IST Solar Training included all engineering design software / tools

IST Solar MMS Structural Design & Analysis Tool

Designing Solar Mounting Structures Just Got a Lot More Global: Inside IST SolStruct PV mounting structures v4.4

If you've ever tried to design a PV mounting structure for a project outside your home country, you know the pain. The wind load formula that works in Germany doesn't work in Brazil. The steel design checks that pass under IS 800 don't map cleanly onto AISC 360. And if you're an EPC bidding on projects across three continents, you end up either hiring local consultants for every site or forcing everything through one code and hoping it's conservative enough.
SolStructPV's new v4.4 release is built to close that gap — and it's worth a closer look at what it actually does under the hood.

Six New National Code Families in One Engine

The headline feature of v4.4 is native support for six additional design code families, each with its own wind model, load combinations, snow loads, column buckling curves, lateral-torsional buckling checks, and bolt/anchor rules:

AS/NZS (Australia/New Zealand) — AS/NZS 1170 series, AS 4100, AS/NZS 4600

GB (China) — GB 50009, GB 55001-2021, GB 50017, GB 50018, GB 50797

JIS (Japan) — JIS C 8955:2017 with AIJ allowable-stress steel design

NBR (Brazil) — NBR 6123, 8681, 8800, 14762

SANS (South Africa) — SANS 10160 and 10162 series

NBC/CSA (Canada) — NBC 2020 Part 4 with CSA S16-19

A Country Selector That Actually Tells You What You're Getting

Rather than pretending every country's building code is basically the same as, SolStructPV takes an honest, three-tier approach across roughly 50 countries in seven regions:

Implemented — the national code is built directly into the engine.

Based on — the national standard adopts one of the implemented families; you enter the national annex values and it maps accordingly.

Nearest — there's no dedicated implementation yet, so the closest matching family is used, and the output carries an explicit warning to check results against the actual national code.

Real Engineering, Not Just Wind Pressure Swapping

It would be easy to slap a select your country dropdown on top of a single wind formula and call it done. SolStructPV goes considerably deeper — each code family carries its own:

Wind pressure model (from V_R, w0, V0, v_b,0, or q50 depending on the country)

Load combination sets

Snow load provisions

Column buckling curve

Lateral-torsional buckling and N+M interaction checks

Slenderness limits

Bolt, net-section, and anchor design rules

IST Pitched Roof Solar MMS Structural Design Analysis Tool

How IST SolStructPV's Metal-Roof Rail Analysis Actually Works

Rooftop solar on a pitched metal roof looks simple from the ground: rails run up the slope, modules sit flush against the roofline, done. Structurally, though, it's one of the more unforgiving mounting configurations to get right — every gram of dead, live, wind and snow load has to travel through a chain of rails, L-feet, and the building's own purlins, with almost none of the self-weight ballasting effect that a flat-roof or ground-mount system gets for free. SolStructPV's Purlin-Mounted Rail-Based Solar MMS module is built specifically around that problem.

The Structural Model, Not Just a Layout Tool

Rather than treating a pitched-roof array as a simple tributary-area spreadsheet, SolStructPV builds a real 3D frame model of the installation:

Two rails per module column, positioned at 22% and 78% of the module width along the slope — the standard bearing points for a landscape or portrait module — rather than assuming a single centerline rail.

Rails carried on L-feet (standoffs) at every building purlin the rail crosses, not just at the array's structural frame lines. Each L-foot is modeled as its own member between the roof surface and the rail, so the load path from module to purlin is explicit, not assumed.

Every L-foot base is treated as fully fixed — pinned feet would let the rail roll under load — which reflects how these connections actually behave once bolted to a purlin flange.

The building's own purlins are drawn into the 3D view, the drawings, and the DXF for reference, even though they sit outside the analysis boundary — so the output speaks the same language as the roof it's landing on.

Built on the Same Verified Engine

The purlin-mounted type isn't a bolt-on afterthought — it runs through the same FEM solver, code-family logic, and regression testing as every other structure type in SolStructPV, including the multi-code support (EN, IS, ASCE, AS/NZS, GB, JIS, NBR, SANS, NBC/CSA) added across recent releases. It was validated in a 240-model fuzz run alongside the other structure types added in that release, across codes, layouts, base conditions and section sizes, with zero exceptions and zero non-finite results.

