer stage and in service.
• The deflection calculations have been rewritten. The program will now more accurately calculate dead load deflections in partially prestressed beams where cracking occurs during addition of the dead loads.
• The long-term deflection multipliers used by Concise Beam can now be changed by the user from the Options menu. Prior versions of Concise Beam allowed the multipliers to be changed by the user within a custom design code. This change no longer requires a user to use a custom design code when using customized multipliers which aren't code
  dependent.
• The numerical method used for the flexural calculations has been rewritten in order to speed it up, particularly for trial design. The user may see some small differences in the results with previous versions due to changes to the numerical method.
• The calculation of c, the depth in compression under flexure, has been adjusted. The adjustment involves the decision on whether the beta value should be based on the beam or topping concrete in the appropriate circumstances. This may have a small effect on the flexural resistance/strength.
• Clause 18.8.2 of ACI 318-99 has now been implemented. This clause allows the calculation of a reduced flexural strength for over-reinforced prestressed beams. This clause was made obsolete under ACI 318-99 Appendix B and ACI 318-02 & 05. ACI 318-99 and earlier is still used by many jurisdictions so I had to step back in time to patch that hole in the code implementation. The notes/warnings in the text reports have been adjusted to suit.
• Have updated the program to the latest PCI Standard Design Practice document TR-7-05. In Concise Beam the provisions of this document supercede the relevant clauses of each of the ACI codes only. One exception that has not yet been implemented is the use of the Zia-Hsu torsion design method recommended by PCI in place of ACI 318 clause 11.6.
• Have updated the notation used for prestress force for ACI users.
• Have made some adjustments to the decompression force calculations. The decompression force now consistently includes the elastic shortening loss added back in. The decompression force is the force required to counter the prestress in order to achieve a zero concrete
  stress at the centroid of the prestress total force.
• The value and location of the shear force limit at the supports are now calculated more accurately. The previous version of Concise Beam took the values at the closest station along the beam. The program now linearly interpolates the values from the station on either side of the limit location. This also applies to the calculation of the axial strain under the general shear method of A23.3-04.
• The Shear reports have been adjusted to eliminate columns that are applicable under a specific code or beam type.
• The calculation options have been rearranged into a tabbed dialog to allow more room for additional options.
• A new calculation option has been added to allow a user to use a simplified method alone to calculate the shear strength of concrete, if applicable. When the new option is turned on the program will taken the higher value of the simplified and detailed calculations for the concrete shear strength.
• A new calculation option has been added which controls whether Concise Beam includes the transformed area of prestressed and non-prestressed steel in the uncracked section properties. This option is set to ON by default meaning that the steel is included in the uncracked section properties.
• A new calculation option has been added which controls whether Concise Beam uses the full capacity of the topping when checking horizontal interface shear or the actual force on the topping from the applied loads. This option is set to ON by default meaning that the full topping capacity is taken as the design interface shear force unless the actual force is less than half of the full topping capacity. This exception is to avoid having to design short interface shear lengths at small moments, such as the negative moment at a small cantilever, for the full topping capacity.
• The calculation of the effective depth for shear has been loosed to ignored any tensile steel on the compression half of the section. This helps to prevent top bars, which may be in tension, from raising the centroid of the tensile steel and thus reducing the effective depth. This may increase the shear strength and maximum stirrup spacing somewhat.
• Corrected the ultimate strand stress, fps, for the calculation of the development length of the strand under Canadian codes. The previous versions incorrectly included the material resistance factor in fps.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF JULY 2006 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.42d is a maintenance release which includes the following changes;

• Corrected the tensile stress limits under CAN/CSA-S6-00.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

Please note that our office will be closed for our annual vacation from June 27, 2006 until July 13, 2006.  We will not be able to provide technical support, process orders, or issue licenses during that period. Invoice payments received before June 26, 2005 will allow us time to issue a license key before our closure.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF MAY 2006 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.42c is a maintenance release which includes the following changes;

• Corrected a problem with the flexural calculations that could cause incorrect negative
  bending strength. The negative bending strengths would appear to be of the wrong sign
  thought the strength value would also be wrong.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF APRIL 2006 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.42b is a maintenance release which includes the following changes;

• Added some notes to the deflections reports clarifying how long-term growth estimates for camber and deflection are calculated. There had been some confusion that the construction schedule defined with the prestress loss parameters were used to calculate long-term growth of camber/deflection. The construction schedule is only used to calculate prestress losses. Long-term camber/deflection growth is estimated with PCI suggested deflection modifiers as published in the PCI Handbook.
• Corrected the calculation of size in the shear calculations under CSAA23.3-04 for beams where minimum stirrups are determined by Concise Beam.
• Corrected a problem with the cracking calculations that could prevent the estimation of crack width in a reinforced topping under negative bending.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF MARCH 2006 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.42a is a maintenance release which includes the following changes;

• Adjusted the flexural calculations for non-prestressed beams that have equal tension
  and compression reinforcement so that the concrete theoretically carries no load.
• Increased a limit in the 3D display that used to restrict the number of polygons
  that could be displayed in each section to 24. The limit is now 128 polygons.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF FEBRUARY 2006 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.42 includes the following changes;

• Added the option in the Calculation Options dialog to use Appendix B of ACI318-99 for the flexural design check.
• The Flexural Design Check report has been updated to provide better feedback on the reinforcing limits and whether those limits are exceeded at any section along the beam. The report also updated to accommodate ACI318-99 Appendix B.
• Adjusted the flexure calculations so that you may see an increase for beams with low strength toppings.
• Modified the "Go To Next .." buttons in the Beam and Loss Parameters dialogs so that they would be inactive prior to defining any beam segments.
• Added the word ESTIMATE to the title of all deflection/camber to reports to highlight the fact that the reported deflections should not be considered any more than estimates as per the PCI Design Handbook. This is particularly true for deflections/cambers after long term growth.
• Adjusted the cracking calculations so that they stop complaining when there is no steel found in very shallow cracks (50mm, 2" or less).
• Reversed the "f'c at Limit" fields in the Concrete Parameters dialog of the Custom Design Code dialog to better agree with the order of the Beta and Alpha fields.
• Corrected the units in the Prestress Loss - Forces report.
• Corrected a bug in the PCI and S6 loss methods that could cause the creep losses to be zero.
• Corrected the selection of the a new library file location in the library dialog.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF JANUARY 2006 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.41h is a maintenance release which includes the following changes;

• Corrected the calculation of the location of the compressive force due to flexure.  This affects the calculation of the shear depth under some codes.
• Corrected the unit of the jacking force in the Prestressing Steel Tendons table of the Summary report.
• Corrected the display of the minimum stirrup spacing in the presence of torsion when the stirrup size is not specified.
• Corrected the creation of the initial stirrup region and corrects any improper stirrup regions in pre-existing problem files.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF JANUARY 2006 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.41g is a maintenance release which includes the following changes;

