Current Version

LimitState:RING 3.0c - Maintenance Release

Release Date: November 2011 (public web release)

• Italian, Czech and Spanish made available in version 3, and installer
• Corrected handling of ',' as a decimal separator in several dialogs [ref 3103]
• Corrected vehicle database. Replaced BD21 Annex F '3 tonne, Single Axle' with  '2 tonne, Single Axle'. Note: BD21 Annex F requires a bridge to successfully  carry a 2 tonne single axle load in order to give a 3 tonne vehicle load  rating. Models using the original 3 tonne vehicle will, therefore, give a conservative solution when checked [ref 3098]
• After switching Bridge type from Railway (underline) to Highway, the 'Vehicle  Database' dialog omitted required columns for user-defined vehicles. This  problem is now fixed. A workaround for previous versions is to restart the  software [ref 3069]
• Fixed bug which could lead to an error being reported when the <Enter> key pressed after editing a numeric value in the Property Editor [ref 3047]
• Thrustline & moment/shear/ normal force diagrams now display properly when   some contacts (i.e. masonry joints) in the project are not enabled or are constrained in some way [ref 2873]
• Added explanatory text to the Property Editor description of how reinforcement  locations are determined. The user is now alerted to the fact that the reinforcement depth defaults to 0mm if a value greater than 1/2 the contact  length is specified [ref 3058]
• Make the order of OK and Cancel buttons consistent across dialogs [ref 3104]
• Fixed issue with some tables that caused them to crop the displayed data,  particularly when using non-English language interface [ref 3064]
• Loads icon now always displays properly in 'New Bridge Wizard' [ref 3105]
• Previously, the distributed example 'beam reinforcement' gave the correct  solution numerically but displacements, if scaled, would occur in the  horizontal direction. This has been fixed so that displacement is vertical  [ref 3052]
• User Guide updated, including additional guidance on how to include reinforcement in a model [re 3019, 3101]
• Modified axle 'distance' description to improve clarity [ref 3015]

LimitState:RING 3.0b - Maintenance Release

Release Date: April 2011

• Pointed arch profile is now available [ref 2989]
• User-defined extrados is now available for interpolated profiles [ref 3007]
• Enable keyboard shortcuts to improve copy/paste function in tables [ref 3018]
• Fixed a very small (less than 0.01mm) change in problem geometry when saving and reloading models with segmental arches, which resulted in small change in the predicted collapse load (less than 1 part in a million, and never of any engineering significance) [ref 3039]
• For academic license users, remove a potential second display of the academic license dialog [ref 2969]
• Installing LimitState:RING 3.0 on a computer alongside version 2 now defaults to opening the latest version when double-clicking a project file [ref 3020]
• Users are now given the option of applying changes to the 'dynamic factor' vehicle attribute over all load cases rather than just the current one [ref 3024]
• Fixed a bug in load case definition dialog that could cause a crash if "Delete all cases" was selected while adding new vehicles to the first load case [ref 3027]
• Display warning when opening LimitState:RING 2.0 files that contain user-defined profiles (LimitState:Ring 2.0 could sometimes corrupt files containing multi-segment arch profiles, causing inconsistent behaviour of the points in the intrados table) [ref 3017]
• Bending moment, shear force and thrust diagrams now reliably displayed for piers as well as arch rings [ref 3013]

LimitState:RING 3.0a - First Release Of Version 3

Release Date: February 2011

HIGHLIGHTS of LimitState:RING 3.0

NEW ARCH PROFILE TYPES

• The addition of several new profile types allows users to more closely model the true shape of an arch [ref 2724]
  • Segmental - The arch profile is formed from a single segment of a circle using the crown rise and span measurements.
  • Multi-segment (user-defined) - The arch profile is formed from multiple segments of circles, based on user-entered intrados and/or extrados points.
  • Interpolated (user-defined) - The arch profile is formed from an interpolated `best-fit' shape based on a series of user-entered intrados and/or extrados points.
  •  Three-centered (pseudo-elliptic) - The arch profile is elliptical and is formed from segments of three circles using the crown rise and span measurements.  

