Designing with Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) has never been easier after Wagners Composite Fibre Technologies (CFT) integrated its FRP library with popular structural engineering software SPACE GASS.
SPACE GASS Engineer and Software Developer Mark Watson said the addition of Wagners’ FRP library provides users with the ability to quickly and efficiently add FRP sections to their models thereby reducing time and costs associated with the design and analysis of a project.
“SPACE GASS is a general purpose 3D structural analysis and design program which is widely used by engineers right around the world; and here in Australia about 90% of engineers use the program,” Mark Watson said.
“It has an extensive range of features that make it suitable for anything from beams, trusses and frames to buildings, towers, tanks, cable structures and bridges,” Mr Watson said.
“And its capabilities include a 64-bit multi-core solver, silky smooth 3D rendered graphics, plate finite elements as well as frame, cable and tension/compression-only elements, moving loads, non linear restraints, gap/fuse members and links to many CAD and building management programs,” he said.
“Now, with the new Wagners FRP library, engineers can also quickly and efficiently incorporate FRP members into their design.”
Pictured – The new Wagners FRP library under the general SPACE GASS Library options.
Prior to the integration, engineers would have to create the FRP sections manually or upload a library sourced directly from Wagners CFT.
“Now the sections found in the SPACE GASS integrated Wagners FRP library exactly match published data” Mark Watson said.
“Users are able to add sections to models simply by assigning an FRP section to a member from the Standard Library rather than using the SPACE GASS shape builder feature and creating their own custom shapes,” Mr Watson said.
“Every FRP profile manufactured by Wagners CFT is included in the library so you can easily browse available sections and select the most appropriate for your model,” he said.
“And you can change from one size to another with a simple click of a button.”
“That’s the biggest advantage, it significantly speeds up the modelling process and improves user efficiency. Some FRP sections consist of complex shape combinations that would take considerable time to construct manually.”
Pictured – Showing the Section Properties of a Wagners FRP profile from the new library in SPACE GASS.
The new Wagners FRP library is automatically available in SPACE GASS from Version 14.25.
“Everyone who has SPACE GASS gets the library as a Standard Library from Version 14.25 and beyond; the library is even included in the free student version of SPACE GASS,” Mark Watson said.
“And for those people with earlier versions of SPACE GASS, you can easily upgrade to the latest version by visiting our website and following the information provided.”
Wagners CFT Technical Lead Dr Ali Mohammed said the integration has been a couple of years in the making.
“We’ve been working on this integration for quite some time and it’s great finally to see the Wagners FRP library integrated directly into SPACE GASS,” Dr Ali Mohammed said.
“That means that updates to member specifications will happen automatically and engineers designing with SPACE GASS can be confident that they are using the latest data to design and analyse their projects,” Dr Mohammed said.
“We also hope that this integration will encourage those engineers who haven’t designed using FRP before with an opportunity to have a go and discover exactly what they can do with Wagners FRP profiles,” he said.
Pictured – An example of Wagners FRP modelling using SPACE GASS and related sections from the library.
The SPACE GASS program is developed, sold and supported by engineers and software developers based in Geelong, Australia.
The Wagners FRP Standard Library was publicly made available in February 2025 and is available from SPACE GASS Version 14.25. Upgrades are available at www.spacegass.com/upgrade
The following technical guides and on demand webinars may also be useful for those engineers new to designing with Wagners FRP structural profiles.
- Wagners CFT Design Guide – wagnerscft.com.au/app/uploads/2024/07/J7998_WAG_WCFT-Design-Guide-2024_WEB3.pdf
- Wagners CFT Product Guide – wagnerscft.com.au/app/uploads/2024/05/wagners-cft-product-guide-2021-v05-metric-2022-updated.pdf
- How to use Wagners CFT Design Guide and things to consider when designing with FRP on demand webinar featuring icubed engineering Principal Structural Engineer Rohan McElroy – https://www.wagnerscft.com.au/webinars/how-to-use-design-guide/
Pictured – An example of Wagners FRP modelling using SPACE GASS and the new Wagners FRP Library.
