Compare· Release 2.78
Design Benches or spreadsheets? What changes, and what doesn't.
The spreadsheet is the most common calculation tool in an engineering office, and it stays useful. This page sets it beside the ASH Design Benches on the points a reviewer or a design manager asks about.
Where a spreadsheet is still the right tool.
One-off checks, a method no program covers, and anything where you want every formula in front of you. The benches do not try to replace that, and they export Excel and CSV schedules so the two work together.
Seven points, compared.
Where the sheet depends on its author, the bench depends on a published method and a logged release. Neither removes the responsible engineer's check.
Spreadsheet: Clause references are typed by the author, if at all.
Design Bench: Every check prints its clause. A value not taken from a document in the ASH library is labelled ‘engineering default’.
Spreadsheet: Checked by whoever wrote the sheet; a change to a formula is easy to miss.
Design Bench: A validation pack of hand calculations, closed-form solutions, code tables and published worked examples is re-run every release (194 of 194 cases at release 2.78).
Spreadsheet: The designer's sheet and the reviewer's sheet are separate and can disagree.
Design Bench: Concept, detailed design and verification run on the same engines, so the designer and the reviewer never disagree on the arithmetic.
Spreadsheet: Comments are typed into a CRS by hand.
Design Bench: Submitted values sit beside calculated ones, coded A, B or C with the clause; comments come out as CRS rows, and Rev.xx resubmissions keep the history.
Spreadsheet: Re-keyed, or checked with lookup formulas written for the job.
Design Bench: Excel, CSV, pasted tables and DXF import; cable and instrument schedules are re-checked line by line against the calculation.
Spreadsheet: Copies with different names; the formulas inside can differ.
Design Bench: The release number is in the file name and every release is logged, so a reviewer can keep two releases side by side.
Spreadsheet: An office suite and the right template.
Design Bench: A single file that opens in Chrome or Edge, offline; nothing to install, and the project stays on your computer.
The benches are aids to qualified engineers: results are checked and approved by the responsible engineer.
Bring the sheet along.
Import reads the tables of data in your Excel and CSV files into the open project, with columns matched automatically; schedules and reports export back to Excel and CSV. Start with the free cable-sizing calculator or a worked example to compare a bench's result with your own sheet.
Can I import my existing spreadsheets?
Import data in every bench reads Excel, CSV, pasted tables and DXF into the open project, with the columns matched automatically. It brings in the tables of data (loads, cables, members), and the bench then runs its own checks on them.
Do the benches replace spreadsheets completely?
No. A spreadsheet remains the right tool for one-off checks and for methods no bench covers. The benches replace the repeated, reviewed calculations, where a clause reference, a validation record and a review code matter.
How are the results checked?
Hand calculations, closed-form solutions, code tables and published worked examples are re-run by the benches every release; the validation pack for release 2.78 covers 194 of 194 cases and can be read as a PDF on the validation page.
Compare a bench with your own sheet.
[email protected]The trial builds are time-limited and watermark their reports. To compare a bench with a calculation of yours, or to ask for the full version: which bench, whether you design or review, and how many people would use it.