a3d max function guide
DESCRIPTION
Cads A3dmax manual and function guideTRANSCRIPT
C o m p u t e r A n d D e s i g n S e r v i c e s L t d .
C A D S S o f t w a r e I n d i a ( P ) L t d .
A3D MAX
Function Guide
Program Version 3.0
Function Guide Issue 3.0 Date of Issue July 2003
Upgrade Notes Record For future reference, please record the details of Upgrade Notes as you receive them in the table below: Upgrade Note No. Date Received Received by
Important Notice
Please read this -
Due care has been taken to ensure that the data produced by this program is accurate. However, it remains the responsibility of the user to verify that any design based upon this data meets all applicable standards.
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A3D MAX
Function Guide
Version:3.0
Date: 01/08/03
Contents
1.0 File Menu ..................................................................................11 1.1 New...........................................................................................................11 1.2 Open….....................................................................................................12 1.3 Open Recovery File ...............................................................................12 1.4 Save ..........................................................................................................12 1.5 Save As… .................................................................................................13 1.6 Save Special............................................................................................13
1.6.1 Save Bitmap ..............................................................................13 1.6.2 Save Template ..........................................................................13 1.6.3 Save Metafile ............................................................................13
1.7 Import .......................................................................................................14 1.7.1 DXF…...........................................................................................14 1.7.2 CSV/Text… .................................................................................14 1.7.3 StruCAD…...................................................................................15 1.7.4 HyperSteel… ..............................................................................15
1.8 Export........................................................................................................16 1.8.1 StruCAD…...................................................................................16 1.8.2 HyperSTEEL .................................................................................17
1.9 Export to Designers.................................................................................17 1.9.1 RC Beam Designer ...................................................................18 1.9.2 RC Column Designer................................................................18 1.9.3 RC Base Designer .....................................................................18 1.9.4 RC Pile Cap Designer...............................................................18 1.9.5 SW Member Designer ..............................................................18 1.9.6 SW Moment Connections .......................................................19
1.10 Audit Database ......................................................................................19 1.11 View Error Log.. .......................................................................................19 1.12 Configure.................................................................................................20
1.12.1 Preferences…............................................................................20 1.12.2 Default A3D MAX Template…................................................26 1.12.3 Default SWMD Template… .....................................................26 1.12.4 Hardware… ...............................................................................26 1.12.5 Reset Dialog Positions ..............................................................28
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A3D MAX
Function Guide
Version:3.0
Date: 01/08/03
1.13 Print……....................................................................................................28 1.13.1 Overview of printing.................................................................29 1.13.2 Diagram panel..........................................................................29 1.13.3 Data panel ................................................................................30 1.13.4 Print order panel .......................................................................41 1.13.5 ‘Selection to print’ panel ........................................................41 1.13.6 ‘Combination results to print’ panel .....................................41 1.13.7 Edit Header................................................................................41 1.13.8 Save RTF......................................................................................43 1.13.9 Output Methods .......................................................................43 1.13.10 Text Output ................................................................................43
1.14 Print Preview… ........................................................................................44 1.15 Print Setup… ............................................................................................44 1.16 Modify Protection...................................................................................44 1.17 Send To.....................................................................................................45 1.18 Recent Files..............................................................................................45 1.19 Exit …….....................................................................................................45
2.0 Edit Menu..................................................................................46 2.1 Undo .........................................................................................................46 2.2 Cut.............................................................................................................46 2.3 Copy .........................................................................................................46 2.4 Paste .........................................................................................................46
2.4.1 Dragging the objects...............................................................47 2.4.2 Placing in position.....................................................................48 2.4.3 Attaching to model..................................................................49 2.4.4 Incorporating the objects.......................................................49 2.4.5 Copying across jobs.................................................................49
2.5 Delete.......................................................................................................50 2.6 Copy Bitmap...........................................................................................50 2.7 Properties… .............................................................................................50
2.7.1 Member Properties...................................................................50 2.7.2 Joint Properties..........................................................................55 2.7.3 Panel Properties ........................................................................57 2.7.4 Overhang Properties................................................................63 2.7.5 Load Properties .........................................................................64
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A3D MAX
Function Guide
Version:3.0
Date: 01/08/03
3.0 View Menu................................................................................66 3.1 Toolbars ....................................................................................................66 3.2 Status bar .................................................................................................67 3.3 Explorer Window.....................................................................................68
3.3.1 Explorer control .........................................................................68 3.3.2 Object menu.............................................................................69
3.4 Zoom.........................................................................................................70 3.4.1 Zoom window............................................................................71 3.4.2 Zoom Extents .............................................................................71 3.4.3 Zoom Manual ............................................................................71 3.4.4 Zoom Previous ...........................................................................71
3.5 Rotate.......................................................................................................71 3.6 Pan ............................................................................................................72 3.7 Info Mode ................................................................................................72 3.8 Render......................................................................................................72
3.8.1 Stick model ................................................................................72 3.8.2 High quality full render.............................................................73 3.8.3 Low quality full render..............................................................73 3.8.4 High quality full wire frame .....................................................74 3.8.5 Low quality full wire frame ......................................................74 3.8.6 High quality hidden wire frame .............................................74 3.8.7 Low quality hidden wire frame ..............................................75
3.9 Partial views.............................................................................................75 3.10 Restore Full view .....................................................................................75 3.11 View … .....................................................................................................76 3.12 Preset Views.............................................................................................76
3.12.1 Preset Views...............................................................................76 3.12.2 Capture Preset View................................................................77
3.13 Toggles .....................................................................................................77 3.13.1 Toggle Objects..........................................................................77 3.13.2 Toggle Labels.............................................................................78 3.13.3 Toggle Tool-tips .........................................................................78
3.14 Refresh All Windows ...............................................................................78 3.15 Sort by …………………………………………………………………….. 79
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A3D MAX
Function Guide
Version:3.0
Date: 01/08/03
4.0 Selection Menu ........................................................................80 4.1 Normal......................................................................................................80
4.1.1 Picking.........................................................................................80 4.1.2 Selection box.............................................................................80 4.1.3 Clearing the selection .............................................................81
