The SACS development team is pleased to announce the release of SACS 2025 (25.00.00).

Release Highlights

Pile3D – Multiple Pile Analysis and Superelement Generation

Pile3D now supports multiple pile analyses using 3D Finite Element Analysis of the pile/soil interaction for improved performance and convergence over PSI analyses. Simply select a Pile3D input file in the Analysis Generator for the PSI/Pile input file when creating your analysis. Pile3D integrated multiple pile analysis now also supports pile linearization for seamless integration into SACS dynamic analyses with Wave Response or Dynamic Response simulations. Full details of these enhancements may be found in the PSI/Pile documentation.

Post - AISC 360 (2022) Design Code Check

AISC Steel Construction Manual 16^th (AISC 360 2022) has been added to SACS Post design code checks. AISC 16^th may be used with API RP 2A 21^st and 22^nd editions with both WSD and LRFD methods. This update included changes to Hollow Structural, Channel, Box, Wide Flange, and Plate Girder sections. Full details of the changes may be found in the Post documentation.

Joint Mesher – Conical Section Meshing

A new method has been added to Joint Mesher enabling conical section meshing. The Simplex Mesher creates a set of surfaces of 1D beam elements and computes the intersections of these surfaces using numeric algorithms instead of analytical formulae. This methodology allows for more complex types of connections that previously were unsupported by Joint Mesher. Conical sections are now supported using the new Simplex Mesher methodology. The Legacy workflow is still supported as the default method for mesh generation. More details about this enhancement may be found in the Utilities documentation.

ADINA Interoperability – Non-linear Dynamic Model Export

Export SACS models with dynamic mass properties and dynamic force time series with the SACS-ADINA Interop utility. ADINA is Bentley’s general non-linear dynamic finite element analysis software for advanced analyses and enables advanced non-linear dynamic analyses of offshore structures. Previously this feature was limited to non-linear static export of SACS model data with some model conversion options. This update adds the ability to export dynamic mass properties of a Dynpac Input file and base driven accelerations or force time series from a Dynamic Response input file.

Export of the linear static model data is still accessible as a command through Precede, but export of the non-linear dynamic model requires an additional SACS ADINA Interop Input File and a SACS ADINA Interop Analysis run file accessible in the Analysis Generator under the Utilities analysis type. More information about the SACS ADINA Interop utility can be found in the Utilities manual.

SACS Cloud Services (Early Access Program)

Perform massively parallelized wind turbine analyses with SACS Cloud Services. The Bentley Cloud Services platform has been completely updated with improved performance, reliability, and reporting. This early access program enables anyone performing SACS Wind Turbine analyses (Uncoupled Strength, Uncoupled Fatigue, and Dynamic Superelement) to perform hundreds of analyses simultaneously in the cloud for significant performance gains when compared with traditional desktop hardware. This service has now been extended to all users.

SACS Wind Turbine Naming

OpenWindPower – Fixed Foundation has been renamed to SACS Wind Turbine. SACS Wind Turbine is functionally the same as OpenWindPower – Fixed Foundation; there are no changes to the license apart from the name change itself.

List of Enhancements

SACS

• 1322484 - SACS Motions solver has been updated to use the MOSES motions solver.
• 1570661 - Added support for import of ISM loads into SACS model files.

ADINA Interop

• 1571118 - Added support for Dynpac mass generation including: members, plates, loads, added mass, and entrapped mass. Full details are provided in the Utilities documentation.
• 1571125 - Added support to ADINA Interop utility to export base acceleration series from Seismic Time-History analyses.
• 1571126 - Added support to ADINA Interop utility to export force time history series from Force Time-History analyses.

 Joint Mesher

• 1299975 - Added support for meshing of conical sections with Joint Mesher.
• 1300012 - Added a Simplex Mesher with enhanced meshing capabilities using simplicial surfaces to Joint Mesher.
• 1300021 - Added an option to select between the legacy Joint Mesher and the Simplex Mesher with enhanced meshing capabilities.

 Pile

• 1562319 - Ability to generate foundation superelement using Pile3D has been added.
• 1562336 - Ability to analyze foundation with multiple piles using Pile3D has been added.

Post

• 1500044 - Added AISC 16th edition (360 2022) to SACS Post design code checks.

Precede

• 1565123 - Added crash reporting to SACS Precede for improved user support and quality control.

SACS Executive

• 1665803 - Updated Folder Browse dialogs with a modernized interface to enable direct path input.

List of Fixed Defects

SACS

• 1591405 - Fixed an issue with the Japanese 2002 section library where W15x31 Izz moment of inertia was incorrectly defined.
• 1645140 - Fixed an issue with ANSYS export utility where load cases were not exported.

Data Generator

• 1009373 - Fixed an issue where Datagen would crash when a JDIS line was inserted or edited.
• 1606984 - Removed a redundant Element Type entry on the LCGAP line.

Dynamic Response

• 1601115 - Fixed an issue where STCMB equivalent static load combinations were not autoincrementing correctly.
• 1639044 - Fixed a bug where acceleration input on DISP line in Dynamic Response was not being read.

Interactive Fatigue

• 1672566 - Fixed an issue where Damage reports in Interactive Fatigue could not be generated for Deterministic Fatigue analyses.

Pile

• 1579996 - PSI/Pile3D API 20th to 22nd clay PY curves have been updated to correctly consider effect of overburden pressure. API sand PY curve in the PSI module has also been updated to correctly consider overburden pressure. PSI and Pile3D calculations have been made consistent. 

Post

• 1339267 - Fixed an issue where Post could crash when plate elements were skipped for stress calculation.

Precede

• 1609316 - Fixed an issue with rendering unsymmetric plate girder sections. Unsymmetric plate girder sections are now rendered so the 1-D beam element aligns with the neutral axis.
• 1610338 - Fixed an issue where the center of gravity glyph was displayed in English coordinates (in) for Metric models using the Self Weight dialog. 
• 1628524 - Fixed a bug that could cause Precede to crash in a certain situation where a plane was being displayed in a new view.
• 1637848 - Fixed an issue where Precede would produce blank Member Detail reports in Postvue Databases with a SACS Reports database using the Generate Report dialog.
• 1640782 - Fixed an issue where Precede would remove CODE AA lines from the SACS model on AISC 14th+ code check options.
• 1662397 - Fixed an issue where reloading Precede files with Annotations would cause model rendering issues.
• 1664105 - Fixed an issue where Precede would not save the selected Perspective/Orthogonal Projection mode option across sessions.

PSI

• 1643182 - Fixed some issues with M-Theta units in PSI reporting and documentation. M value units are now consistently documented and reported as kN-m/cm across PSI and PIle3D.

SACS API

• 1594816 - Fixed an issue with modifying joint IDs with the SACS API using the Id property.

SACS Executive

• 1658622 - Fixed an issue with the Time History seismic analysis run file where a Force Time History input file for Wave Response would not be properly generated. 
• 1658651 - Fixed an issue where the Graphical Post Processing option ‘Use OCI File as Model Input’ was not being saved to analysis run files.

Wave Response

• 1675611 - Fixed an issue where Wave Response would fail to read joints properly on the JLOD line if the joint name was less than 4 characters.