ENHANCED ANALYSIS ENGINE

• State-of-the-art MOSEK optimizer now used to obtain solutions, in many cases dramatically reducing run times [ref 2937]
  • More robust and efficient - the MOSEK solver is designed to solve large-scale optimization problems in a highly efficient manner, bringing significant performance benefits to LimitState:RING
  •  Users can now specify the precision of the answer obtained using the Preferences dialog

MORE INFORMATIVE

• More analysis data is provided in the output window - load case data, vehicle position, effective bridge width and solution information are now all shown by default [ref 2878]
• Software now reports an 'adequacy factor' rather than a 'failure load factor', which is a more appropriate descriptor when partial factors on loads are specified.
• Allow users to view diagrams depicting normal force, shear force and bending moment at contact surfaces for analysed problems [ref 2297]
• The report output has been updated and contains new sections (e.g. backing details), additional data and an easier to read layout [ref 2419, 2965]
• Added a number of example files relating to the validation of the software, its features and application to 'real-life' bridges [ref 2994]

MODEL REINFORCEMENT

• Allow modelling of arch bridge problems containing reinforcement [ref 2160, 2161, 2162, 2164, 2165, 2166, 2207, 2297, 2418]

STREAMLINED DOCUMENTATION

• All supporting documentation has been merged into a single comprehensive User Manual, which is available to view through the built-in help system in the software or separately in pdf form. Existing sections have been expanded and / or updated to make the document more informative [ref 2742]

ENHANCED LOAD MANAGEMENT

• Many improvements made to the process of applying loads e.g. 'Delete all load cases (Except Current)' button added and option to move all vehicles in a load case simultaneously [ref 2888]
• Dynamic load factor can now be applied on a per load case basis (obviating the need to create special vehicles with dynamic factors applied to different axles) [ref 2930]
• Specifying which axles have dynamic factors applied is now possible in the load case dialog, rather than having to create custom vehicles. Existing files where custom vehicles have been created with dynamic axles will continue to function as before [ref 2930]
• Removed the previous maximum limit of 100,000mm for an initial load case position [ref 2961]
• Vehicle database updated with additional industry-standard highway and railway loading models [ref 2904]
• Allow up to 999 copies of a load case to be made (up from 99 copies) [ref 2910]

VISUAL IMPROVEMENTS

• Visual style of user interface, icons and graphics updated [ref 2879, 2945, 2960]
• Enhanced 3D rotation functionality [ref 2923]
• Updated 'New bridge wizard' tab images [ref 2928]
• Increased font size of greek partial factor symbols to improve readability [ref 2948]

INTEROPERABILITY

• Added the capability to transfer data between tables within LimitState:RING and external software (e.g. Microsoft Excel) [ref 2949]

EFFECTIVE WIDTH IMPROVEMENTS

• Introduced a user-defined 'maximum effective width' cutoff value when using the 'auto-calculated' effective width option [ref 1247]
• Renamed 'bridge width' to 'effective bridge width' for clarity [ref 2341]

CHANGES IN BEHAVIOUR

• Maximum limiting finite masonry material compressive strength set to 500 N/mm²  for new problems to avoid convergence problems e.g. when complex multi-ring problems are involved (N.B. an infinite material strength can still be specified) [ref 2958]
• The default value of M_pc, a modification factor used to determine the passive restraint offered by the backfill, has been increased from 0.01 to 0.05 [ref 3000]