4.2 Move.........................................................................................................81 4.3 Move By ...................................................................................................81 4.4 Stretch ......................................................................................................82 4.5 Stretch By .................................................................................................82 4.6 More…......................................................................................................82
4.6.1 Rotate .........................................................................................83 4.6.2 Rotate By....................................................................................83 4.6.3 Scale ...........................................................................................84 4.6.4 Scale By ......................................................................................84 4.6.5 Detach on Transform ...............................................................84
4.7 Lock Selection.........................................................................................84 4.8 Restrict to .................................................................................................84 4.9 Toggle Snaps...........................................................................................85
4.9.1 Set snaps ....................................................................................85
5.0 Model Menu .............................................................................86 5.1 Outline of the model .............................................................................86
5.1.1 Joints ...........................................................................................86 5.1.2 Members ....................................................................................87 5.1.3 Panels and Overhangs............................................................87 5.1.4 Loads and Moments ................................................................88 5.1.5 Load combinations ..................................................................88
5.2 Create Frame…......................................................................................88 5.2.1 3D Building Frame Generator.................................................89 5.2.2 Girder Frame Generator .........................................................91 5.2.3 2D Grillage Generator .............................................................95 5.2.4 2D Truss Frame Generator.......................................................97 5.2.5 Portal Frame Generator ..........................................................100
5.3 Automatic Panels...................................................................................106 5.4 Create Portal….......................................................................................107 5.5 Joints… .....................................................................................................107
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5.5.1 Joint Editor .................................................................................107 5.6 Support Types…......................................................................................108 5.7 Members… ..............................................................................................108
5.7.1 Member Editor ..........................................................................108 5.8 Panels…....................................................................................................110
5.8.1 Panel editor ...............................................................................111 5.9 Create Panel….......................................................................................111 5.10 Overhangs… ...........................................................................................112 5.11 Member Types….....................................................................................113
5.11.1 Member Type Editor.................................................................113 5.11.2 SW Library member type.........................................................116 5.11.3 Timber Library member type ..................................................120 5.11.4 Non-prismatic Member Type..................................................120 5.11.5 Properties member type .........................................................122 5.11.6 Elements Member Type...........................................................123 5.11.7 RC Member, member type ....................................................124 5.11.8 SW Haunch Member Type......................................................126
5.12 Sections… ................................................................................................129 5.12.1 Section Editor.............................................................................130
5.13 Materials…...............................................................................................130 5.13.1 Steel materials library...............................................................131 5.13.2 Materials Editor..........................................................................131
5.14 Load and Moments… ...........................................................................132 5.14.1 Type.............................................................................................133 5.14.2 Direction .....................................................................................135 5.14.3 Category....................................................................................135 5.14.4 Load values ...............................................................................135 5.14.5 Load Options.............................................................................136 5.14.6 Load Controls ............................................................................137 5.14.7 Applying Load Types to Member and Joints ......................137
5.15 Panel Loads.............................................................................................138 5.15.1 Area Loads.................................................................................138 5.15.2 Point Load..................................................................................139 5.15.3 Line Load....................................................................................139 5.15.4 Patch Load ................................................................................140 5.15.5 Area loads shading scheme ..................................................141
5 5.16 Load Combinations and Categories .................................................142
A3D MAX
Function Guide
Version:3.0
Date: 01/08/03
5.16.1 Load combinations ..................................................................142 5.16.2 Load Categories.......................................................................143
6.0 Tools Menu................................................................................145 6.1 Mirror Selection .......................................................................................145 6.2 Quick Member........................................................................................145 6.3 Quick Panel .............................................................................................147 6.4 Quick Support .........................................................................................148 6.5 Split Selected Members ........................................................................149 6.6 Remove Selected Loads.......................................................................151 6.7 Old Grouping … .....................................................................................151 6.8 Layout Grouping wizard .......................................................................151
6.8.1 Create Layout Group ..............................................................151 6.8.2 Grid line and dimension settings ...........................................153 6.8.3 Layer and file information.......................................................153 6.8.4 End Layout Grouping Wizard .................................................154
6.9 Layout Group Editor...............................................................................155 6.9.1 Results Panel ..............................................................................156 6.9.2 Sort...............................................................................................156 6.9.3 Property ......................................................................................156 6.9.4 Creating DXF files......................................................................158
6.10 Layer Information File ............................................................................158
7.0 Analysis Menu ..........................................................................161 7.1 Calculate.................................................................................................161 7.2 Analysis Options......................................................................................162
7.2.1 Note.............................................................................................163 7.2.2 Options .......................................................................................163
7.3 Tabular Results.........................................................................................165 7.3.1 Displacements...........................................................................165 7.3.2 Reactions ...................................................................................166 7.3.3 Hinge Formation .......................................................................167 7.3.4 Collapse Analysis ......................................................................168 7.3.5 Effects .........................................................................................169 7.3.6 Deflections .................................................................................171
7.4 Graphical Results....................................................................................172
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A3D MAX
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7.4.1 Graph Type................................................................................173 7.4.2 Graph Plane ..............................................................................174 7.4.3 Options .......................................................................................175 7.4.4 Controls.......................................................................................176 7.4.5 Elastic critical load analysis ....................................................176
8.0 Design Menu ............................................................................178 8.1 Overview of Grouping...........................................................................178
8.1.1 Purpose of Grouping................................................................178 8.1.2 Designing with Groups.............................................................179 8.1.3 Assigning Groups ......................................................................179
8.2 Create Group .........................................................................................179 8.2.1 Page 1 – Grouping Wizard......................................................180 8.2.2 Page 2 – Design Information ..................................................181 8.2.3 Page 3 – Member Joining.......................................................183 8.2.4 Page 4 – Common Design......................................................184 8.2.5 Page 5 – Finished! .....................................................................186
8.3 Edit Group................................................................................................188 8.4 Design Results..........................................................................................188