IST Solar Power Plant design software

IST Solar Training included all engineering design software / tools

IST Solar MMS Structural Design & Analysis Tool

Full walkthrough of:
1 — Project Input: Enter site parameters including wind zone (IS 875 Part 3), seismic zone (IS 1893), roof height, parapet height, terrain category, panel dimensions/weight, tilt angle, row spacing, steel grade (Fe 250/350/410), concrete grade (M20/M25/M30), and tilt system (fixed or adjustable). Three presets available: Residential 10kW, Commercial 100kW, Industrial 500kW.
2 — Structure Type: Select from Flat RCC Rooftop, Pole-Mounted, Elevated/High-Rise, or Triangle Bracket. Configure front/rear leg heights (rear leg auto-calculated from tilt angle), bay spacing, pole height, and row count. Live summary shows total panels, array area, row length, and geometry.
3 — Load Analysis: Full IS 875 Part 3 wind analysis (Vb → k2 → Vz → pz → Cf → Fw) and IS 1893 seismic analysis (Z → Ah → base shear). Generates all load combinations (LC1–LC4) per IS 800 Table 4, identifies governing lateral load.
4 — Member Design: IS 800:2007 limit state checks for bending (Cl 8.2), shear (Cl 8.4), compression/buckling (Cl 7.1), deflection (L/300), and connection bolt capacity. Auto-selects adequate section from database. Pass/Fail with utilisation percentages.
5 — Foundation: IS 456:2000 RCC concrete block design — block sizing, bearing capacity, overturning stability (FoS ≥ 1.5), minimum steel area, chemical anchor selection, and concrete grade checks. Total block count calculated.
6 — Engineering Drawing: Four views — front elevation, foundation layout plan, cross-section, and connection detail — all auto-generated from your input parameters. Download as PNG.
7 — Component Database: steel sections (ISMC, ISA, SHS, RHS), fasteners & bolts (IS 1367), solar panels, and foundation blocks. All with full specifications.
8 — Full Report: STAAD-style engineering report covering all 11 sections including code references, load tables, material specs, member check summary, quality assurance checklist. Print or copy to clipboard.

IST Pitched Roof Solar MMS Structural Design & Analysis Tool

1 — Project Input: Wind standard selection (ASCE 7-10/16 or IS 875 Part 3), basic wind speed, exposure/terrain category, seismic zone, roof height, pitch angle, rafter span, panel gap (locked to 150mm minimum per IEC 62938), panel dimensions/weight, rail and hook spacing, steel grade, rail material (Al 6005A-T5, 6063-T6, Steel, SS316), and snow zone.
2 — Roof Type: Six roof surfaces — Clay/Concrete Tiles, Metal Sheet, Corrugated Sheet, Asphalt Shingles, Slate, and Standing Seam Metal. Each auto-fills the correct dead load, hook type, waterproofing method, and tile overlap. Standing seam is highlighted as no-penetration (best option).
3 — Load Analysis: Complete wind analysis per ASCE 7-10/16 or IS 875 Part 3 including uplift and download coefficients specific to pitched roof panels, plus dead load, snow load (IS 875 Part 4), seismic base shear (IS 1893), and all five load combinations per IS 800 Table 4.
4 — Member Design: IS 800:2007 limit state checks for aluminium rail — bending (Cl 8.2), shear (Cl 8.4), and deflection (L/250). Auto-selects adequate rail section from database with utilisation percentages and pass/fail.
5 — Roof Hooks: Pull-out and shear capacity checks for the selected hook type with factor of safety ≥ 2.0. Waterproofing specification and galvanic isolation details per IEC 62938.
6 — Drawings: Four views — side elevation (showing pitch angle, 150mm gap, rails, hooks), top plan view (array layout with hooks), rail layout with hook positions and dimensions, and hook/bracket connection detail. All download as PNG.
7 — Component Database: Full CRUD for Rails/Profiles, Roof Hooks & Clamps, Mid/End Clamps, Fasteners, and Solar Panels with all specifications.
8 — Full Report: 13-section STAAD-style report covering all codes (ASCE 7, IS 875, IS 800, IS 1893, IEC 62938, IEC 62548), load tables, member design, hook design, installation notes, and quality checklist. Print or copy to clipboard.

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