OTHER CHANGES AND BUGFIXES

• Optimized code to more efficiently handle multi-axle / multi-load-case problems [ref 603]
• Minor modifications to text in materials dialog (railway model only) [ref 1247]
• Software checks whether drive exists on 'Save' and 'Save As' and warns if the file did not save correctly [ref 1993, 2814]
• Fixed a bug that caused an error when a project was saved after changing the profile shape from user-defined multi-segmental to 'segmental' [ref 2788]
• Fixed bug that, in some circumstances, caused a new report pdf file to save over an old report pdf file that had been generated in the same session [ref 2829]
• Fixed a bug which led to an error being reported when selecting the 'Auto computed' bridge width option in the first page of the 'New Bridge Wizard' [ref 2850]
• Various changes to make it easier for users to differentiate between load case names and numbers (when the former are of the form "Load Case X") [ref 2906]
• Fixed bug that prevented 'mirror=true' being saved with file for vehicles [ref 2944]
• Prevented the possibility of creating abutment blocks with zero area, which could result in an unstable model [ref 2972]
• Fixed bug that could, when following a certain series of geometry modification / save steps, result in a runtime exception being  triggered [ref 2979]
• To avoid potentially erroneous geometries from being created, can no longerpecify negative user-defined abutment angles [ref 1248]
• Negative adequacy factor solutions are now also shown in the report, on the rare occasions that these are encountered [ref 2419]
• Switching a bridge from being a 'railway' bridge to a 'highway' bridge sometimes led to an error being reported. This is now fixed [ref 2713]
• Attempting to save the project during a solve would cause a crash. This has now been disabled [ref 2759]
• Fixed bug that caused "Save As" to create filenames with multiple ".ring" suffixes [ref 2915]
• Fix a very rarely encountered problem that prevented results from load cases analysed after a problematic load case (for which a solution could not be found) from being reported [ref 2920]
• Require a load to be defined before performing an analysis. Previous versions crashed on solve without loads [ref 2992]
• No longer iterate unnecessarily once a problem is found to be unstable under its own self weight [ref 2419]
• Warn of unsaved changes on exit following changes in the 'Property Editor' [ref 2796]
• User is no longer prompted to save if they have merely solved the project, or if have clicked 'Cancel' on a program dialog [ref 2796]
• User-defined profile points no longer lost when switching between profile types in 'Edit Bridge' geometry dialog [ref 2892]
• Load case 'spinbox' widened so that higher load case numbers are not cropped [ref 2907]

Previous Versions

ring2.0k

(tagged 2.0k, 2.0k[RLM] and 2.0k[FlexLM])

Release date: December 23rd 2009 (public web release)

Release notes:

Major changes

• Software deals with problems involving multiple vehicles and spans more effectively - solution times significantly reduced in many cases [ref: 2801]
• Fixed bug (introduced in 2.0j) which meant that when the bridge geometry was changed, the load distribution was only updated for the currently displayed load case [ref: 2473]
• Upgraded vehicle database - added UK Highways Agency BD21 (road) and BD37 (road and railway) loading vehicles [ref: 1499]
• Added support for RLM licensing system (not 2.0k[FlexLM]) [ref:2770]
• License information available via the Help menu (2.0k[RLM] only) [ref:2770]
• New flexible academic licensing system introduced - see here (not 2.0k[FlexLM]) [ref:2770]

ring2.0j

Release date: October 17th 2008 (public web release)

Release notes:

Major changes

• Interface translated into French and Spanish, with 'beta' German and Arabic translations also available (change language via: Tools>Preferences)
• Added UK Highways Agency BD37 & BD21 highway vehicles to the Vehicle Database (HB loading and Fire Engines) [ref:1499]
• Fixed save bug caused by explicitly modelling abutments (unticking this option after previously modelling abutments caused 'Fatal error ap60' message) [ref:1476]
• Auto-calculated bridge width now always updated when geometry altered [ref:1509]
• Loads now always redistributed when the current load case is changed [ref:1509]
• Fixed bug that sometimes prevented help from being accessed when multiple versions of ring were installed on a single PC [ref:900]
• Visualization of instances where axle width is greater than bridge width improved [ref:1509]
• Fixed bug that could cause crash when swapping between pier and abutment tabs in the new bridge wizard [ref:1568]
• User can no longer define a spurious 'empty' new vehicle [ref:2137]

