Product overview
Key benefits:
- Improve productivity
- Manage changes easily
- Increase design confidence
The features in ColCA include:
- Conical or stepped columns
- Circular or polygonal cross-sections with sides number 8 + 4*i; where i = 0, 1, 2, …
- Automatic wind load generation according to EN 40-3-1 and Eurocode 1
- Door openings, also with reinforcement
- User defined loads: forces combinations, mass and surface
- User defined material
- Dynamic Frequency Analysis
- Design for strength (ultimate limit state) and deflection requirements (serviceability limit state)
- Intuitive and easy-to-use graphical user interface
- Automatic self weight generation
- Multiple viewports
- Units for different parts of the structural data
- Output reports with detailed calculations
About EN 40-3
EN-40-3 is the European Standard for Lighting Columns. This standard specifies the requirements for the verification of the design of lighting columns by calculation. It applies to lighting columns of nominal height not exceeding 20m. This European Standard includes performance requirements for horizontal load due to wind. The calculations used in this standard are based on two limit states:
- the ultimate limit state, which corresponds to the load-carrying capacity of the lighting column
- the serviceability limit state, which relates to the deflection of the lighting column in service
Column type
Wind load
Reference wind velocity (Vref)
Vref – 10 minutes mean wind velocity at 10 m above ground of terrain category II (with low vegetation) having an annual probability of exceedance 0.02 (return period of 50 years)
Conversion:
Vref = 0.7 x (3-s peak gust wind speed)
Vref = 1.1 x (1-h mean wind speed)
Terrain (roughness) category
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
| I | Rough open sea. Lakeshore with at least 5 km fetch upwind. Smooth flat country without obstacles. |
| II | Farmland with boundary hedges, occasional small farm structures, houses or trees. |
| III | Suburban or industrial areas and permanent forests. |
| IV | Urban areas in which at least 15% of the surface is covered with buildings and their average height exceeds 15m. |
If the terrain category is not provided by the purchaser, the calculation should be carried out considering category II
Topography factor „f” and initial height
The topography factor "f" shall be taken as 1 unless otherwise specified. Where a slope height is specified "f" shall be taken as 1 where the height does not exceed 5m.
Initial height - for the installation on bridges, the height is measured from the water or ground level over which the bridge is crossing.
Design life
For lighting columns the normal requiremnt is for a mean return period of 25 years.
Door opening
Once defined door opening can be apply to many columns. And after the door opening was redefined, the changes are applied to columns.
Cross Section Property Tool
ColCA provides cross-section property tool – an easy way to obtain gemetrical dimensions and section property data
Units
Users can specify different units, precision and trailing zeros for different parts of the input or output data.
Changing initial values for calculations is also available.
Reports
Repots presents detailed design calculation: loads, forces, design for strength, deflections etc.
Input data validation
Before applying load ColCA checks structural dimension and conditions from EN-40-3 standard. This allow a user to detect geometric conflicts at the very beginning (eg. angle of the door opening shouldn't be larger then 60 degree, column diameter to wall thickness has limited value etc.)
Demo download
Please contact [email protected] to download the latest demo version of ColCA.
Demo restrictions:
- Column Type : CONICAL
- H = 12 [m] : Nominal Height
- Number Of Sides = 8
- D1 = 200 [mm] : Diameter Upper End :
- D2 = 270 [mm] : Diameter Bottom End :
- No section properties tool
- No stepped columns
- No changing units
Pricing and plans
- Price for a single user license: 1 500 EUR