8.4.1 Results Panel ..............................................................................188 8.4.2 Steel design deflection checks..............................................191 8.4.3 Overall status messages..........................................................191 8.4.4 Show............................................................................................192 8.4.5 Group Editing Tools...................................................................192 8.4.6 Selection.....................................................................................193 8.4.7 Settings .......................................................................................196 8.4.8 Update Analysis Model............................................................197 8.4.9 Design Results menu ................................................................198 8.4.10 Viewing tools .............................................................................200
9.0 Window Menu ..........................................................................202 9.1 New window ...........................................................................................202 9.2 Cascade..................................................................................................202 9.3 Tile..............................................................................................................202 9.4 Arrange icons..........................................................................................202
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A3D MAX
Function Guide
Version:3.0
Date: 01/08/03
10.0 Help Menu ................................................................................203
Appendix A – Analysis Methods .....................................................204 A.1 Elastic Analysis.............................................................................................204
A.1.1 Overview of the stiffness method..............................................204 A.1.2 Bandwidth .....................................................................................204 A.1.3 Assumptions...................................................................................204 A.1.4 Operation ......................................................................................205
A.2 Torsionless Analysis......................................................................................205 A.2.1 Torsionless method .......................................................................205 A.2.2 Recommendations ......................................................................205 A.2.3 Operation ......................................................................................206
A.3 P-Delta Analysis...........................................................................................206 A.3.1 Overview........................................................................................206 A.3.2 P-Delta Method ............................................................................206 A.3.3 Operation ......................................................................................207 A.3.4 Limitations ......................................................................................207
A.4 Plastic Analysis.............................................................................................208 A.4.1 Overview........................................................................................208 A.4.2 Operation ......................................................................................208 A.4.3 Limitations ......................................................................................212
A.5 Elastic Critical Load Analysis ....................................................................213 A.6 Rigid Constraints in Analysis......................................................................213
A.6.1 Rigid plane.....................................................................................213 A.6.2 Limitations ......................................................................................214
A.7 Panel Local Coordinate System..............................................................214 A.8 Panel Loads Distribution ............................................................................215
A.8.1 Bisection method for area loads...............................................216 A.8.2 Grid method..................................................................................216 A.8.3 Distributed member load............................................................217
Appendix B – Design Grouping.......................................................219 B.1 Design Process.............................................................................................219
B.1.1 Analysis............................................................................................219 B.1.2 Check..............................................................................................220 B.1.3 Design .............................................................................................220
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A3D MAX
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Date: 01/08/03
B.1.4 ‘Details’ option and ‘Aspects’ ...................................................221 B.1.5 Update model...............................................................................222 B.1.6 Re-analysis......................................................................................223 B.1.7 Re-check ........................................................................................223 B.1.8 Solution............................................................................................223 B.1.9 Optimising – points to watch......................................................224
B.2 How SWMD handles A3D MAX members...............................................225 B.2.1 Overview ........................................................................................225 B.2.2 Making alterations........................................................................226 B.2.3 Reviewing the Results...................................................................226
B.3 Creating SWMD templates .......................................................................227 B.3.1 Overview ........................................................................................227 B.3.2 Restraints.........................................................................................227 B.3.3 Saving template files....................................................................228
B.4 ‘Old’ Grouping Method ............................................................................229 B.4.1 Introduction ...................................................................................229 B.4.2 Member Grouping........................................................................229 B.4.3 The Grouping dialog ....................................................................230 B.4.4 Creating a group..........................................................................232 B.4.5 Calculating member checks .....................................................233 B.4.6 Reviewing design Results.............................................................233 B.4.7 Making changes...........................................................................234
Appendix C – Using DXF...................................................................................235 C.1 Importing DXF files...........................................................................235 C.2 Printing the DXF file .........................................................................235 C.3 Creating a drawing........................................................................235 C.4 Setting up the drawing ..................................................................235 C.5 Getting The DXF files.......................................................................236 C.6 Hints and tips....................................................................................237
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A3D MAX
Function Guide
Version:3.0
Date: 01/08/03
Introduction This guide describes the functions provided by CADS A3D MAX. It is set out according to the menu structure of the application as this gives access to all functions. In many cases there are tool button equivalents and these are indicated by the presence of their button image alongside the description. This guide describes the actual tools provided by the application.
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A3D MAX
Function Guide
Version:3.0
Date: 01/08/03
1.0 File Menu
Figure 1.1
The File menu contains the standard Windows tools for creating, opening and saving jobs together with import, export and printing options alongwith a few further options for setting the working environment. 1.1 New
This creates a new job with the default name untitled.a3m. This job uses the default settings saved in the ‘defaults.cct’ file in the ‘\A3Dmax\data’ folder. If an existing job is open and has been changed since it was last saved you will be offered the opportunity to save it before creating a new job.
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A3D MAX
Function Guide
Version:3.0
Date: 01/08/03 1.2 Open…
This opens a standard Windows file browser for you to select an existing job. It includes a preview facility that shows a thumbnail view of the model with members.
A preview button is provided to switch the preview OFF. Analyse3D only reads files with an ‘.a3d’ extension. Analyse3D uses a later file format than version1 or version2 and will automatically update any files saved under these versions. This means the files can no longer be read by earlier versions of Analyse3D. Please bear this in mind if you need to send the job to other users. It may be wise to make a backup copy of the old version file first if this is likely. However, everyone should be encouraged to upgrade to Analyse3D version3.
Figure 1.2
A3D MAX can read files with both ‘.a3d’ and ‘.a3m’ extensions. By default it shows the latter. If you wish to load any Analyse3D job you need to change the file type. A3D MAX will automatically convert the job to ‘.a3m’ format and save it by default using the same job name. This does not overwrite the original ‘.a3d’ job file. 1.3
1.4
Open Recovery File The program automatically backs up a job whenever it is saved. It renames the current job file with an ‘.a3k’ extension and then writes out the latest job data. Should there be any problem while the file is being written, you may recover the job at least in its previous state. To recover a job, pick ‘File>Open recovery file…’ from the menu and choose the job to recover. You should then save the job using ‘Save As’ so that you can rename it. The program does not allow you to save jobs as back ups using the .a3k extension.
Save
This saves the current job. If the job has not been saved already, the standard Windows ‘Save As’ browser will be opened for you to name and place the file.
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A3D MAX
Function Guide
Version:3.0
Date: 01/08/03 A3D MAX only saves files in its file format and with an ‘.a3m’ file extension. If a job has already been saved once then ‘Save’ will update the file in its current location without further confirmation. If you wish to save with a new file name then use the ‘Save As’ option. 1.5
1.6
Save As… This opens the Windows standard file ‘Save As’ browser so that you can give the file a new name. The existing job name is used as the default. Having changed the name and saved the file this now becomes the current job name. The files are saved with extensions as noted under ‘Save’ above.
Save Special
Figure 1.3
This offers two additional methods of saving particular data. 1.6.1
1.6.2
1.6.3
Save Bitmap This saves the current view as a bit map (.bmp) image in the location specified using the standard Windows ‘Save As’ browser. These images can be incorporated in reports and other word-processed documents etc.