Minor changes

• Potential error prevented if intrados and extrados ring profiles overlap (warning message shown and modelling disallowed until geometry is corrected) [ref:753]
• Failure load factor now always correctly displayed in output (previously, an incorrect value may be displayed when repeatedly solving the same problem many times) [ref:1284]
• Fixed bug that caused 'Procedure entry point not found' error (sometimes occurred when installing to WIN2000 machines) [ref:2188]
• Theory and Modelling Guide worked example (Appendix A) - image modified for clarity (previously could confuse) [ref:2199]
• Changes to editable vehicle properties made in the Property Editor now reflected in the model [ref:1271]
• Fixed wizard pier tab - height now reads 'ha' in both image and text [ref:1567]
• Vehicle Database - resizing window now affects whole dialog (previously only Vehicle library resized, causing problems when reading with non-standard font size) [ref:1411]
• Console message now reports when load case 1 is critical in a multi-load case analysis [ref:2000]
• Whitespace now stripped from user-defined vehicle files when importing into Vehicle Database (could previously cause problems) [ref:1495]
• Fixed bug with 'recent files list' that sometimes caused it to work incorrectly when two files with the same name were present [ref:2159]
• Improvements to various message boxes to make them easier to understand [ref:1238]

ring2.0i

Release date: February 19th 2008 (limited release)

Release notes:

Major changes

• Mirrored vehicles now saved with project (previously vehicle was saved but not mirror flag) [ref:1690]
• Improved report image quality and generation time [ref:1141]
• Improved display of sleepers and ballast to account for cases where they are much wider / narrower than the bridge [ref:1226]
• Prevented default vehicles from being editable after adding a 'new vehicle' [ref:1243]

Minor changes

• Several general improvements to Theory and Modelling Guide (Fig 9a, Fig 19 and Annex A2) [ref:1232]
• Stopped Backfill->Mpc value from resetting to default when "Model horizontal 'passive' pressures" is toggled off then on again [ref:1272]
• Prevented report from being accessed when no analysis has been undertaken [ref:1291]
• Updated sample .ring files to prevent 'unrecognised properties' warning message appearing [ref:902]
• Fixed tabbing order in wizard (previously hitting tab could cause the cursor to move between fields erratically) [ref:1229]
• Fixed bug that made it difficult to change abutment angles in certain circumstances [ref: 1328]
• Enabled 'Cancel' button on the Wizard->Loads tab after viewing Load Case or Vehicle Database dialogs [ref:1173]
• Disabled double-click switching of 'true' and 'false' in the 'Dynamic Factor' field of the Vehicle Database (confusing behaviour)[ref:1303]

ring2.0h

Release date: December 3rd 2007 (public web release)

Release notes:

Major changes

• Different default values for highway and railway bridges [ref:1216, 1220]:
  • Highway: transverse distribution through fill and surface fill & longitudinal distribution through surface fill changed to 26.6° (2:1).
  • Railway: longitudinal and transverse distribution through ballast changed to 15° (in accordance with UIC774-2R); transverse distribution through fill changed to 30°. Now no additional transverse distribution through barrel.
• Railway sleeper breadth default changed from 300mm to 250mm (standard value) [ref:1227]
• Fixed vehicle database transcription errors [ref:1206]:
  • ‘CU double axle (1.85m)’ loading corrected to read 99.77kN per axle
  • ‘CU air suspended axle (1.85m)’ name changed to ‘CU triple air suspended axle (2.60m)’
• Fixed open/save problem affecting user-defined fill forces [ref:1203]
• Fixed railway track properties bug (changes to certain properties were not applied until after a vehicle had been moved) [ref:1164]
• ‘Theory and Modelling Guide’ now included in distribution.