• The program will now report when no longitudinal steel is found in the flexural tension half of the section in the shear design check table - particularly where the beam is in negative bending.
• Adjusted the calculation of the V/M ratio in the relevant shear calculations where M is zero.
• Corrected a problem that could cause a crash when changing some of the beam properties when a shear graph is open.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

February 7, 2006 - Concise Beam version 4.41f is now available for download

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF JANUARY 2006 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.41f is a maintenance release which includes the following changes;

• Corrected a bug in the moment resistance calculations that could cause a crash in some rare circumstances.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF JANUARY 2006 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.41e is a maintenance release which includes the following changes;

• Corrected the type of units displayed in the Section Properties dialog of the Beam Definition dialog when not using mm or inches for sectional dimensions.
• Corrected the display of the stirrup area provided curve in the Shear and Torsional Stirrups graph.
• Corrected the minimum shear strength under ACI318 when the simplified method is allowed.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF JANUARY 2006 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.41d is a maintenance release which includes the following changes;

• Added some license certificates for future license key codes. This will have no impact on current users.
• Adjusted the calculation of transverse shear steel near supports if a critical shear section is applicable.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF JANUARY 2006 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.41c is a maintenance release which includes the following changes;

• Adjusted the load combinations for CAN/CSA S6 to include a load combination with dead load factors of 1.25 (the minimum avg load factor). The load combination with dead load factors of 1.35 has been removed.
• Adjusted the colours of the graph lines for the analysis graphs.
• Corrected a problem with the calculation of Eci in the Concrete dialog.
• Corrected a bug in the horizontal shear calculations that could cause a crash when generating a report or graph.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF JANUARY 2006 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.41b is a maintenance release which includes the following changes;

• Adjusted the Topping dialog so that the "Beam Weight Shored" option is only selected if the "Beam Shored During Topping Placement" option is selected.
• Corrected a bug in the shear design calculations that could cause inappropriate changes to some of the beam segments. For instance a segment may change to be the same as another segment.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF JANUARY 2006 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.41a is a maintenance release which includes the following changes;

• Removed the "(incomplete)" qualifier from CAN/CSA S6-00 since the code provisions are fully supported though Concise Beam has no provision (yet) for moving loads.
• Corrected a problem with the "Edit Strand Profile" dialog when Modifying intermediate
  hold-downs. There have also been a few other small changes to this dialog.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF JANUARY 2006 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.41 is a maintenance release which includes the following changes;

• Beams that have the "Beam Weight Shored" option selected and have net deflections under their own weight, including prestress, are now assumed to be continuously supported from casting until the shoring is removed at which point it is composite with the topping. In this case the transfer stresses will only be due to the internal axial prestress and eccentricity. The deflections at transfer and erection will also be shown as zero.
• Have adjusted the list of available codes in the Design Code dialog to properly show the custom code when selected. The New Zealand concrete design code is now selectable though it's implementation is not yet complete.
• Made some adjustments to the check of longitudinal steel for shear and flexural tension under A23.3-04.
• The behaviour of the Concrete dialog has been changed such that any changes to the concrete strength will cause an adjustment to the f'ci/f'c ratio instead of the release strength. Any direct changes to the f'ci/f'c ratio will cause an adjustment to the release strength a before.
• If the "Allow Concise Beam to Calculate the Transverse Shear Stirrup Size and Spacing if Not Specified" in the Transverse Shear Reinforcing dialog is unchecked the "Shear and Torsional Stirrups" graph will no longer show the required stirrups line, which would be zero. Also, the required stirrup columns in the "Transverse Steel (Stirrup) Design for Shear" table will be marked N/A instead of showing zero values.
• Removed the "unlimited" curves in the Shear graph. Concise Beam now only limits the applied factored shear at the critical section near the supports when the proper conditions apply as per selected design code.
• Corrected the calculation of the axial strain in the A23.3-04 shear design method
• near supports. The strain at dv from the support is used through to the support.
• Corrected the display of concrete strengths and concrete stress limits in the Custom Code Parameters dialogs.
• Corrected a long standing problem with editing node coordinates in the Section Editor. If the mouse pointer strayed into the section window while editing the coordinates the values of the coordinates would be reset to their original values. This will no longer happen.
• Corrected the display of the aggregate size in the Loss Parameters dialog, concrete release strength in the stress table of the Summary Report when using Imperial units.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF JANUARY 2006 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.40d is a maintenance release which includes the following changes;

• Altered the Prestressing dialog so that if a strand is set back to "Fully Bonded" after having been "Debonded", "Cut", or "Anchored" the related offset will be reset to zero.
• Replaced the standard Windows dialog used to pick a directory for the libraries due to changes made by Microsoft to one of their programming libraries.
• Corrected the display of the aggregate size in the Loss Parameters dialog, concrete release strength in the stress table of the Summary Report when using Imperial units.
• Corrected excessive rounding of the recommended crack width limits.
• Corrected the calculation of y in the Section Editor for sections that don't lie on the y-axis.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF JANUARY 2006 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.40c is a maintenance release which includes the following changes;

• Corrected a bug that would corrupt the default values in the Concrete dialog if the defaults had been saved in Imperial units. The same bug also affects the slump and cement content values in the Loss Parameter dialog. After installing this new version you will need to correct the default values affected and resave them as defaults.
• Corrected the values for rebar and strand stress in the Cracked Section Stresses at Service report when using Imperial units.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF DECEMBER 2005 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.40b is a maintenance release which includes the following changes;

• Adjusted the search for longitudinal steel in the general shear strength method of A23.3-04 to find bars or strand closer to mid-height of the section.
• Corrected a bug in the horizontal shear calculations that could cause a crash when generating a report or graph.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF DECEMBER 2005 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.40a is a maintenance release which includes the following changes;

• A unit conversion problem has been fixed in the diagram of the Applied Loads dialog.
• A problem in the trial design facility has been fixed.
• Corrected the display of some unnecessary warnings in the flexural table.
• Corrected a problem with the deletion of polygons in the section editor.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for Concise Beam.  If your evaluation period is over but you'd like to try this latest release before purchasing a license you can ask for a short extension to your evaluation period by contacting me.

YOUR COMMERCIAL LICENSE MUST BE CURRENT UP TO THE END OF DECEMBER 2005 AT THE EARLIEST TO BE ABLE TO USE THIS RELEASE.  Users evaluating this new release will be able to use this version for the remainder of their 30 day evaluation period. If your license has expire please contact us about how to bring your license up to date in order to use this latest release and to receive technical support.  You do not need to install any previous versions of Concise Beam before installing this latest release.

