Any cross-section can be easily created in CSiCOL. Define reinforced concrete rectangular and circular sections. Add holes and cutouts of arbitrary shape anywhere on the cross-section.

More than 50 parametric shapes, defined by simple dimensions and more than 3000 standard steel shapes, are ready to be used in composite columns. Explode and edit parametric shapes and draw arbitrary shapes using the polygon drawing tool. Users can merge parametric or drawn shapes to create complex new shapes.

Shapes can be assigned “hole” properties and placed in other shapes to create complex voided sections.

Add rebars of any size anywhere in the cross-section and use individual, corner, side, perimeter, linear, and circular distribution tools to distribute bars appropriately. Use the Rebar Calculator to define rebars and find equivalent sizes. Rebars can be placed at arbitrary locations and arrangements using several alignment and distribution tools.

Use resizing tools to change dimensions interactively. Move, flip, mirror, and rotate to place cross-section and shapes in desired location. Use stacking and alignment to combine shapes and edit shape nodes to modify existing shapes.

Use different stress curves to model various materials and properties, from simple linear and rectangular stress blocks to parabolic curves.

CSiCOL accepts input for detailed computation of the moment magnification factor using ACI-318. It will check whether any load combination is a sway or non-sway case, using various methods.

CSiCOL performs magnified moment calculations based on ACI-318 and BS-8110, and will perform effective length calculation for sway and non-sway load combinations. There are options to input detailed loads for slenderness calculations or to directly input design actions. Column framing conditions are used to determine effective length factors for computing slenderness effects.

Several cases of end framing conditions are considered for computing effective length factors of frames.

CSiCOL wlll calculate the elastic stresses for shear force, axial load, biaxial bending moments, and torsion. 2D and 3D cracked stress contours for both reinforced and composite sections can also be displayed.

The stresses and strains in concrete and reinforcement can be computed for a given set of loads, as well as the orientation and location of the neutral axis.

CSiCOL will generate full capacity interaction surfaces, P-M curves for any given bending direction, M-M curves for any given load level, neutral axis orientation and stress-strain diagrams for any given load condition.

CSiCOL will generate Moment-Curvature diagrams for a given axial load and moment direction for specified failure criteria.

CSiCOL will automatically find the most suitable column section and reinforcement for a given set of loads. The auto-design options can be used to control the way the design solution is found and in the order in which the dimensions and reinforcement are changed. Users can also specify the minimum and maximum values of various parameters and the increment to be used. Auto design can also include the evaluation of slenderness effects.