Minor changes

• Some sample files updated for consistency with ‘Theory and Modelling Guide’ [ref:1240]
• Further enhancements to report output [ref:1039]: improved layout, no cropping of bridge image, significantly reduced report generation time, option of saving as html, option for user to ‘Select all’ in report. Also:
  • Report image renamed ‘Mode of response’ [ref:1234].
  • Analysis results now removed from report when problem unsolved [ref:1234].
• Program more responsive when report for large project requested [ref:1235]
• Improved detection of contacts for multi-ring problems containing only a small number of blocks [ref:839]
• All angles are now shown in degrees (except those related to rotations) [ref:1223]
• Fixed bug preventing all hinges from being highlighted in certain problems [ref:751]
• Fixed bug that caused 'Fatal error ap60' message to sometimes appear when entering user-defined span profiles [ref:753]
• ‘1kN Single Axle Load’ vehicle now shown in vehicles database [ref:1163]
• For consistency: ‘Load Factor’ now referred to as ‘Failure Load Factor’ everywhere except during solve (for conciseness) [ref:1199]. Other minor corrections to text [ref:1219]
• Fixed context sensitive help bug (when modelling multi-span bridges, incorrect / blank pages were shown for certain tabs) [ref:1221]
• Ensured that dialog giving option to reload vehicle database after this has been changed is only displayed at startup [ref:1237]
• Fixed bug that caused 'Cancel' button in 'Load Cases' dialog to disable after opening the vehicle database [ref:1173]

ring2.0g

Release date: October 18th 2007 (limited release)

Release notes:

• Initial enhancements to report output [ref:1039]
• Fixed report generation problem (report not generated if ‘Application Data’ folder was not present, e.g. in non-English versions of Windows) [ref:1075]

ring2.0f

Release date: September 24th 2007 (limited release)

Release notes:

• Fixed number tolerance / rounding problems (caused a warning to appear when opening some ring1.5 files) [ref:942, 985]
• Set precision of span and rise measurements to 2 decimal places [ref:1000]

ring2.0e

Release date:September 14th 2007 (limited release)

Release notes:

• Minor changes to facilitate translation of the software [ref:958, 959]

ring2.0d

Release date: August 20th 2007 (public release)

Release notes:

• Improved error trapping, allowing save in case of a serious error [ref:533]
• Fixed Support Movement Wizard bug (a currently selected block could not be subsequently selected in the Support Movement Wizard) [ref:804]
• Ctrl key is now used for multiple object selection (instead of Shift key) [ref:807]
• Fixed ‘aborted analysis’ bug (program failed when re-solving a previously aborted analysis) [ref:853]
• Fixed problem setting up multi-ring arches (program occasionally crashed when navigating through the new bridge wizard in a particular way) [ref:854]
• Fixed ‘clear all’ bug (in some cases selected objects could not be cleared) [ref:857]
• Updated installation guide with information regarding floating single user licenses (dongles) [ref:863]
• Updated 'License enquiry' button and explanatory text [ref:865]
• Improved formatting of report details for problems with infinite crushing strength [ref:893]

ring2.0c

Release date: July 26th 2007 (limited release)

Release notes:

• Improved quality of collapse mechanism image in report [ref:702]
• Fixed report printing bug (user was not initially asked to select a printer) [ref:703]
• Enhancement to allow company logo images to be added to the report header and footer [ref:759]
• Enhancement to allow the name of the default load case to be saved automatically [ref:766]
• Default railway track load corrected to 2kN/m² (was 20kN/m²) [ref:776]
• Improved procedure used to obtain the MAC (Ethernet adaptor) address for use in the license request email [ref:799]
• Fixed problem which meant that ring2.0 files defining problems with certain user defined contacts could not be opened [ref:831]
• Updated description of the 'ID' field in the property editor [ref:843]

ring2.0b

Release date:July 10th 2007 (limited release)

Release notes:

• Enhanced solution convergence properties [ref:831]
• Fixed ring1.5 file compatibility bug (ring1.5 files with inter-ring constraints would not open) [ref:831]

ring2.0a

Release date: May 15th 2007 (public release)

Release notes:

• Initial ring2.0 release.