Version 4.40 includes the following changes;

• Concise beam now supports two new design codes, ACI 318-05, and CSA-A23.3-04. Two further codes the Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code CAN/CSA-S6-00, and the draft New Zealand concrete design code DZ3101.1 are mostly implemented and will hopefully be finished shortly. Concise Beam still supports AS3600, CSA A23.3-94, ACI 318-99 & ACI 318-02. All users will have access to each of these codes and they can all be used as the basis for a customized design code.
• Have updated the program to the latest PCI Standard Design Practice document TR-7-05. In Concise Beam the provisions of this document supersede the relevant clauses of the ACI codes only.
• A new file format has been created for the problem files to accommodate
  additional data used by the program. It still uses the *.con extension but cannot be read by versions of Concise Beam prior to version 4.40. Version 4.40 will read files created by Concise Beam versions 3.x, 4.0x, 4.1x, 4.2x & 4.3x. Files will now be saved in the new file format.
• Default shear width calculations by the section editor have been enhanced
  to account for tapered webs (i.e. double tees). The program will average the shear width over any portion of the section where the side inclination of the web is less that 20 degrees.
• The shear depth calculations have been enhanced for some codes that require
  the depth to be based on the moment arm of the tensile and compressive
  force couple in flexure.
• The import facility in the concrete section library dialog now includes a method that allows input of a section described in a plain text file. The text file could include section data that was developed in a spreadsheet and cut and pasted into the text file. This facility is a bit crude but should be useful for now. I hope to expand it's capabilities in the future. The required format of the text file is given in the online manual and an example file is provided.
• The warnings and notes column of the flexure and shear design tables have been improved and clarified.
• The text report tables have been reviewed and altered to ensure that they
  fit into the width of a printed page.
• An additional text report has been created that provides details of the
  shear design calculations.
• There is now a new option in the prestressing dialog that allows the user
  to specify where a strand may have been cut within the length of a beam, perhaps at an opening or dapped end. Prior to this release the user had to use the debonding option to cut a strand within the length of the beam. Unfortunately this often meant that the transfer and development length of that strand was doubled because of the debonding. The new CUT option avoids this problem.
• The prestressing dialog behaviour has been changed so that any changes made to a strand group, before Adding or Modifying it, will not be lost when the user edits the profile.
• The shear stirrup dialog includes a new option that allows the user to prevent
  the program from calculating shear steel requirements. This allows the user to check a beam that has no stirrups without having to specify that the beam is part of a slab.
• All design codes allow the design for shear near supports to be limited to a critical section a certain distance from the support (i.e. d or h/2) under certain conditions. The program can check for the condition regarding concentrated loads between the critical section and the support. The condition that the beam be in compression in the region of the support, as in the case of support from the underside of the beam and loading on the topside, cannot be checked by the program. Therefore a new option has been added to the shear
  stirrup dialog which allows the user to specify that these conditions do exist so that limiting shear at the supports is applicable. The default for this setting is FALSE or OFF in order to be conservative in the event that the option is overlooked by the user. In most cases, other than such cases as ledger beams, the user will want to select this option making it TRUE or ON.
• When using A23.3-04 Concise Beam will now check the longitudinal reinforcing for the combined effect of flexure and shear.
• Prior versions of Concise Beam divided the length of the beam into the number
  of divisions specified in the Load Analysis Parameters dialog. Load effects are calculated and the beam design is checked at each of these division points. Starting with version 4.40 Concise Beam will now divide the span (between the
  supports) into the specified number of divisions. The cantilevers will be divided into a number of divisions such that the length of each division in the cantilevers is approximately equal to the length within the span. The span will now be divided into an even number of divisions regardless of the length of the cantilevers.
• Rebar development length calculations have been enhanced to account for the spacing of shear stirrups if specified. This may reduce the development length under some design codes. Under AS3600 the development length may increase due to a bug fix with the k2 factor (it was being taken as 1.0).
• Added the buttons "Save as the Default Properties" and "Restore the Default Properties" to the Concrete Material dialog to give the user more control over when the concrete properties are saved as default values. Prior to version 4.40 the current properties were always saved as default values when leaving the Concrete Material dialog.
• Added "deflection" as an additional unit of measure in the Units of Measure dialog. This gives the user more control over the scale of unit (i.e. in versus ft) for deflections. Prior to version 4.40 the Sectional Dimensions units of measure was used for deflections.
• Have altered the graph line colours, weights, and order to make them easier to
  see on the screen, particularly for shear where two lines often overlap each other.
• The equivalent crack width parameter z has been added to the Recommended
  Crack Width table for easier correlation with design codes and handbooks.
• Corrected the value of the k1 factor in the cracking table in Imperial units. The correct factor was being used for the calculations - it was only being displayed wrong in Imperial units.

Version 4.39e is a maintenance release that includes the following changes;

• Updated the license certificates for licenses extending into 2007.

November 7, 2005 - Concise Beam version 4.39d is now available for download

Version 4.39d is a maintenance release that includes the following changes;

• Corrected a bug in the graph for shear stirrups. The value for Av/s Provided includes the torsion stirrups (outside legs) twice.

September 22, 2005 - Concise Beam version 4.39c is now available for download

Version 4.39c is a maintenance release that includes the following changes;

• Corrected a bug in the prestressing dialog that could prevent strands with
  debonded lengths at the right end of the beam from being recognized as being
  within the beam.

September 2, 2005 - Black Mint Office Vacation Closure September 12, 2005

Please note that our office will be closed for our annual vacation from September 12, 2005 until September 21, 2005.  We will not be able to provide technical support, process orders, or issue licenses during that period. Invoice payments received before September 9, 2005 will allow us to issue a license key before our closure.

Version 4.39b is a maintenance release that includes the following changes;

• Corrected a bug in the prestressing dialog that could cause a crash.

August 4, 2005 - Concise Beam version 4.39a is now available for download

Version 4.39a is a maintenance release that includes the following changes;

• Corrected the maximum stirrup spacing when torsion is required.

August 3, 2005 - Concise Beam version 4.39 is now available for download

Version 4.39 is a maintenance release that includes the following changes;

• Corrected a bug in the calculation of live load deflections for partially-
  prestressed beams.
• Corrected a bug that could cause a crash with long debond lengths.

June 8, 2005 - Concise Beam version 4.38a is now available for download

Version 4.38a is a maintenance release that includes the following changes;

• Fixed a bug in the Trial Reinforcement Estimate at Ultimate dialog which could prevent the program from providing an estimate. When the problem occurs the program will report that more than 999 rebar or strands are required.
• The Trial Reinforcement Estimate at Ultimate dialog will no longer ask if you want to save your data before leaving the dialog. It shouldn't have been asking this since there is no data to save to the beam definition.
• The LONGITUDINAL REINFORCING STEEL table in the Summary Report has been changed to show the extent of a rebar group with "From" and "To" along the beam instead of the old "Start" and "End" which represented the offset from each end of the beam. This change is simply for clarity.