Save Template This saves the current job as a template to a file specified in the standard Windows ‘Save As’ browser. Templates are (usually) blank files with particular settings that you wish to use in many jobs. They are identical to a job file in format and will contain modelling objects if any are present when saved. These files have a ‘.cct’ extension and when opened set up a job according to the content of the file but as a New job named ‘untitled’.
Save Metafile This saves the current view as a metafile (.wmf) in the location specified using the standard Windows ‘Save As’ browser. These images can be incorporated in reports and other word-processed documents etc. It occupies much less disk space than the bitmap image.
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A3D MAX
Function Guide
Version:3.0
Date: 01/08/03 1.7 Import
Figure 1.4
The program can import data from other sources. Generally, the content is limited to geometry. The currently available options are: 1.7.1 DXF…
1.7.2 CSV/Text…
This imports drawings in the standard Drawing Exchange File format (file extension ‘.dxf’) used by many vector drawing applications such as AutoCAD®. It imports Line, Polyline and 3DFace entities, which are decomposed into members, and adds joints at their ends. The DXF Import is only expected to create a simple stick model of the geometry. Hence when importing from a drawing it is important to ensure that you include only data relevant to the creation of that stick model. You are recommended to copy the essential elements of the geometry of the drawn model into its own layer if the drawing application supports layers, and create a DXF file from that data alone. The program assumes the drawing is created in metric drawing units and interprets the extent of the DXF import to determine if mm or m units have been used. Before the Import is placed, you are asked whether you want to ‘Map co-ordinate from AutoCAD system to A3D system’. If you pick ‘Yes’ the XY plane in AutoCAD (usually the ‘plan’ view) will be mapped to the XZ plane in A3D MAX to maintain a plan view. Picking ‘No’ maintains the AutoCAD axes references and the model is therefore transformed to a different view in A3D MAX. Finally, the Imported objects are dragged into position and may be attached to existing joints or placed to particular co-ordinates in the usual manner. (See ‘Edit>Pasting objects’ for details).
CADS A3D MAX can import joint and member geometry from comma or tab separated files. This enables you to create frames from files exported by other analysis packages or databases, or create your own frame generators using a spreadsheet application. The facility is available from the ‘File > Import > CSV/Txt…’ menu which opens a file browser from which you choose the file to import. If there are no objects in the A3D MAX model already then the imported objects will be placed with the first joint in the file placed at 0,0,0. Otherwise, they will be ghosted for you to drag into position similar to the normal placing methods. The input for the above files should be specified in a particular format. For comma separated, each field should be separated by a comma and for tab delimited by a tab.
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A3D MAX
Function Guide
Version:3.0
Date: 01/08/03 Example JOINTS Joint Xpos Ypos Zpos Ref (m) (m) (m) 1 7 0 0 2 7 0 3.5 MEMBERS Mem Mem Start Start End End Orient Direc Len Slope ref type joint fixity joint fixity behav 1 M1 1 Fixed 5 Fixed 0 Normal 10.0 0.0 2 M1 2 Fixed 6 Fixed 0 Normal 10.0 90.0 Main title JOINTS and MEMBERS are essential. Other sub titles can be omitted. Directional behaviour, Length and Slope can be omitted. Member type, Start fixity, End fixity and Orientation can be skipped by an extra comma or tab. For example:- 1 1 5 is a valid input with extra tab inserted for missing fields. 1.7.3 StruCAD…
1.7.4 HyperSteel…
This imports model geometry from StruCAD® Neutral Files format (‘.snf’) files using the standard Windows file browser. The data includes the members and the member types if corresponding sections can be found in the A3D MAX SW Library. Eventhough the orientation of the members is also imported, you are advised to check vertical columns in particular. Members that have been processed in StruCAD by the application of connections etc. may not connect to others at rational node points when imported. Some editing may be necessary to produce a satisfactory model for analysis. ‘Loads’ in StruCAD are not imported, as these are effectively end effects used for the calculation of connections. There is a corresponding Export function that does include end effect ‘loads’. (See ‘File>Export’ below for details).
Models created in the Hypersteel steelwork detailing package can be exported to A3D MAX. Briefly, the method is to create a transfer file in Hypersteel which can be read by A3D MAX. The procedure is as follows: To export the model from Hypersteel you need to have the Hypersteel application running and the required job loaded. Pick ‘Cads>Export frame to A3D MAX’ from the menu which will ask you to select objects. Select the members you wish to export in the usual manner and when completed a file browser will open for you to save the file. This file is in comma separated value format. Pick ‘Save’ and the program will show its progress and confirm that it has saved the file.
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A3D MAX
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Version:3.0
Date: 01/08/03 To import the transfer file into A3D MAX, start A3D MAX and pick ‘File > Import > Hypersteel’ from the menu which will open a file browser showing a list of .csv files. Choose the one you require and pick ‘Open’. The file will be loaded and the job displayed. Note that the import assumes that the Hypersteel Z axis represents the vertical axis of the frame. Note that only the basic member geometry and serial size data are imported, no haunches or connections etc are included. The members are also assumed to lie along their centres of gravity for the purpose of analysis and design. The orientation and handing of the members are preserved. The program endeavours to find the serial size specified. Otherwise, it reports the number of sections not found, assigns them the default member type and marks them ‘Not found (CSV)’ in the Member Type editor. The Import searches the current section library table and this can be set by picking ‘File>Configure>Preferences>Defaults’ and entering the table reference under ‘Default Import SW section table’. The default is UK6 and at present the choice is from the UK tables UK3, UK5 and UK6. 1.8 Export
Figure 1.5
The program can export data to two popular Steelwork fabrication detailing applications. 1.8.1 StruCAD… This option enables model geometry to be written in StruCAD Neutral File format (.snf) files. The data includes the members and the member types, and end effect ‘loads’ if the frame has been calculated. It opens a dialog for you to select the items to output.
