01 August 2006


In announcing Bentley’s acquisition of RAM International last December, Buddy Cleveland, senior vice president, Bentley Software, promised to “advance RAM’s entire product line, providing users with increasing capabilities.” In keeping with that commitment, Bentley’s RAM International Solutions Center has just released RAM Advanse Version 8.0, a finite element analysis and design software system featuring a number of innovative engineering desktop capabilities.

Like earlier versions of RAM Advanse, Version 8.0 is a general purpose structural analysis solution that provides advanced design features for hot-rolled steel, cold-formed steel, wood (lumber and glulam) and concrete, and can be used to design most types of structures. However, its special set of structural design tools has been expanded to include not only modules for continuous beams of any material and concrete or masonry retaining walls, but also:

Tilt-up walls (with and without openings, simplified and finite element analysis)
Masonry walls (including pilasters and lintels)
Concrete and masonry shear walls (with and without openings)
Moreover, all five of these tools are available for both fully integrated or stand-alone use – making RAM Advanse Version 8.0 the first and only finite element analysis and design system to offer this dual functionality. Other innovative features include:

Improved and automatic high-quality meshing library for shells (CM2 MeshTools)
New file format (*.ADV) with tool tips, thumbnails, and backward/forward compatibility with future RAM Advanse versions
Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete (ACI 318-05)
Structural Use of Concrete – British Standard (BS 8110-1: 1997)
Reinforcement steel optimization for beams, columns, footings, and retaining walls
Interaction diagrams for columns and walls
Compression-only springs
Option to add project information to models
Improved local (model) and global (program) views
STAAD Pro™ models importation
SDNF v3.0 exportation
Report customization tool (company logo, legend, project, engineer, revision, etc.)

Users of Bentley’s RAM International product line with a current support agreement or warranty will receive RAM Advanse Version 8.0 free of charge within the next 30 days. All other users may contact their regional engineer for upgrade information at 800 726 7789, or from outside the USA at +1 760 431 3610.

For more information, contact Gus Bergsma of Bentley’s RAM International Solutions Center, 2744 Loker Avenue West, Carlsbad , Calif. 92010 USA; phone: 800 726 7789 or 760 431 3610, ext. 110; fax: 760 431 5214; e-mail: Email Contact; or Web site: www.bentley.com/structural.

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