Tedds Alternative

[mcc202]

We currently use Tedds and I hate it. It's super clunky and is very limited in what it is able to do. Are there any viable alternative to Tedds? The only other alternative that I have used is EnerCalc which isn't much better and actually may be worse? Just curious what other programs other SE firms are using.

 

[Ron247]

I do not know what Tedds is. What kind of software it is? To shrimpers, it means Turtle Excluder Device (TEDs) and I have seen the signs that say "No More TEDs".

 

[phamENG]

There are a few competitors surfacing, but none of them are going to be an apples to apples comparison.

ClearCalcs may be the closest. I've used ClearCalcs and it's nice, but still fairly new and they're missing a few key calculations that I'd want to have. But on the whole I like their setup and I think they have a promising future. RISACalc is pretty limited and probably not worth it, but something to check out anyway. I think SkyCiv has a handful of 'calculators' that you can use as well, along with a decent 3D FEM module.

Ron - it's a suite of simple calculations. Beams of lots of materials, wind loads, shear walls, columns, foundations, etc. Essentially really fancy spreadsheets. It also has its own WYSIWYG programming interface to write your own MathCAD style calculation sheets, but inside of Word with all of its pagination and editing features.

 

[ATSE]

FYI before writing a new post search for previous threads (decades and tens of thousands of threads).
This issue has a couple of recent and useful threads (last 12 months).
BTW agreed about Tedds.

 

[rowingengineer]

What calcs do you need? Want?

 

[mcc202]

We are building engineers with an office of about 50. Looking for a program similar to Tedds or Enercalc that does individual excel-like calculations, like calculating wind loads, baseplate design, footing design, retaining wall design, etc.

Thanks

 

[Brad805]

I would make sure one or two of those you hire is uber keen and let them loose with SMath or Excel. The cost of that is likely to work out less than if you end up with a number of packages that all have license agreements.

 

[dik]

I'd go for SMath... but it will require coding and will be your own suite... almost anything I design, if there are going to be three or more uses of it, I code it up in SMath. I use the coding to think about the application. A downside, and I don't know how to accommodate it is that I now have hundreds of programs and sometimes it is difficult to find the one I'm looking for and I generally give them fairly good names). With SMath I do a lot of 'cut and paste'.

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Feel any better?

-Dik

 

[dik]

An example for welding patterns using SMath and the directory system I use

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Feel any better?

-Dik

 

[Ron247]

diks,
I assume you know enough in the file name to search with explorer for files that match the "profile" of what you are looking for. That won't find the programs your trying to find? I know at times it won't find one I know is there somewhere. When it does not find it, I have an old trick from the DOS days that still works. Go back in time to punch cards and then back forward one year.

Thanks PhamEng, I never heard of it until today.

 

[Aesur]

I tried Tedds years ago and didn't like it one bit, especially when we learned that the pre-built tools by them were pretty much useless for most designs we needed (at that time - may have changed since). I personally use EnerCalc for most designs, Simpson Anchor Designer for anchors and baseplates, custom made spreadsheet and sometimes Wind Loads On Structures for wind loading and occasionally still do it by hand, RetainPro for retaining walls (not being integrated into EnerCalc core software). From what you described needing, I am of the opinion your best option really is EnerCalc as there really isn't any other good options available and EnerCalc gets a lot more bashing on here than it should considering how much time it saves engineers versus the cost of the software. There are a handful of other software that we use as well for things like cold formed steel, more fine tuned masonry design, PT, etc..

 

[JoshPlumSE]

My thoughts:

I've never used Tedds. Not sure if I've ever really seen it either. So, I don't know how it compares. My impression is that it's like a cross between MathCAD and EnerCalc. Though I'm not sure how that's possible.

The last company I worked for did a great job with Excel spreadsheets. Look up tables and drop down lists and such. All their commonly done calcs were in Excel. It was really cool. But, seemed like it would be a pain to set up.