Figure 1.6
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A3D MAX
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Version:3.0
Date: 01/08/03 If a selection of members has been made in the model view, then you can choose whether to output all members or only those selected. If the model has been analysed, you may export the end forces that become Load effects in StruCAD. Having made your choices, a standard Windows file ‘Save As’ dialog is opened, by which you can specify the name and location of the ‘.snf’ file. Members are exported, as running between joint positions and the member type maintained wherever possible. Eventhough the member orientation is exported, you are advised to check the orientation in StruCAD, particularly for columns. If load effects are exported, StruCAD requires two load combinations. When the A3D MAX model contains only one load combination, a second combination with zero factors is added. Only the first two combinations are output if there are more than two. 1.8.2 HyperSTEEL This option exports the member data as a PSS file, which can be read by DSC’s Hypersteel 3D steelwork detailing application. The file is in a format similar to the PSS protocol published by the Deutscher Stahlbau-Verband (DSTV) for steel construction and manufacture. The file is written to the directory specified under ‘Hypersteel export folder’ in the configuration and it is given the job name and a .stp extension. The ‘Read PSS File’ tool in Hypersteel can be used to read this file and the corresponding geometry will be created.
Figure 1.7
1.9 Export to Designers
Once the analysis has been carried out on a job you can export selected members to various CADS Design Applications. Selecting members or joints will enable appropriate options on the menu. Picking the required option will launch the application with the data from that member or joint read for designing.
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Figure 1.8
You should, of course, carefully check the data and any default settings used by the design application before proceeding with the design. 1.9.1
1.9.2
1.9.3
1.9.4
1.9.5
RC Beam Designer
CADS RC Beam Designer can design simple or continuous beams and sub frames. It supports BS, ACI and IS codes. Full geometric data and analysis effects are transferred if the members selected are of RC Member type. LLoads and load combinations may also be transferred optionally. Members must be horizontal, in a continuous straight line and run in the same direction.
RC Column Designer CADS RC Column Designer can design single rectangular, circular or elliptical columns. It supports BS, ACI and IS codes. Full geometric data, loads and load combinations are transferred if the member selected is of RC Column member type.
RC Base Designer CADS RC Base Designer can design isolated pad bases. It provides full stability checks and reinforcement details if required. It supports BS, ACI and IS codes. When you select the required joint and full load, the load combination data is transferred. This application only designs a single pad base at a time.
RC Pile Cap Designer CADS RC Base Designer can design pile caps for 2 to 9 piles. It determines the number of piles required and can provide reinforcement details if required. It does not calculate the pile itself. It supports BS, ACI and IS codes. When you select the required joint and full load, the load combination data is transferred. This application only designs a single pile cap at a time.
SW Member Designer CADS SW Member Designer can design any SW Member type or beam, column, strut, or tie. It is currently available for BS5950 Part1:1990 and BS5950:2000.
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A3D MAX
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Date: 01/08/03 A single member or a series of analysis members in a continuous straight line and same direction can be selected for export and will be designed as a single steel member. 1.9.6
1.10
1.11
SW Moment Connections CADS SW Moment Connection program designs individual moment connections between SW library member types. It principally deals with beam to column flange, splice/metre, and approximately symmetrical beam to column web connections plus base plates. Most of the connections can also include haunches if required. It is currently only available to BS5950 Part 1:1990. If a single joint is selected, the program will examine the adjoining members and offer a choice of connections according to the situation. Alternatively, the joint and appropriate members may be selected. In this case, the type of connection, or a choice if there is one will be shown for confirmation or selection.
Audit Database This function causes the program to check its database to ensure its data is consistent and there are no un-referenced objects. You should not normally use this facility as the program carries out its own auditing when certain operations are performed. It is largely provided in case old jobs saved under earlier versions of the program prove prone to errors. If so, this utility may be able to effect a repair, or indicate where data may need to be re-entered.
View Error Log.. Error log reports, errors related to invalid panel (and overhang) geometry and invalid panel load co-ordinates. You can run the ‘Audit Database’, View Error Log and then proceed with calculations. The log will be cleared and updated each time we run calculations or audit database.
Panels are deleted when: �� Orphans - the panel does not belong to any panel group in a plane �� Panel not in plane �� Overlapping panel �� Invalid Shape - internal angles exceed 180º �� Invalid Edges - adjacent edges are empty Panel attributes corrected when: �� Invalid Rigidity - rigidity set to 'None' �� Invalid Distribution Type (both inplane & normal) - Distribution Type set to 2-way Panel Loads deleted when: �� Invalid load coordinates - Coordinates not valid for panel Panel Overhang deleted when: �� Invalid Members - Members do not lie in the outer boundary of the panel group or
are not continuous �� Invalid panel group - Cannot find panel group to associate with the overhang
19
A3D MAX
Function Guide
Version:3.0
Date: 01/08/03 1.12 Configure
Figure 1.9
A3D MAX is highly configurable and most of its settings use the ‘Preferences…’ option. The other two items set the path to the template files used by A3D MAX and SW Member Designer (SWMD). 1.12.1 Preferences… Picking Preferences opens the Configuration dialog, which contains a number of tabbed pages of settings. Most are fairly self-explanatory. 1.12.1.1 Factors Factors are arbitrary scale factors that control the size of many of the objects in the main view. They include the scale to which loads are drawn and the scale of the results graphs. The values shown initially are the defaults used. The graphical results dialog allows them to be altered temporarily during an editing session.
Figure 1.10
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A3D MAX
Function Guide
Version:3.0
Date: 01/08/03 1.12.1.2 Colours The colour swatches modify the colours used by most objects in the main view. Clicking on the menu arrow opens a small palette and picking More… opens the full Windows colour picker.
Figure 1.11
1.12.1.3 Sizes These items determine the size of the other facilities and may need a little explanation.
Figure 1.12
Text Height – This is the height of the labels etc. that appear in the main view.
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A3D MAX
Function Guide
Version:3.0
Date: 01/08/03 Moment Circle Points – this determines how points are used to show the applied (load) moments. The more points there are, the smoother the arc, but the slower the drawing. This is only likely to be an issue with many applied moments. Picking Radius – this is an arbitrary value which determines the pick size when making a selection. A small value makes the picking more selective, but more accuracy is needed when picking an object. Large values make picking easier but increases the risk of picking the wrong object. Member End Fixity Label Offset – this value adjusts the distance of the labels that are used to indicate member end fixity, offset from the end of members. The labels need to be offset, otherwise they risk being overwritten by the joint labels. HyperSteel export column tolerance – tolerance for HyperSteel export. Maximum utilisation for ‘overdesign’ report – This value is the level of ‘over design’ expressed as a percentage. When the utilisation ratios for the members are less than one minus this value they are regarded as ‘over designed’. Graphical Results Intervals – This value determines the default setting of the number of intervals shown in the graphical results. It does not take effect until a new editing session is started. By default the value is 20. Tabular Results Intervals – This value determines the default setting of the number of intervals shown in the effects and deflections pages of the tabular results. It does not take effect until a new editing session is started. By default the value is 4. This setting also controls the number of intervals included in the printed tables where member intervals are shown. In this case it has an effect in the next output. Result Graph Labels Precision – This value controls the number of decimal places shown by the labels in the Graphical Results display. This value also controls the precision shown in the tool tips. No. of Divisions for Panel Load Distribution – This value determines the size of the mesh to be generated for panel point, patch and line load distribution. The more the number, the finer the mesh but the time required for analysis varies appropriately. The default value is 10.