May 17, 2005 - Concise Beam version 4.38 is now available for download

Version 4.38 includes the following changes;

• Increased the precision of the Moment Capacity calculations to avoid excessive error in the capacity of a beam based on a concrete strain less than the maximum within the development length of a debonded strand. You may notice a slight slow down in the initial display of text reports or graphs when the design check occurs.

April 28, 2005 - Concise Beam version 4.37 is now available for download

Version 4.37 includes the following changes;

• Corrected a problem that causes a miscalculation of composite section properties for beams with partial length toppings.
• Corrected a few problems with the concrete stress table in the Summary Report related to overstress notices and the value for the specified f'c.

April 27, 2005 - Concise Beam version 4.36 is now available for download

Version 4.36 includes the following changes;

• Corrected the deflection limits for live load in the "NET CAMBERS/DEFLECTIONS AT ALL STAGES" report for the CSA and ACI codes. The limits for roof and floor were reversed.
• Corrected the flexural resistance of a beam within the development length of strand that is prestressed to a low level or not prestressed at all. The program will also no longer complain that the losses are higher that the prestress for strands with a low level of prestress.

April 21, 2005 - Concise Beam version 4.35 is now available for download

Version 4.35 includes the following changes;

• The "NET CAMBERS/DEFLECTIONS AT ALL STAGES" report has been upgraded to include "Net @ Completion", "DL Growth + LL" and "LL Alone" deflections. This report has also replaced the "DEFLECTION/CAMBER ESTIMATE RESULTS" table in the Summary Report.
• A new report title "CAMBERS/DEFLECTIONS ON COMPLETION OF CONSTRUCTION" has been added to the list of reports to summarize the deflections at the end of construction when all dead loads have been added but before dead load growth (long-term creep and shrinkage) and live load.
• Removed the reinforcement ratio results from the reinforcing table in the Summary Report for non-prestressed beams. The maximum reinforcement ratio is no longer required due to the use of a strain-compatibility analysis by Concise Beam. The minimum reinforcement ratio is no longer required since Concise Beam now checks the more general condition of 1.2*Mcr for minimum flexural strength of prestressed and non-prestressed beams (including under ACI).
• The spacing of the ordinate values in the legends of the graphs has been made more consistent.
• Improved the search for tension steel in the cracking calculations.
• Expanded the View Section Properties sub-dialog of the Beam Definition dialog.
• Added the width of the section to the PRECAST SECTION PROPERTIES
(NON-COMPOSITE) table in the summary report.
• Corrected the label for the shear depth under AS3600 from "d" to "do".
• Corrected the value for the Net Deflection (Sustained Loads) in Summary Report when using the ACI codes with metric units, or the CSA and AS code with Imperial units. [this report is now obsolete - see above]
• Adjusted the flexural design results to ensure that they remain symmetrical for symmetrical beams and loading.
• Corrected a problem that could cause a crash with sections that contain polygons of 24 nodes with a point at the top or bottom.

March 28, 2005 - Concise Beam version 4.34 is now available for download

Version 4.34 includes the following changes;

• The flexure design reports now summarize the maximum positive and negative critical moments along the beam as well as summarizing the maximum positive and negative applied factored moment. The maximum critical moment is defined as the highest ratio of the factored moment to the moment resistance (strength).
• The material resistance factors are now explicitly shown in the flexural design table for the CSA code. Also the strength reduction factor for flexural is now shown explicitly in the flexural design table for ACI 318-99.
• The number of decimal places shown for beta (gamma in AS3600) and alpha in the flexural design tables has been increased to three.
• Changed the minimum offset from the top or bottom of the beam from 25mm (1") to half of the strand or rebar diameter. This means a minimum clear cover of zero.
• The column headings of the FINAL CAMBERS/DEFLECTIONS report have been corrected. The headings of all of the deflection reports have been adjust for readability.
• The span/deflection column in thee NET CAMBERS/DEFLECTIONS AT ALL STAGES report has been changed to two reports for DL growth + LL and LL alone to match the deflection table in the Summary Report.
• Corrected a problem with the FLEXURAL DESIGN - STRAIN COMPATIBILITY DETAILS report where the results of debonded strands are not always shown where the strand is bonded. Similarly for partial length rebar.

March 14, 2005 - Concise Beam version 4.33 is now available for download

Version 4.33 includes the following changes;

• Prior versions of Concise Beam have required that a Windows subsystem called OpenGL be working properly on your computer. Any incompatibilities between Windows and OpenGL can prevent Concise Beam from starting up. These incompatibilities are caused by some older video cards or, potentially, the upgrade to Windows XP SP2. In both cases updating your video drivers will cure the problem. Starting with Concise Beam version 4.3 a properly operating OpenGL subsystem shouldn't be required except to allowing printing of the 3D beam image. This may cause interaction with the 3D image to slow down, but this shouldn't be noticeable except on some old computers (7+ years old). If you find that the 3D image moves too slowly please contact us so that we can tell you how to speed it up. This may cause previous problems to reoccur.
• Updated the license key certificates for future releases.
• Corrected the amount of additional longitudinal torsion steel required.
• Corrected the calculation of beta1 in the shear calculations for AS3600.
• Corrected the labeling of the table in the Topping dialog (h1 & h2 changed to t1 & t2).

March 5, 2005 - Concise Beam version 4.32 is now available for download

Version 4.32 includes the following changes;

• Adjusted the calculation of strand development lengths under the AS3600 code. Corrected a problem with the application of a factor to lengthen the transfer and development length for strands at the top of the beam under AS3600.
• Corrected a unit conversion problem with the reported value of the specified f'ci in the Concrete Stress table of the Summary Report.
• Removed the addition of offsets along a prestressing strand at the ends of debonding lengths.

March 2, 2005 - Concise Beam version 4.31a is now available for download

Version 4.31a includes the following changes;

• Corrected a problem with the illustration of the prestressing in the prestressing dialog for strands with debonded ends.
• Corrected a problem with the order of magnitude of the Y axis of some graphs. The problem could lead to a crash after opening the Units dialog and rechecking the graph.

March 1, 2005 - Concise Beam version 4.31 is now available for download

Version 4.31 includes the following changes;

• Corrected a problem with the loss parameters dialog whereby the program would save garbage values when using "Save the Loss Settings as Default". I have also added a button that will allow the user to reset the settings to the factory settings built into Concise Beam.
• Corrected the labeling of the concrete stresses in the custom code dialog for the ACI codes. Clarified the overstress notes in the summary report.

February 27, 2005 - Concise Beam version 4.30 is now available for download

November 23, 2004 ("later that same day") - Concise Beam Order Forms

September 30, 2004 - Concise Beam version 4.23f is now available for download

Version 4.23f includes the following changes;

• All previous version of Concise Beam have limited the maximum fps at ultimate to 98% of the strand strength, fpu. This is standard practice for Canadian and Australian users but apparently not for ACI users. This limit has been removed for ACI users. This will lead to a slight increase in the flexural strength, up to 2%. The next major release of Concise Beam, version 4.30, will include an option to allow users to turn this limit on
  or off.
• Corrected the calculation of beta for the ACI codes.