I used to use MathCAD a lot personally. This was never to submit to plan check, but to verify / validate other programs or calculations. I both loved and hated it. Loved the ease of use and how I could write up a MathCAD spreadsheet to look just like it would if I were doing a hand calc, but without the mathematical errors. Hated the company itself. They were constantly changing their file format and licensing stuff to try to bleed more money out of their customers... at least that's the way I interpreted it.

I've used Enercalc off and on over the years when working on side projects with friends. I like it, but don't love it. It's got a lot of what I need to put together simple calculations that can be submitted to plan check. And, I felt like the price was reasonable. But, it just never felt like there was any "wow" factor. Meaning, I always thought that if I had the time, I could do it better.

I personally think RISACalc is a bad joke. I just don't see how this would be useful to anyone at all. It seems to be just a stripped down version of RISA's other projects. Granted, I've never used it so what do I know.

Caveat: I used to work for RISA and I currently work for CSI (who makes ETABS and SAP2000), so I'm not exactly an unbiased observer on structural software issues. RISACalc was under development when I was there, but I never really understood why management thought it would be a good thing. Maybe they were trying to take market share away from Enercalc? Perhaps with the hopes that those "small time users" would eventually upgrade to RISA-3D or RISAFloor or such. Seemed like faulty reasoning to me....

 

[dik]

@Ron... yup. I have to waste a day or two sorting out the files; I just haven't had time.

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Feel any better?

-Dik

 

[Celt83]

I’ve been impressed so far with the demos for the IES Quick Suite and Connect packages.
Link

My Personal Open Source Structural Applications:

https://github.com/buddyd16/Structural-Engineering

Open Source Structural GitHub Group:

https://github.com/open-struct-engineer

 

[dhengr]

Mcc202:
Does “Tedds Alternative” have anything to do with the fact that all of a sudden, he is much more interested in David, than he ever was in Sally?

 

[milkshakelake]

I recommend making in-house calculations like others have suggested, at least for situations that Tedds doesn't cover. I use Tedds for simple stuff but it's limited. Its closest competitor is Enercalc, but that's quite limited too. I can see a big market potential for better software; I would get into it if I had any idea how to make software. Someone could capture that whole market of companies in OP's situation.

I don't use the Tedds Word integration because I might stop using Tedds one day. I use Excel without Tedds and still do WYSIWYG type stuff. I haven't used MathCAD or other similar software because ETABS (which I use extensively) exports results to Excel. Excel is a bit janky, but readable. And VBA does its job when needed.

 

[Agent666]

If you have some people savvy in python, something like this integrated with Jupyter notebook might be a reasonable approach.

https://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=473306

Though I hazard a guess only the true geeks will pick it up, and your oldskool types won't have a bar of it...

https://github.com/connorferster/handcalcs

https://engineervsheep.com

 

[JedClampett]

I can see a big market potential for better software; I would get into it if I had any idea how to make software.

Hence the problem. Everyone does calculations different ways for different purposes. What my office does (a lot of simple members both concrete and steel) is different than a bridge engineer does which is different than a high rise engineer. We got rid of Enercalc, and have settled on Tedds. It's not perfect. But the calculations fit in our calculation packages better than anything else. If you picked a way that makes sense to you, there would be a thread five years from now on how clunky your approach is.
We've tried the company spreadsheets. We had an energetic guy who coded a lot of visual basic structural programs and sold them to the company. There were great. But the problem is and was, keeping them up to date. Codes change, approaches change, etc. We can't afford to use billable engineers to update software.

 

[dold]

FWIW, user yakpol posted a cool VBA function in: [URL unfurl="true"]https://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=485560[/url] yakpol (Structural)26 Jul 21 16:32

It writes out the formula and populates the cell references with the cell's values (bad explanation). Pretty slick if you're looking to un-blackbox your spreadsheets for whatever reason.

 

[CConrad]

mcc202,

You mentioned, "The only other alternative that I have used is EnerCalc which isn't much better and actually may be worse?"

We're available at support@ if you have questions, concerns, or suggestions that you'd like to discuss.

Director of Technical Services
ENERCALC, Inc.
Web:

http://www.enercalc.com