1.12.1.4 Messages These items determine whether certain warning messages should be issued or not. In some circumstances you may find that the persistent issuing of a warning, which you may be content to ignore, will be irksome if it happens frequently.
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A3D MAX
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Version:3.0
Date: 01/08/03
Figure 1.13
Clearing the tick box beside an item turns off its warning. Be careful when using this, as you may overlook a problem if you fail to turn the warning on during a later editing session. 1.12.1.5 Options These options control how certain aspects of the program behave. They merit a little explanation.
Figure 1.14
Tool-tips – a number of objects support tool-tips in the main view, so that you can easily find their references or, in the case of the results graphics, values at certain points.
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A3D MAX
Function Guide
Version:3.0
Date: 01/08/03
There is a button on the Display toolbar to toggle tool-tips on or off generally. However, these options allow you to choose as to which objects should show tool-tips when the toggle is on. Transparency effects – sets the shading fill applied to supports, results graphs and other objects to be semi-transparent so that other objects show through. If it is solid, it obscures other objects. Solid fill is quicker to draw, so it may be beneficial to turn this off on slower systems. Analyse 3D compatible selection – sets A3D MAX to the Analyse3D v1.xx main view selection methods (where each pick adds to the selection), rather than Windows style selection (where each pick replaces the selection and CTRL pick is used to add). Show Axes Triad – this is set to determine whether the triad is to be shown or not. When set, the A3D MAX global axis triad will appear in the main view. For a particular editing session the triad can be enabled using ‘right click > Show triad’ even if not set in configuration. Dock Axes Triad – if this is set then the triad will appear near the lower left corner of the main view. If it is not set then the triad will appear near the centre of the current selection. In this case, if there is no selection the triad will not be shown. This will work only if the ‘Show Axes Triad’ is enabled. Print Engine Enabled – this allows the user to choose either the old print method or the new print engine based print out. The Print engine solves some problems that are encountered with certain printer drivers on some machines. The table widths have been rationalised and the outer borders thickened to improve appearance. The Margins and Fonts for this output are fixed but you can choose A4 or US letter paper size from the Print Layout > Edit Header dialog. Auto Edge Fixity Update – this setting updates the edge continuity of a new panel created and existing panels based on the adjacent panels and overhangs. By default all edges of a panel are ‘simply supported’ but when another panel or overhang shares a common edge it becomes ‘restrained’. If one or more edges of a panel are not fully populated with members, it becomes a free edge. It is also updated when model changes take place (e.g. Deletion, Creation of adjacent panel or overhang). If this setting is not checked then the default edge fixity setting will remain. Please note this will be used in the distribution of loads using the grid method. 1.12.1.6 Folders These items store the locations and names of the applications that A3D MAX links to, and the location of its own and other application data files. Most of these are obtained from their registered or default locations. If you install some of the applications after A3D MAX to locations other than the defaults offered, then you will probably have to amend these fields to the appropriate paths before A3D MAX will link to or find the correct data.
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A3D MAX
Function Guide
Version:3.0
Date: 01/08/03
Figure 1.15
The paths can be amended directly or by using an Explorer window, by picking on
the small down arrow that appears to the right of the current field. 1.12.1.7 Units This allows you to choose between the use of the Metric (SI) or British (Imperial) units. Note that the British units are entered and displayed in decimal format and not in feet and inches or pounds and ounces.
Figure 1.16
When you change the setting, the program will need to be re-started for the change to take effect. The units setting will stay in force on subsequent starts until it is again reset.
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A3D MAX
Function Guide
Version:3.0
Date: 01/08/03 Jobs may be viewed or entered in either units, depending on the current setting. However, it may be noted that values are converted to base units of N and mm for calculation purposes and hence there may be some slight rounding ‘errors’ in the conversions. 1.12.1.8 Defaults This allows you to set the default steel grade, SW section library table that will be used for any new member type created there on. It also allows to set the default import SW section table.
Figure 1.17
Clicking on the value cell for default steel grade opens the standard steel materials library for you to choose the default steel grade. Clicking on the value cell for default steel table displays a list of section table names to choose from. 1.12.2
1.12.3
1.12.4 Hardware…
Default A3D MAX Template… This option opens a standard Windows file browser for you to locate an A3D MAX template file (.cct) to become the default for subsequent jobs.
Default SWMD Template… This option opens a standard Windows file browser for you to locate a SWMD template file (.smd) to become the default for any steelwork designs using the Grouping method in subsequent jobs.
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A3D MAX
Function Guide
Version:3.0
Date: 01/08/03 A3D MAX uses OpenGL to drive the graphical display. This can be quite demanding on some systems and some users have had to turn down hardware acceleration in the Windows Control Panel for the program to run properly. If you have not had to do this then you can ignore this section. The program is enhanced so that it can determine the optimum OpenGL settings for your system. Normally A3D MAX will use the default settings applied at installation and you do not have to do anything. However, on some systems problems can arise with the objects being difficult to pick or the program becoming unstable after printing or previewing. The problem seems to be dependent on the combination of the graphics card and the computer system that makes it difficult to be more specific. If you are finding problems or you have already been advised to turn down hardware acceleration, then this new facility may help. Pick ‘File > Configure > Hardware’ which opens a wizard to take you through the process.
Figure 1.18
It first checks your system and then asks you to identify a problem if you have encountered one. It then shows one or two slider bars set according to your system. ‘Best’ makes the greatest use of OpenGL features and ‘Worst’ the least. If you are experiencing a problem set the slider one step towards ‘worst’ and proceed to the end of the wizard.
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A3D MAX
Function Guide
Version:3.0
Date: 01/08/03
Figure 1.19
You will need to close and re-start A3D MAX for the new settings to take effect. If the problem persists, turn the setting down a further notch until it runs successfully. It will remember that setting and continue to use it thereafter. If you change your graphics card then you may find that you need to run the wizard again. 1.12.5
1.13
Reset Dialog Positions This command resets all dialogs that appear in A3D MAX to their default positions. This is particularly useful when a particular dialog goes out of the view or off the side of the screen for some peculiar reason.
