IES VisualAnalysis User's Guide
Materials
Several common material databases are included with VisualAnalysis listed under IES in the Material Database dialog box. These materials may not be modified or removed from the system. Contact IES Technical Support to suggest additional libraries of materials for IES to include in the database.
Custom materials can be created in VisualAnalysis which are stored in the Custom Data Files. To add a custom material to the database in VisualAnalysis, click the Ad Custom Material button in the Material Database dialog box. Choose the appropriate Material Type to allow design checks to be performed for that material and edit the Defining Properties as need. Custom materials can be used by VisualAnalysis, ShapeBuilder, and other IES products (except Quick-products).
All IES materials are assumed to be linear, isotropic and elastic. VisualAnalysis makes common use of orthotropic materials, like wood, but does so using isotropic properties. VisualAnalysis utilizes four primary properties: modulus of elasticity, Poisson's ratio, thermal coefficient of expansion, weight density. Specific material types have additional properties that need to be defined (e.g. steel has yield stress, concrete compressive strength, etc.).
The database consists of XML data files. XML is a text based format which is commonly used for data-exchange and can be edited easily using a simple text editor (NotePad++ is recommended since it is freeware and offers XML syntax highlighting). Microsoft Word and similar programs are not recommend as they have a tenancy to corrupt the format.
Look for instructions and examples, in the Customer\Materials folder. Database files can be copied to other computers where IES products are installed. Files that are no longer needed can be deleted. Files can be edited to change data or to remove shapes or shape categories. Make sure to backup the customized files.
VisualAnalysis 12.0 and ShapeBuilder 6.0 (and prior versions) used a different format and location (AppData\Local\IES\Data\Materials) for the material database. There is no automated way to import legacy .dbm files into the new system. New database files will need to be created based on the original data, the instructions above, and examples in the Customer\Materials folder. Materials are easy to define in the new system, so re-creating the materials should not be cumbersome.