Applies To
	Product(s):	STAAD.Pro
	Version(s):	ALL
	Environment:	ALL
	Area:	Analysis Solutions
	Subarea:	Miscellaneous Analysis Solutions
	Original Author:	Sye Chakraborty, Bentley Technical Support Group

 

How can I convert the unit of an existing input file? Say the model has already been set up in metric unit, how can I change it to imperial unit in the input .std file?

 

Method 1:

First of all, even if you have modeled in metric units, you can still get the data displayed in imperial units. To do that, you just need to go to Tools > Set Current Display Units > and set appropriate units for Structure Units, Section Units, Force Units etc. as needed. The model data will then be displayed graphically in those units. Also to ensure that any data going forward is entered in imperial units, you can go to Tools > Set Current Input Units and set the Length and Force units appropriately.

For Connect Edition version you will find this option under View > Display options as shown below. 

Method 2:

Alternately if changing the actual inputs ( like say Joint Coordinates ) from metric to imperial or vice versa is important for you, you will have to follow a manual process. You can copy the joint coordinate data from the Nodes table from inside Modeling > Geometry page by selecting the table data ( click on the top left corner cell) right click Copy and copy it to excel by right click paste. Standard windows commands like CTRL+A, CTRL+C, CRTL+V will also work for this. Once in excel, you can factor the values for all the cells by the appropriate conversion factors (metric to imperial). The modified data can then be copied from excel. Open the STAAD.Pro editor and first change the UNIT command before the JOINT COORDINATE data to the right units. Replace the old joint coordinates data by pasting the copied data from excel. Be aware of the fact that you may need to insert additional UNIT commands further down the line (inside the command editor) so that the data values are consistent with the unit settings preceding the data.

 

We highly recommended that you follow the procedure described in paragraph 1 as opposed to what is described in the paragraph 2 unless you are very comfortable using the command editor. Since the process documented in paragraph 2 involves manual changes to be made to the input, it is very easy to make a mistake and thereby end up with inconsistencies between units and input values and so extreme caution should be exercised when going this route.