How to add bolt diameters in Autodesk Robot Structural Analysis Professional 2011, 2012 and 2013

Warning:

To successfully add bolts diameters to the Robot database, follow the steps in this tutorial with care.
Incorrect manipulation with one of the Robot database could result in serious malfunctions of the
internal system of Autodesk Robot Structural Analysis Professional.
Use an xml database editor at your own risk and only after you made a copy of the database you want
to edit.

What you will need:

In Autodesk Robot Structural Analysis Professional the databases used are formatted in an xml format.
To be able to edit that kind of database, you need an xml editor.
You can find many xml editors (free or licensed) on the Internet. Use one of them to follow the steps in
this tutorial.
In this example, we used a free xml editor: “XML Notepad 2007”.
First you need to find an xml editor that suits your needs.
Note: The functions described in this tutorial may vary depending on a selected xml editor .

Example:

Goal: Add to the French database: the anchorage diameter M39 (=39mm) with an efficient
cross section of 976mm² for all steel materials.
The goal of this example is to add an additional bolt (and anchorage) diameter to the French
database « bolts_NF.xml » which stores the data necessary to calculate steel connections
according to French standards.
Note: The Robot version used in this tutorial is Autodesk Robot Structural Analysis
Professional 2013; the tutorial can also be used for previous Robot versions such as 2012 and
2011.

Example application:

Create a copy of the database before you start editing it.

All bolts/anchorage databases are located in the following directory:

Windows XP:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Autodesk\Structural\Common

Data\2013\Data\Conn.
 Windows Vista and Seven:

C:\User\All Users\Autodesk\Structural\Common Data\2013\Data\Conn.

Select the « bolts_NF.xml »database and then copy/paste it to another location such as Desktop
or “Documents”.

After copying the database , open the original one using the selected xml editor.

An xml editor allows you to visualize the database in a structured way.

Thereby, this database is composed of a header and a body.
Only the body part will be edited.
The body is composed of structures and data storing a table that we will edit.

This database is composed of five tables; we can add bolt diameters only to first 2 ones.

The first Table is the Table “Bolts” which contains the list of all bolt diameters available in the database.
The second one “BoltsType” will be used to link the bolts diameters to the different materials.

Adding a bolt diameter tothe table “Bolts”

Each row contains all the bolt data:

Id: The Bolt ID must be different for each bolt diameter, thus, each row contains a new ID number.
Symbol: This value is used as the Bolt name and is displayed in Autodesk Robot Structural Analysis
Professional.
Diameter: This Data is the bolt diameter.
SectionEff: This value is used as the efficient cross section.
To create our new bolt diameter, we will create a new row in which we will add all necessary data:
First, copy the last available row in the table “Bolts” and insert the new row just after it.
WARNING: In some xml editors, the copy/paste function is not available when copying rows.

In « XML Notepad 2007 », right click the last available row and select “Duplicate”.
Note: This manipulation may vary depending on the selected xml editor.

Then modify the row data.

Select this row and modify the following 4 data items as shown below:
Id: Give a new ID to this bolt. In the « bolts_NF.xml », the previous last bolt’s ID was 14, for this new
one, the ID must be set as 15.
Each new Bolt must have a new ID
Symbol: Enter a name for this new bolt here; in this example our new bolt is named “M39”.

Diameter: Enter the diameter of our new bolt here; in this example: 39.
SectionEFF: Enter the efficient cross section (mm²) here; in this example: 976.
Afterwards you can see data as in the image below.

How to create links between Bolts and materials in the table “Bolts-Type”

To correctly define your new Bolt diameter, link bolts to different materials.

First, specify how many materials are currently available in the database:
Open the table “Materials”.Here we can see that 12 different steel materials are already available in this
database (« bolts_NF.xml »).
These materials have IDs from 1 to 12.
To create a link between different materials and the new bolt, we will have to add 12 new rows in the
table “Bolts Type”.
Those rows are composed as shown below:

-“ID” which corresponds to the bolt type.

-“BoltId” used to create a link with the table
“Bolts”.
-“Material Id” used to create a link with the
table “Materials”.

To link the new Bolt to a different material, select the table “Bolts Type” and duplicate 12 times the last
available row (12 times because 12 different materials exist in this database).
Then, modify each of these 12 new rows:

ID: give a new Id to the new bolt type; in the « bolts_NF.xml ». database the ID of the last bolt type is
161, then for the 12 new rows related to the new bolt you added, the ID must vary from 162 to 173 (as
each new bolt type must have a new ID).
BoltId: In our case, the new bolt Id will be 15 (see chapter above). This Id has to be the same for all these
12 new lines.

MaterialId: The goal of this example is to create a new diameter with all kinds of steel materials
available.
The value of the material Id will then vary from 1 to 12 as 12 different materials exist in the database.

Afterwards you can see data as in the image below.

Save the edited database and close the xml database editor.
Open Autodesk Robot Structural Analysis Professional 2013 and check that the edited bolt database has
been added to the job preferences, as shown below:

For instance create a new fixed column base according to the CM66. In the connection parameters, you
should now be able to select a new diameter: M39.
If the new diameter is still not available, then close Autodesk Robot Structural Analysis Professional
2013, delete the database you edited and replace it by the copy you made before editing this database;
then follow this tutorial step by step again to ensure that you have not overlooked something
important.