Print… The input and results can be printed to A4 or similar sized headed sheets. The data
to be printed can be chosen by type and the range of members and load combinations to be included can be specified. A diagram of the model can also be included in the printout. There are two options for printing - using the Print Engine or using the old print method. With the print engine enabled (from File > Configure > Preferences > Options dialog) by default, the new print method is used. Note that the Margins and Fonts for this output are fixed but you can choose an A4 or US letter paper size from the Print Layout > Edit Header dialog.
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A3D MAX
Function Guide
Version:3.0
Date: 01/08/03
Figure 1.20
In addition to the printout, the data can be exported to Microsoft Word in a fully formatted and tabulated document by means of the CADS Word Macro or Save RTF. The output can also be saved as text or comma separated value files that may be used by word processors, spreadsheets and other applications. 1.13.1
1.13.2
Overview of printing The printout consists of sets of data as shown in the ‘Data’ panel and these are ‘Added’ to the ‘Print Order’ panel which determines what data is to be printed and its order. The ‘Selection to Print’ and the ‘Combination results to print’ panels can control the amount of data. The other controls allow you to set up the page and headers and control the text and Word Macro output, which has otherwise the same content as the main printout. A more detailed explanation follows.
Diagram panel This panel controls the Diagram options in the Print layout dialog. You can print multiple diagrams based on the Preset views saved. If both diagrams and data are to be printed together then the diagrams are printed first. Note that diagrams are no longer available if the Print Engine is disabled. Print selected diagrams – This enables the printing of diagrams. If the option is not selected then no diagrams are printed. Quality – There are two qualities of diagrams:
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A3D MAX
Function Guide
Version:3.0
Date: 01/08/03 Metafile – This is a vector-based output which means that regardless of scale, all lines are smooth. It has the further advantage of not requiring much memory to draw upon prior to printing and is quite fast. The disadvantage is that it does not support shaded representation and hence the output is always either stick or wire frame depending on the render setting of the view to be output.
Bitmap – This outputs the view as a bitmap and supports the full range of render modes and shading. The disadvantage is that diagonal lines may be a little jagged and it requires a fair amount of memory particularly for an A3 output and is slower to draw. This may be a problem with some base model computers or older machines. The approximate memory requirement is shown alongside the option. Diagram Size – This enables you to control the output size. There are two options: Full size – prints the diagram on one page maximising the size of the image according to the original view settings. Custom – allows you to specify the depth of the diagram. This feature is not implemented in this version.
Orientation – this enables you to choose the format in which the diagrams are to be printed. Portrait – this is the normal upright page layout with the header block printed along the top of the page for an A4 output. An A3 output uses a similar header block but it is aligned to the top right side of the page.
Landscape – this aligns the paper lengthwise. Both the A4 and A3 sizes position the header block in the lower right corner of the page. Paper size – this enables you to choose the paper size. Default – this is the standard size as set in the Header dialog. Normally this will be an A4 or US letter. The default is the size the main data pages are printed to.
A3 – this size is enabled if the Windows Print Manager default printer supports the A3 paper size.
View list – The panel in the lower right of the dialog lists the views, which have been saved together with an item called Current view, which represents the current view in the active window. This is always present and its title cannot be changed. It does not have a caption. However you do not have to print it. Tick – the tick alongside each view indicates whether that view is to be included in any diagram printout. Ordering output – the arrows to the right of the list allow highlighted views to be moved up or down the list to change the order of the output. The top and bottom arrows move the views to the top or bottom of the list respectively. 1.13.3 Data panel Geometry – lists the members placed in the model with their start and end joints and fixities together with their orientation, length and slope.
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A3D MAX
Function Guide
Version:3.0
Date: 01/08/03 Members
Mbr Member Start Start End End Orient Directional Length Slope ref type joint fixity joint fixity (°) behaviour (m) (°)
1 305x165 UB40 1 Fixed 3 Fixed 0.0 Normal 10.000 90.0 2 305x165 UB40 2 Fixed 4 Fixed 0.0 Normal 10.000 90.0 3 305x165 UB40 5 Fixed 7 Fixed 0.0 Normal 10.000 90.0 4 305x165 UB40 6 Fixed 8 Fixed 0.0 Normal 10.000 90.0
Joints – lists the joints with their co-ordinates and supports with their fixity constraints. Joints
Joint X pos Y pos Z pos Joint X pos Y pos Z pos Joint
X pos Y pos Z pos ref (m) (m) (m) ref (m) (m) (m) ref (m) (m) (m)
1 0.000 0.000 0.000 2 0.000 0.000 10.000
3 0.000 10.000 0.000 4 0.000 10.000 10.00
0 5 10.000 0.000 0.000 6 10.000 0.000 10.000
7 10.000 10.000 0.000 8 10.000 10.000 10.000
9 20.000 0.000 0.000
10 20.000 0.000 10.000
11 20.000 10.000 0.000 12 20.000 10.000 10.000
Panels
Alignment Restraint data for edges Ref. Vertex Thickness & Rigidity Material SS-Simply supported
joints (mm) Offset type Res.-Restrained
(mm) Edge1 Edge2 Edge3 Edge4 P2 9,18,17,8 150 Centre Plane ConcG35 Res. Res. Res. Res. P6 27,36,35,26 150 Bottom Plane ConcG35 Res. Res. Res. Res. P8 15,24,23,14 150 -50 Plane ConcG30 SS Res. Res. Res. P12 23,32,31,22 150 Top - ConcG35 Res. SS SS Res.
