Coldes V4

Introducing Coldes V4

As a DOS program, Coldes has been used in demanding applications by reinforced concrete designers for many years. It is now available as a state-of-the-art Windows program with all the capability of previous versions and many more advanced features. Licensed users of previous versions may purchase Coldes V4 at special upgrade prices.

General Shape Columns

Coldes analyses biaxial bending and compression of rectangular, circular, and general shape column sections. Analysis is performed rigorously, without resort to code approximations for the effects of biaxial bending. Several stress-strain relationships are available, including the rectangular stress block, and the CEB 73 and CEB 90 curves.

The Coldes Main Window

The main window of Coldes contains thumbnail images of all the column cross sections in the job. Pop-up data tips allow you to identify individual sections. Double-clicking on a thumbnail image displays a dialog box containing controls that allow you to add or change any of the column data or perform a code check. From the right-click menu you may display a full-size detail diagram or interaction diagram, either of which may then be printed.

The Column Dialog Box

Double-clicking on a thumbnail image displays a dialog box containing controls that allow you to add or change any of the column data or perform a code check.

By clicking an option button you can instantly select the image displayed inside the dialog box. It may be a dimensioned detail diagram, a key diagram, a graph of the stress-strain relationship, or an interaction diagram. The output window at the bottom of the dialog box contains the results of the design code check. Any item of data can be changed by clicking a button to display a new dialog box for section data, concrete properties, reinforcement properties, or applied loads. The Print button allows you to print a report containing either a detail diagram or an interaction diagram, while the DXF button creates an AutoCAD DXF of the column section detail. Clicking the 3D View button displays a virtual reality view of the interaction surface and load points. Geometry and bending moments may also be displayed in a virtual reality view by clicking the 3D button in the Loads group.

Interaction Diagrams

Three types of interaction diagram are available:

Single load angle, where there is a constant ratio of My/Mx and variable reinforcement percentage.
Multiple load angle, with a constant reinforcement percentage and variable load angle.
N-Mx with My contours, where a family of curves shows the N-Mx capacity of the column section with varying values of My moment.

3D View of Section Interaction Surface

Coldes V4 uses powerful graphical capabilities to help you visualize the strength characteristics of the column, the loads, and the effects of slenderness. The image below shows a virtual reality view of a section failure surface with column end loads represented for a single load case as colored points. The arrows illustrate the moment magnification that occurs in slender columns. Any point outside the interaction surface indicates that the column has failed the code design check. Clicking the Design button automatically increases the bar size until all the points outside the failure surface would be inside it.