September 22, 2004 - Concise Beam version 4.23e is now available for download

Version 4.23e includes the following changes;

• Corrected a problem with the prestressing results which lead to spikes and inappropriate scales in the graphs.
• Remove an inappropriate reference to Conformance Note [1] in the shear interface table when it isn't required.
• Corrected the display of the conformance notes in the shear table.

September 12, 2004 - Concise Beam version 4.23c is now available for download

Version 4.23c includes the following changes;

• The program will now perform more checks in whether a concrete material has been defined for the topping before proceeding with the design check.
• Eliminated the inclusion of the prestress load case, P, in the list of ultimate limit state load cases in the summary report.
• Corrected a problem that allowed previously defined strands to be visible in a newly created problem file.
• Corrected a problem in the stress diagrams and section properties.
• Corrected a problem with the shear interface design where a peak negative moment at the end of the beam could be missed.
• Corrected a situation where a flexural resistance can be underestimated within the development length of a rebar or debonded strand under ACI 318-02. When this occurs the section is being found to be compression controlled when it should be tension controlled leading to a higher strength reduction factor.

August 25, 2004 - Office Closed for Holidays - August 26 to September 6

Our offices will be closed from August 26 to September 6, 2004 for our annual holidays.  I look forward to hearing from you in September.  Our Australian and New Zealand users should note that a test release of a new version of Concise Beam supporting the Australian concrete code AS 3600-2001 is due to be released for testing in mid-September.

Version 4.23b includes the following changes;

• Corrected a problem in the prestressing dialog that could cause a crash when adding strands.
• Improved the determination of whether strand development lengths need to be extended due to tension within the development length. Previous versions checked for cracking at the end of the transfer length only. The program now checks for serviceability tension anywhere along the development length, including the transfer length, before extending.

August 14, 2004 - Concise Beam version 4.23a is now available for download

Version 4.23a includes the following changes;

• Corrected a problem in the moment calculations that could cause a sharp drop in the moment resistance at a single hold-down. This problem also occasionally affected the hold-down forces reported and the interface shear.

August 10, 2004 - Concise Beam version 4.23 is now available for download

Version 4.23 includes the following changes;

• Hold-down forces have been added to the prestressing table in the Summary Report.
• If a beam is lengthened any previously defined line loads will now be extended with the beam.
• Added a note to the shear/torsion stirrup table to note whether the required longitudinal steel is based on minimum stirrup requirements and not on a specified stirrup size and spacing.
• The wind load case can now be used for any vertical earthquake loading as well. This has always been true but now it's explicit. The standard load factors are still based on wind loading. Special load cases will have to be added for any earthquake loading.
• The governing cracking calculations are now given on the top and bottom of the beam.
• The interface shear calculations have been adjusted to ensure that the contact area of the slab/beam interface isn't wider than the beam if no haunch is specified.
• Corrected the calculation of the reinforcement ratio provided in normally reinforced concrete beams.
• Corrected a logic problem that prevented the calculation of longitudinal torsion steel if the stirrup size is specified but not the spacing.

July 30, 2004 - Concise Beam version 4.22g is now available for download

Version 4.22g includes the following changes;

• Corrected a unit conversion problem that could cause a crash while viewing analysis results before a beam is detailed.

July 28, 2004 - Concise Beam version 4.22f is now available for download

Version 4.22f includes the following changes;

• Corrected a inaccuracy in the shear calculations that could mistaking show that the level of prestressing drops below 40% in the transfer zone. This can mean that the simplified method of shear strength is not applicable. Concise Beam checks both the simplified (if applicable) and the detailed method and takes the larger result.

July 16, 2004 - Concise Beam version 4.22e is now available for download

Version 4.22e includes the following changes;

• Corrected a bug in the loss calculations which may be evident in the incorrect scaling of some of the graphs and an incorrect summary of stresses and cracking.

July 13, 2004 - Concise Beam version 4.22d is now available for download

Version 4.22d includes the following changes;

• Corrected a bug which would cause deflections at midspan to go to zero when the "Summary Report at Midspan/Tip of Cantilevers" calculation option is turned on.
• The Options menu contains a new command labelled "Diagnostic Reports".  This command is still under development and should only be used if requested by Black Mint technical support.  It isn't covered in the on-line documentation yet.

(NOTE: version 4.22c was not released publicly)

Version 4.22b includes the following changes;

• Corrected a bug that can cause rebar at the right end of a beam from being recognized in the moment resistance calculations.

July 1, 2004 - Concise Beam version 4.22a is now available for download

Version 4.22a includes the following changes;

• A few users have found that the new moment resistance calculations based on full strain compatibility in the development length can lead to no moment resistance within approximately 600 mm (2 ft) of the ends of some slabs. This generally affects thin slabs like hollow-core with only a few strands. Adding additional strands solves the problem. The program was finding that there is insufficient development length to develop any stress in the strands beyond the decompression stress (prestress) resulting in a slip at cracking. Until this behaviour can be investigated further we have disabled strain compatibility within the development length of non-debonded strands (at the beam ends). The strength of the strands will now be linearly prorated along the development length. This will provide a moment resistance close to, if not the same as, that determined by strain compatibility. Full strain compatibility is still checked for rebar and debonded strands.

June 25, 2004 - Concise Beam version 4.22 is now available for download

Version 4.22 includes the following changes;

• The moment resistance calculations have been rewritten to allow a proper determination of the resistance at sections where some or all strands or rebar are not fully developed. Concise Beam uses strain-compatibility to determine the moment resistance.  Prior to this release the program used the standard practice of linearly prorating the stress in a strand along it's development length (bilinear variation in the case of strand). This does not satisfy strain-compatibility within the section, particularly in the case of debonded strands and partial-length rebar. The program now checks whether each strand or rebar may slip (i.e., not developed sufficiently for required stress). If a slip is detected then the section is reanalysed firstly with the strand or rebar discounted (slipped), and secondly with the ultimate concrete strain reduced to prevent the slip. The program will iterate through each potentially slipped strand or rebar. The higher resulting resistance is taken as the final moment resistance. This can result in a lot of iterations in beams with a lot of strand or rebar groups. A short delay in viewing the text reports or graphs may now be noticeable when the moment resistance has to be recalculated. A new text report has been created to report the results of the moment resistance calculations in detail.
• The user-defined losses now affect each individual strand group instead of the total. The program will now report the losses at each point along the beam with user-defined losses (at transfer and final only). There is also now an option in the Calculation Options dialog that causes the program to use the user-defined loss as a minimum loss. The actual losses along the beam will vary from the minimum to account for concrete stresses. This option is ON by default. Turning the option OFF will force the program to use the user-defined losses along the full length of the beam despite the
  variation in concrete stresses, with the exception of the transfer lengths.
• Prestressing strand is now counted when determining the amount of steel available to resist tension in the precast beam at transfer. This is particularly important when unstressed strands are used as reinforcing in hollow-core slabs.
• Adjusted the check of the condition where the transfer and development length of strands needs to be doubled. The program had previously checked whether the precast concrete experienced any tension at service loads anywhere along the beam. It now
  checks whether the precast beam cracks in the development length. The transfer and development lengths are only doubled if the beam is cracked within the development length.
• The shear and torsion stirrup graph has been reintroduced with a comparison of the amount of shear and torsion stirrup steel area per unit length required versus the amount provided, if specified.
• The prestressing transfer and development length table in the Summary Report has been rearranged to show more detail. The effective and ultimate prestress used to determine the transfer and development lengths is now determined for each strand group.
• Increased the size a load that can be input to greater than 100000 to allow the use of pounds for large point loads.
• Corrected a problem with the shear stirrup dialog that prevented a user from deleting/clearing all of the shear stirrup data.
• Corrected a problem determining stresses in the calculation of Vci and Vcw under the ACI code.
• Corrected a problem with the conformance notes for the shear stirrup table.
• The long. steel required for torsion now accounts for the actual stirrup spacing if specified.
• Adjusted the minimum offset to the centre of a strand. It is now half of the diameter of the strand. The default offset for a new strand is still 25mm or 1".

