Release Notification: MASS Version 4.1 addresses some existing bugs and is available today at no extra cost

National Masonry Design Programs, NMDP, is proud to announce the official release of MASS Version 4.1, which addresses some important software bugs, as well as accepts serial numbers from the newly redesigned MASS website.

Please note that it is recommended to first uninstall Version 4.0 before replacing it with the newer version. This will not remove your activation status so if your existing Version 4.0 is activated, Version 4.1 will continue to be activated when you first run it as well.

This video briefly runs through the major changes in the new release. A full change log can be found in the software’s help files, available here.

The release of Version 4.1 is important for two main reasons. The first and most important improvements are regarding some of the previously announced known bugs in MASS Version 4.0.

A full change log is available on the MASS documentation website. Below is a brief summary of the changes that have been incorporated into the release of Version 4.1:

• The density factor for determining the shear resistance of masonry beams has been changed to better reflect designs using Type C masonry units
• Linear elastic deflections based on effective stiffness rather than final drift values are used in determining demand when performing a ductility verification, no longer resulting in excessively conservative ductility checks.
• Minimum seismic steel spacings are no longer applied to shear walls resisting earthquake type loads with a low seismic hazard index.
• Non-seismic loads are no longer scaled with seismic loads when in-plane shear is amplified based on taking RdR0 = 1.3
• Only the base level factored shear force amplification is sued for the entire height of a multi-storey design, meaning that upper storeys are no longer conservatively punished for flexural overstrength in many cases.

As announced in the article covering the main changes on the new MASS software website, serial numbers have changed. Although they do look and behave very similarly to the older ones you might be accustomed to, the new format and encoding allows for them to automatically track with the website account status, meaning that you will no longer have to update each installed copy of MASS with a brand new serial number each year in order for the engineers to continue designing. Simply keep your license subscription active and your users can continue to use MASS.

A full installation guide is available on the resources website here.

Please note once again that it is recommended to first remove any previously installed versions of MASS.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to MASS Technical Support if you have any questions at all. We are here to help!