We’ve added several updates to make your design process more efficient and precise. Here’s a closer look at the latest improvements.

Foundation Design

Eccentricity for concrete pad footing designs to AS 3600:2018

Addressing a common challenge in footing design near property boundaries, we’ve introduced enhanced capabilities for handling eccentricity along both axes for footing design to AS 3600:2018.

What’s changed?

• Adjust x and y offsets to refine eccentricity calculations.
• Detect and resolve misaligned inputs instantly for accurate results.
• Gain detailed insights into load impacts to ensure safer and more reliable designs.

Use case: This tool is ideal for scenarios where footings are placed near property lines with off-center loads, ensuring compliance and reducing manual calculations.

Watch the tutorial with structural engineer, Daniela, to learn more.

Updated resistance checks for pier footing designs to ACI 318-19

We’ve refined resistance checks for uplift and downward forces in pier footing designs to ACI 318-19, improving accuracy and reliability.

What’s new?

• Input key geotechnical data, including allowable skin friction, bearing capacity, and active soil movement zone depth.
• View clear results for safety factors, utilization percentages, and resistance tables to verify calculations.

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What does this solve?

Accounting for frictional resistance below the active soil zone ensures uplift reliability in variable soil conditions. This update is particularly useful for designing foundations in high-wind areas or unstable soils.

Watch the demo with ClearCalcs engineer, Andrea.

Retaining Wall

Enhanced axial load analysis for basement retaining wall designs to IBC 2021, ACI 318-19

We’ve added new functionality to include axial loads in the design of restrained retaining walls (commonly known as basement retaining wall) to IBC 2021, improving the accuracy of restraint forces.

What’s new?

• Input dead and live loads directly at the top of the wall stem.
• Analyze axial and combined axial-flexural effects per ACI 318-19.

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What does this solve?

‍Design more realistic and practical retaining walls. For instance, an 11-foot wall without axial load inputs might yield restraint forces exceeding 800 plf. With this update, designs align better with actual construction scenarios.

Learn more with ClearCalcs engineer, David.

Concrete Design

Concrete Member (Design Only) Calculator to AS 3600:2018 now fully released

The concrete member calculator for Australian standard AS 3600:2018 is now out of beta. It streamlines the design of beams and columns by focusing on moment and shear demands.

New capabilities:

• Simplify beam and column designs by directly inputting moment and shear demands.
• Results are fully compliant with AS 3600:2018, ensuring reliability.
• Detailed summaries include capacities and utilization percentages, helping you finalize designs more efficiently.

Use cases:

• Quickly validate preliminary designs to ensure beams or columns meet strength requirements.
• Evaluate existing members for retrofits or upgrades.
• Design custom sections with unique geometries or reinforcement configurations without requiring a full structural model.

See a walkthrough with structural engineer, Daniel, for more insights.

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That's all for this month! If you have any feature requests or questions, don't hesitate to join the discussion in our Blueprint forum. We'd love to hear from you!