Recent development of non-linear computational design by software "nida"

With the rapid development of computers in the past decade, design making the full use of computer speed and memory has become the trend of structural design in the world. To date, the simulation-based design of various types of structures is common and has been found to be successful in providing a practical engineering solution to safety and stability of most structures like buildings, towers, scaffolds, domes, pre-tensioned steel structures, glass structures and others. This paper describes the experience and new findings in the course of using the new design concept for quick and reliable check of various forms of structures made of different materials. The high accuracy as well as the underlying philosophy of the method of 'Nonlinear Integrated Analysis and Design (NIDA)', which allows for the second-order effects and initial imperfections for design of steel structures, is presented.