April 18, 2004 - Concise Beam version 4.21c is now available for download

Version 4.21c includes the following changes;

• Corrected a problem with the horizontal shear table.

April 1, 2004 - Concise Beam version 4.21b is now available for download

Version 4.21b includes the following changes;

• Corrected a further problem with the conformance notes for the moment and shear tables.

March 30, 2004 - Watch Out for Fake Billing/Technical E-Mails

Please be on the look-out for fake e-mails sent to you claiming to be from familiar organizations such as Black Mint, your Bank, or other organization you regularly do business with.

Over the past few months, more and more fake emails have been sent out by criminal organizations. These emails are designed to look like official notices from the target organizations and prompt you to run virus-infected attachments or visit fake websites which ask you to enter your secret passwords or other financial information.

If you are ever unsure about the validity of a particular email sent to you by Black Mint Software, please contact us support@BlackMint.com.

March 25, 2004 - Concise Beam version 4.21a is now available for download

Version 4.21a includes the following changes;

• Corrected a problem in the maximum limit on the concrete shear strength, Vc, under ACI.

March 22, 2004 - Concise Beam version 4.21 is now available for download

Version 4.21 includes the following changes;

• A new strength reduction (resistance) factor has been added to the custom design code dialogs for cast-in-place concrete. This factor is required by the CSA code and for any custom code based on CSA.
• A correction has been made to the use of custom alpha and beta factors.
• Corrected a problem with the conformance notes for the shear table.
• Rearranged the concrete dialog to make it more obvious that a value was required for the concrete density before proceeding.

March 15, 2004 - Concise Beam version 4.20 is now available for download

Version 4.20 includes the following changes;

• A new file format has been created for the problem files to accommodate additional data used by the program. It still uses the *.con extension but cannot be read by versions of Concise Beam prior to version 4.20. Version 4.20 will read files created by Concise Beam versions 3.x, 4.0x & 4.1x. Files will now be saved in the new file format.
• Additional options have been added for the definition of shear stirrups and ties between the beam and the topping. The users now has three options. The first option is to specify only the grade of steel for the stirrups as in previous versions of the program. With this option the program will calculate the amount of shear and torsion steel required per unit length of beam as well as the maximum allowable spacing. The second option is to specify the steel grade, bar size, and number of legs. The program can then determine the stirrup spacing required for the given stirrup size. The third option is to define the steel grade and size, number of legs, and the spacing of the stirrups. This allows the program to flag any points along the beam where the stirrup spacing is inadequate and to calculate the total shear resistance/strength. This provides a design check of the specified stirrups.
• The shear tables and graph have been rearranged to accommodate this new input data and now include the total shear resistance/strength.
• The horizontal shear table in the Summary report has been adjusted to include the interface shear capacity available without any ties. A bug was also corrected that affected some beams with very short overhangs.
• The concrete material (*.lcm) library files have been eliminated. You now simply specify the concrete density and class (strength) in the Concrete Material dialog. Default values will be provided and any changes will automatically be remembered for future use. The ratio of fci to fc for the beam is also now shown explicitly so that the user can modify this value instead of fci directly. The value of this ratio is also set for future use.
• A new edit mode has been added to the section editor that allows the user to mirror any polygon in place using the left mouse button. Used in conjunction with the existing move and rotate modes the user now has full control over the position and orientation of polygons.
• An option has been added to the topping dialog which allows the user to specify that the beam be shored for the weight of the beam itself in addition to the weight of SDL applied before the topping and the topping weight until the topping has reached full strength.

The number of changes is too large to fully list here.  Please see the Revision History file distributed with Concise Beam for the full list of changes.

December 11, 2003 - Concise Beam version 4.19d is now available for download

Version 4.19d includes the following changes;

• Adjusted the concrete dialog to ensure that the values for Ec & Eci are updated when needed.
• Corrected the explanation of the Flexure option in the Calculations Options dialog.
• Corrected a bug in the beam dialog that could crash the program when adding beam segments.
• Added a missing footnote to the horizontal shear table.

December 2, 2003 - Concise Beam version 4.19c is now available for download

Version 4.19c includes the following changes;

• Updated the security certificates to prevent a reported license abuse problem.
• A few internal corrections related to the summary report. These should not be visible to the user.

December 1, 2003 - Concise Beam version 4.19b is now available for download

Version 4.19b includes the following changes;

• Corrected a problem selecting adding new items to a library.
• Corrected a problem importing prestressing or rebar materials from the current problem file into the currently open library file. 

November 29, 2003 - Concise Beam version 4.19a is now available for download

Version 4.19a includes the following changes;

• Corrected a problem selecting new sections in the beam dialog and the graphic in the topping dialog. 

