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Released on August 27, 2014 with Design Office 9, contains the following changes:
Important Note – These are descriptions to changes implemented in WoodWorks Connections for version 9 and may not reflect current program behaviour.
For lapped shear wood-to-steel bolt connectors, if the main member end type was set as extended, the upper limit for row spacing shown in the dropdown box was based on the entire side member width rather than the member width edge distance subtracted.
If you selected this larger value, the program is limited to fewer rows per plate than it should be, and the design failed when an allowable design is possible. This has been corrected.
The following problems with the calculation of rows per plate for bolted wood-to-wood splice connections have been corrected
The program was using the main member width for the width of the side member. As a result, the program was allowing either too many rows, or too few when the members were of different width.
When using O86 clause 10.4.4.6.2 regarding minimum 75% residual net area to limit the maximum number of bolt rows, the program considered only the main member and not the side member. When the side member was smaller than the main member, this could cause the program to allow more bolt rows than the net section permits. This has been corrected.
For steel to wood lapped shear splice connections, the program indicated that no design is possible after reducing the steel plate size, even though it was clearly evident that there is enough room for one bolt to fit. This has been corrected.
For bolted splice connections, if a detail like bolt size is changed before the materials were completed an internal error was shown on the materials screen, even if it was a valid detail.
If the design was performed with all details unknown, the program could design for example for a 1/2" bolt. But if you then select that bolt size, the program issued an error saying bolts in general cannot be used (an incorrect error message if the problem was in fact the bolt size).
Upon investigation, it was determined that the list of available bolts per row was often not correct, usually showing fewer bolts than possible in the connection. .
These problems were a result of calculations for the minimum edge distance using the side member width as the main member width and have been corrected.
For the two-sided beam to beam connection, the program reported the factored design load in the design results as the load on just one of the members, instead of the combined load on both members. This has been corrected and the load is twice what previously appeared.
The design ratio shown for splitting resistance was also based on 1/2 the load rather than the full load. The ratio for yielding resistance was calculated correctly.
With the new user interface for version 8, a change in material size no longer triggered the update of the Details selection lists for bolt size, spacing, rows and fasteners per row. This has been corrected and the values in the dropdown list showing the limiting values for these parameters are calculated using the new material sizes.
Please note that this system did not work perfectly in every instance with version 8, and whatever inaccuracies that were in that version remain. In these cases, you must type in a valid value rather than selecting one from the list
Starting with version 8, if the material input was not complete or invalid when the Connections project file is saved, the saved file could not be loaded and a message appeared saying it was incompatible with Connections.:This has been corrected and files can now be saved at any stage in the input process.
Starting with version 8, the mouse wheel no longer caused the results view to scroll. This has been corrected.
When the Details button is pressed, the title of the window that appears was Material. This has been changed to Materials and Details.
Further improvements to the treatment of failure warnings and messages described in version 8.4, below, were made for bolted splice connections. .
The program no longer restricts fastener rows to less than 12" long perpendicular to grain. This restriction was based on recommendations in the Wood Design Manual and was not a design code requirement. As designers can take steps to mitigate the effects of shrinkage,, it was decided to allow any fastener rows of any length.
The program restricted the number of rows of bolts to 3, because in the CSA O86-01 and previous editions of the design standard, there was a JR factor in 10.4.4.1 that had values for 1, 2, and 3 rows only. This was eliminated for the CSA O86-09 and has now been removed from the program.
Removed the restriction that the edge of a plate that is unattached to any other steel plate must be at least ½” from the edge of a member. It can now extend right to the edge of a member.
Steel plate sizes of 5/8”, ¾”, 1”, and 1-1/4” have been added to the selection list for post-and-beam connections.
The G40.21M 350W plate steel grade has been added t the selection list for post-and-beam connections. The program now designs for this grade using an ultimate strength Fu. of 450 MPa and a yield strength Fy = 350 MPa.
You can now access the Welcome to Connections box from the Help menu, similarly to Sizer and Shearwalls.
When you had a file open, the title bar no longer had the version number on it. This has been corrected.