Applies To
	Product(s):	STAAD.Pro
	Version(s):	All
	Environment:	N/A
	Area:	Analysis Solutions
	Subarea:	Miscellaneous Analysis Solutions
	Original Author:	Bentley Technical Support Group

Do you have any thumb rule/ formula for estimating the time required for solving a structure involving plates elements?

Run times depend on many factors. For static analysis without master/slave, the run time for large problems is dominated by the triangular factorization time.

Triangular Factor. Time = '[ (Fac) * (6 * no. of joints / 1000) * (bandwidth /100)**2 ] / 3600 in hours.

The bandwidth is printed with problem statistics.
Fac is a computer dependent factor.
Use Fac = 0.20 if you have 1.5GHz with 1 GB memory and 9600 SCSI drives.
Use Fac = 0.70 if you have 1.0GHz with 256 MB memory and 7200 drives.
Use Fac = 1.50 if you have 0.5GHz with 128 MB memory and 5400 drives.

As an example:

500Mhz, high bandwidth
Triangular Factor. Time = '[ (1.50) * (6 * 23000 / 1000) * (9000 /100)**2 ] / 3600 = 466 hours = 19.4 days

1000MHz Faster computer, more supports, lower bandwidth:
Triangular Factor. Time = '[ (0.70) * (6 * 22000 / 1000) * (5000 /100)**2 ] / 3600 = 64.1 hours = 2.67 days