November 28, 2003 - Concise Beam version 4.19 is now available for download

Version 4.19 includes the following changes;

• You can now print and print preview the 3D image of the beam. The print-out will reflect the image on the screen. So if you zoom or rotate the image that will be shown in the print-out. At this point the print-out is unadorned with a header or footer indicating the problem name, etc. We'll try to add that later. I have limited ability to test the print quality on a variety of printers so please let me know if your results are not satisfactory.
• The undo feature in the section editor will now undo all past edits, not just the last one.
• Added the unfactored total and sustained moments to the analysis results table in the summary report. These values are useful for calculations such as fire rating. To allow room for this I have combined the max. and min. columns for the factored results. The absolute maximum (positive or negative) is now shown. The detailed analysis reports can be viewed for greater detail.
• An option has been added to the Calculation Option dialog allowing you to force the program to only check the minimum resistance/strength of the beam (i.e. Mr > 1.2Mcr or ØMn < 1.2Mcr) at points of maximum and minimum moment. CSA requires a check of all sections, but ACI is silent on how often this checks needs to be done (PCA recommends every section). It's the convention of many engineers to only perform this check at the points of maximum and minimum moment. By default the program will check every section along the beam. Use this new option to restrict the check to the points of maximum and minimum moment. The setting for this option will be remembered for future use.
• The maximum number of divisions along the beam used for analysis (see the Load Analysis Parameters dialog) has been increased from 150 to 200. Some users found that setting this number had no effect. This has been corrected.
• "Go To Next ..." dialog link buttons have been added to the self-weight dialog. The topping dialog now also includes a link to the self-weight dialog.
• All of the internal calculations made by Concise Beam have been upgraded from normal precision to double precision. This won't have a significant impact on the results (you may see changes to the flexural results) but will help to improve the integrity and maintainability of the program.
• Corrected the edit mode buttons in the section editor. The mode didn't always switch properly.
• Adjusted the column spacing for the nodes in the cross-section printout.
• Corrected a problem with the horizontal shear lengths for very large moments.
• The conformance notes were occasionally duplicated needlessly in the shear results tables. This has been corrected.
• Corrected a problem that could the program to crash under Windows 95, 98 or ME when print previewing a text report.
• A lot of internal rewriting to improve the ability to extend the program.

November 5, 2003 - Concise Beam version 4.18a is now available for download

Version 4.18a includes the following changes;

• Corrected a problem with the minimum shear steel for prestressed beams under
  ACI318-99 & 02.

October 21, 2003 - Concise Beam version 4.18 is now available for download

Version 4.18 includes the following changes;

• The reporting of horizontal interface shear between the beam and topping has
  been expanded in the shear section of the summary report. Prior to 4.18 only the
  maximum moment was considered with a shear length, lv, equal to half the span. The
  average tie requirements over the shear length Av/s was also report. This ignored
  the presence of negative moments over the supports and the need to properly
  distribute any required ties in proportion to the shear stirrups (which they are
  usually an extension of). The report now shows each shear length - both positive
  and negative bending (peak moment to adjacent point of zero moment) and the total
  area of ties required. The user will be required to distribute this total properly.
  The level of shear force transferred is based on the applied moment and not on the
  ultimate moment resistance. This is particularly important where a small negative
  moment exists over a bearing with a small shear length, lv. If the ultimate moment
  resistance needed to be resisted the shear transfer length, lv would be far too short.
  [In the future we will be adding the ability to define the stirrup/tie size so that
  the program can determine the appropriate spacing.]
• The calculation of fr has been changed to allow linear interpretation of the lambda
  (concrete density) factor as per the code. It had previously used a step function
  that could over-estimate the lambda for less that normal density concrete.
• The above change also included a correction to the strength reduction factor used
  for horizontal interface shear under ACI 318-02.
• When entering loads the tab order for inputting linear loads has been changed.
• Changed the term Mr to phiMu in the conformance notes of the flexural check in
  the summary code if ACI is selected.
• Corrected an occasional problem that caused the flexural results to be wrong the
  first time a report of graph is generated. If the beam was reanalysed the problem
  would disappear.
• Corrected a problem that would cause mouse editing of a cross-section in the section
  editor to be disrupted by clicking on a button outside of the image window. While
  editing the section with the mouse all of the other buttons except Cancel are disabled.
• Corrected a problem that would crash the program when printing sections under
  Windows NT 4.0.

September 4, 2003 - Concise Beam version 4.17a is now available for download

Version 4.17a includes the following changes;

• This a maintenance release that doesn't include any new features.
• Added some additional license certificates for users that will be licensed beyond
  September 2004.
• Fixed a problem with unit conversion when selecting concrete material items from library files that are in different units from the current user input units.
• Fixed a bug where the X and Y snap settings were reversed.

September 2, 2003 - Concise Beam version 4.17 is now available for download

Version 4.17 includes the following changes;

• A new button, labeled "Print", has been added to the Edit Concrete Sections
  Library dialog. This button will print a one page description of the currently
  selected item including section properties and polygon list and node coordinates.
  The print-out will only include data that has been saved to the currently selected
  item. Therefore any changes you have made to a section item will not be included
  unless you have "Added" or "Modified" the current item with those changes.
• In order to streamline the data input we have added a number of buttons in a section
  of many dialogs labelled "Go To Next ...". These buttons will provide short-cuts
  to the next logical dialog, or choice of dialogs, in defining the beam. This works
  similar to the old "Auto-Design" feature of version 3 but gives you more choice.

August 18, 2003 - Black Mint Office Vacation Closure

Please note that Black Mint's office will be closed from August 22, 2003 to September 1, 2003 for our annual vacation period.  We will open again on September 2, 2003.  August is traditionally our slowest period and we hope that this won't cause an inconvenience for our customers.

Version 4.16 includes the following changes;

• You now have an option to customize the summary report. That report
  consists of a series of summary tables of the input, analysis results, and
  design check results. Using the Customize Summary Report button in the
  reports dialog you can select which tables are included in the Summary
  Report.
• We have finally eliminated the blank page that prints at the end of a text
  report. Let us know if you still experience this problem. The printing
  dialog now shows the number of pages in the report so that you can easily
  select which pages to print, if not all of them.
• We have reduced the size of the font in the header and footer of the printed
  text reports in order to free up a bit more page space.
• Fixed a problem with loss calculations when rebar isn't full length.
• Fixed the titles in the deflection reports.

July 21, 2003 - Concise Beam version 4.15 is now available for download

Version 4.15 includes the following changes;

• When adding nodes to a section in the section editor the new nodes will be
  snapped to the nearest crossing snap line, if the snap setting is on. Snap
  settings will be ignored when adding nodes to diagonal lines or if a snap
  line doesn't occur between the two adjacent nodes.
• In the prestressing loss parameters dialog, the slump can now be zero.
• In the trial design dialog, prestressing is now assumed by default as the
  primary steel reinforcement.
• The large markers on all of the lines in the graphs have been turned off by
  default when viewing a graph on screen to remove clutter. They will still
  show up in printed output, and the print preview screen, since most output
  is black and white. If you would like to see the markers on-screen then you
  can select a new option in the View->Preferences dialog which will turn them
  back on. This setting will be remembered the next time you run Concise Beam.
• Fixed an incompatibility with Windows NT 4.0 that would cause the program
  to crash when selecting section sizes in the beam dialog.
• Corrected a unit conversion problem for the output of shear forces in the
  case where input force units are different from output shear units.

July 10, 2003 - Concise Beam version 4.14 is now available for download

Version 4.14 includes the following changes;

• The transformed area of any embedded rebar and strand are now more consistently
  included in the beam's section properties. Before this release the steel
  had only been included in the properties used for prestress loss. The summary
  report still shows the section properties of a segment without steel since the
  properties would vary along the length of the beam, and within the segment. An
  additional text report has been created detailing the transformed section
  properties along the beam at a user defined reporting frequency. With this
  change you will notice that stresses, cracking, and deflections are a bit lower.
• We've added the ability to extract library items, such as concrete cross-
  sections and rebar materials, from existing problem files and have them
  added to a library file currently opened for editing. While editing a
  library file of any type you can click on the "Import" button to import
  unique folders and items from either the currently open problem file or
  from another library file on your system or network.
• We've given up trying to protect the current library files shipped with
  Concise Beam. Up to now we have required that you save any changes to
  these files to a new file name. This was supposed to allow us to change
  the content of these files at some future date. When installed these
  files were supposed to be write-protected to prevent them being altered
  by the user. These files would also be over-written each time Concise
  Beam was reinstalled (i.e. for a new version). We've found that the
  installation program we were using was not write-protecting these files
  on a lot of systems. This allowed a lot of users to alter these files.
  We will no longer try to protect these files and will not automatically
  over-write any existing files when installing Concise Beam. If we
  change the content of the standard files in the future we will issue them
  under a different name.
• When editing items in the library files you will be asked to confirm
  whether you want to discard changes to an item before switching items,
  if not already modified or added.
• We've made a few additions to the concrete section editor. You can now
  rotate a polygon or the whole section. This can be useful in determining
  the minor axis section properties, or defining sections that have a tilted
  major bending axis (i.e. stadia seating). The second addition is the
  ability to undo your last edit.
• We've corrected a problem that would occasionally cause a program crash
  when trying to select a library item (section or material). It was
  related to keeping track of the last item selected from any particular
  library so that it is automatically selected the next time you choose
  an item from the same library in the future. The program was getting
  confused if items were deleted from the library or if the library file
  was over-written by a prior version that didn't contain the item (i.e.
  on re-installation of the program).
• We have cleaned up the code that initializes a problem. This has corrected
  a crashing problem that some Windows 98 users have had trying to load a
  second problem file.
• Corrected the negative moment capacity within the development length of a
  strand.
• In the prestressing dialog we changed the colour of the prestressing strands
  that are not selected to grey to easily distinguish them from the currently
  selected strand.
• The Library dialog now show file names in long format under Windows 9x.
• The help file has been brought up-to-date and edited for typos. Let us
  know if anything doesn't agree with the program.
• The tutorials are now complete. We're always looking for the need for
  further or improved tutorials. Your suggestions would be appreciated.
• Still a lot of cleanup of the original program code (pre version 4) to
  make it easier to maintain and upgrade. This month's target was the unit
  conversion code. These changes shouldn't be noticeable by the user. It
  also corrected a problem in the trial design facility.

May 27, 2003 - Concise Beam version 4.13 is now available for download

Version 4.13 includes the following changes;

• With the introduction of wind loads that may reverse in direction we
  have found that some load combinations may show net effects counter
  to dead load. To accommodate this we have expanded the load analysis
  table and graphs to show both maximum and minimum load effect envelopes.
  The moment design table and graph will also now show both positive and
  negative strengths at each point where the factored moment may reverse.
• We rearranged the dialog for resistance/strength reduction factors for
  the custom code. You will now only see the relevant factors for the
  base code of your custom code. We've also removed the reference to
  the ACI318-99 code being equivalent to ACI318-02 Appendix B & C. One
  substantial difference between them is that the strength reduction
  factor for flexure of ACI318-99 is based on type of load (axial load
  or not) while ACI318-02 Appendix C bases the strength reduction
  factor for flexure on maximum extreme steel strain (unified design
  provisions). We have elected not to support ACI318-02 Appendix C.
• We have improved the flexure and shear tables by including a column
  labelled "Conformance Notes". Any non-conformities such as not meeting
  minimum strength requirements will be shown in this column with a note
  reference number. A description of the non-conformity will be shown at
  the bottom of the table identified by the reference number.
• With the addition of the "Conformance Notes" column we have removed the
  "Minimum Resistance Applicable" column from the moment table. The
  program now does this check for you.
• Some cross-sections that included points very close together or coincident
  couldn't be displayed in the 3D window and caused the program to shut
  down. We have corrected this problem by performing an additional analysis
  on the section to rearrange these points. This additional analysis will
  slow down the responsiveness of the 3D display for these types of sections.
  We recommend that your sections not include coincident or closely situated
  points in order to avoid this slow-down.
• Corrected a problem that could affect Vc under ACI. You may see a slight
  increase in Vc near the supports.
• We have made an improvement to the determination of effective depth, d,
  and shear depth, dv, when both prestressed and non-prestressed reinforcement
  act together.
• Corrected a problem setting the "High live loading" option in the
  loading dialog.

We are continuing a lot of internal changes aimed at making the program
more flexible for future improvements. Most of these would not be noticeable
to the user.

The last three tutorials are almost done and will be included in the next
release in June. If there is anything you are having trouble understanding
please contact us and we will provide you with detailed instructions or explanations.

May 23, 2003 - Short-Term Concise Beam Licenses Now Available

A new class of user license has been added for Concise Beam.  The short-term license is a lower-cost limited-time license for those users that only require the use of the program for short period of time, such as the duration of a project.  Unlike the full license, the short-term license will time out at the end of the license period and cease to function.  Short-term licenses are sold in increments of 3 months (90 days) up to 9 months (270 days).  If you need the program for longer than 270 days you should purchase the full license which will never time out.

Short-term license users will receive full technical support and all program upgrades within the period of their license.  For further details about short-term licenses and their pricing please click here.

April 21, 2003 - Concise Beam version 4.12a is now available for download

Version 4.12a is a maintenance release that fixes a bug in the shear steel design under CSA and flexural design with negative bending.

Version 4.12 includes the following changes;

• The deflection table in the summary report has been expanded to separate the instantaneous deflections from the deflections at transfer. This has always been confusing. Another column showing deflections at the completion of construction has also been added to illustrate the basis for the long-term DL growth to the final deflection. The completion deflections are taken to be the same as the erection deflections with no interim growth.
• Changed the shear steel tables so that they now report the total amount of additional longitudinal steel required for torsion for the entire section. The allowable reduction in this additional steel in the compression zone is report separately. In previous versions we had divided the additional steel required between the top and bottom of the beam and applied the reduction to which ever half was in compression. This was rather crude and confusing. The new tables now read better with the code provisions.
• Corrected the minimum amount of longitudinal rebar required for torsion under ACI.
• Corrected some of the labelling in the moment resistance table for the ACI codes.
• Corrected the inclusion of sustained live load in the reactions.
• Corrected a bug that could cause a crash when Modifying a rebar group when there are no existing rebar group. The program will now Add the new rebar group instead of modifying a nonexistent one.