Overhangs
Overhang ref. Associated panel edge Overhang type Start width End width (mm) (mm)
Overhang4 P2 - Edge 1 Rectangular 1000 - P4 - Edge 1
Overhang6 P13 - Edge 3 Rectangular 1000 - Overhang7 P6 - Edge 2 Circular 1000 -
P5 - Edge 2 Overhang8 P5 - Edge 3 Trapezoidal 1000 2000
Supports Jnt Support X Trans. Y Trans. Z Trans. X Rot. Y Rot. Z Rot. Direction Ref type (kN/mm) (kN/mm) (kN/mm) (kNm/Rad) (kNm/Rad) (kNm/Rad) control
1 Support2 Fixed Fixed Fixed Free Free Free Normal
7 Support3 Fixed Fixed Fixed Free Free Free Normal
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A3D MAX
Function Guide
Version:3.0
Date: 01/08/03 Sections – lists the sections defined explicitly (i.e. SW Library, Elements and Properties) with separate tables for those defined implicitly as part of composite member types (i.e. RC Members and SW Haunch). Sections Section Area Ixx Iyy J Elements (mm)
Reference (cm²) (cm4) (cm4) (cm4) No Width Height Vertical off Lateral off
305x165 UB40 51.6 8551 766 14.9
120x80x5.0 RHS 18.9 370 195 401
80x40x3.0 RHS 6.8 55 18.2 43.7
50x30x2.5 RHS 3.72 12 5.3 11.7
Materials – lists the materials used by the member types and not the complete list of materials available. Materials Material Elastic Poisson Density Thermal reference modulus ratio expansion
(kN/mm²) (kN/m3) (/°Cx10-6)
SteelG43 205.00 0.30 77.00 12.00
Member types – lists the member types defined including segment length and depth data for non-prismatic member types. RC Member and SW Haunch types are listed in separate tables. Member Types Reference Shape Material Seg Start End Length Depth Placing no section section (m) (mm) rule
top1 SW Library SteelG43 1 80x40x4.0 RHS
end1 SW Library SteelG43 1 50x30x4.0 RHS
Lacer1 SW Library SteelG43 1 50x30x2.5 RHS
btm1 SW Library SteelG43 1 50x30x5.0 RHS
Member loads – lists the loads as applied to each member. Member Loads Load Reference Load Start Start intensity End End intensity Direction Category type pos'n (m) (kN) & (m) pos'n (m) (kN) & (m)
Loads on member 7 (Length 1.500m)
UniDead UL 2.000 Vertical Dead
UniImp UL 1.000 Vertical Imposed
Loads on member 8 (Length 1.500m)
UniDead UL 2.000 Vertical Dead
UniImp UL 1.000 Vertical Imposed
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A3D MAX
Function Guide
Version:3.0
Date: 01/08/03 Joint Loads Load Load Intensity Direction Category reference Type (kN ) & (m ) (type)
Loads on Joint 8
JntDead JL 6.000 Vertical Dead (Dead)
JntImp JL 4.000 Vertical Imposed (Imposed)
Loads on Joint 9
JntDead JL 6.000 Vertical Dead (Dead)
JntImp JL 4.000 Vertical Imposed (Imposed)
Area Loads on Panels
Load reference Category Distribution scheme Direction Intensity (kN/m2)
Loads on P1 (Area 100.00 m2) PanelLoad4 Dead Twoway Normal 5.0 PanelLoad10 Imposed Twoway Normal 3.0
Loads on P2 (Area 100.00 m2) PanelLoad5 Dead Twoway Normal 5.0 PanelLoad11 Imposed Twoway Normal 3.0
Loads on P6 (Area 100.00 m2) PanelLoad9 Dead Twoway Normal 5.0 PanelLoad15 Imposed Twoway Normal 3.0
Loads on P13 (Area 100.00 m2) PanelLoad28 Other Twoway Horizontal 1.0
Loads on P14 (Area 100.00 m2) PanelLoad63 Other Twoway Transverse 2.0
Area Loads on Overhangs
Load reference Category Direction Intensity (kN/m2)
Loads on Overhang4 PanelLoad31 Imposed Vertical 1.5
Loads on Overhang5 PanelLoad32 Other Horizontal 1.0
Loads on Overhang6 PanelLoad33 Imposed Vertical 1.5
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A3D MAX
Function Guide
Version:3.0
Date: 01/08/03 Other Panel Loads
Load Distribution Load Load Start End reference Category scheme type Direction position intensity intensity
kN & m kN & m
Loads on P1 (Area 100.00 m2) PanelLoad47 Imposed Twoway Point Normal (4.0 , 8.0) 4.5 -
PanelLoad34 Dead Twoway Line Normal (2.0 , 5.0), (0.0 , 1.0)
10.0 -5.0
Loads on P3 (Area 100.00 m2) PanelLoad49 Imposed Oneway
RibbedEdge 2 Point Normal (4.0 , 8.0) 4.5 -
PanelLoad36 Dead Oneway RibbedEdge 2
Line Normal (2.0 , 5.0), (0.0 , 1.0)
10.0 -5.0
PanelLoad59 Dead Oneway RibbedEdge 2
Patch Normal (2.0 , 3.0), (3.0 , 8.0), (10.0 , 0.0)
10.0 -
Loads on P4 (Area 100.00 m2) PanelLoad50 Imposed Oneway
SolidEdge 1 & 3 Point Normal (4.0 , 8.0) 4.5 -
PanelLoad1 Dead Oneway SolidEdge 1 & 3
Line Normal (5.0 , 5.0), (0.0 , 0.0)
10.0 10.0
Combinations – lists the load combinations defined. Load Combinations Load Category Combination Partial Safety Factors
No Name Type Data/No 1
Ref. Comb1
Limit State ULS
Elastic Analysis Linear
Plastic Analysis No
1 Dead Dead 1.40
2 Imposed Imposed 1.60
3 Wind Other 0.00
The above data is available once it is defined. The following items are only available once analysis calculations have been carried out. Automatic self weights – lists the weights of members if the Auto Self weight option has been set in the Load Editor. Any member which does not have the value overridden by a specified Self Weight load type will appear. The data cannot be printed until the analysis calculations are done as the member weights are calculated during this process.
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A3D MAX
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Version:3.0
Date: 01/08/03 Self Weights Mem Self weight Mem Self weight Mem Self weight Ref ( kN ) Ref ( kN ) ref ( kN )
1 0.079 2 0.079 3 0.079
4 0.079 5 0.079 6 0.079
7 0.103 8 0.103 9 0.103
10 0.103 11 0.103 12 0.103
13 0.052 14 0.034 15 0.034
16 0.034 17 0.034 18 0.034
19 0.052 20 0.055 21 0.055
22 0.055 23 0.055 24 0.055
25 0.055
Total self weight for selected members : 1.699 kN Joint displacements – shows the translational and rotational displacements of the joints by combination. Joint Displacements For Combination Comb1 Analysis Type : Linear elastic Effects Load factor : 1.0 Joint Displacements (mm) Rotations (°)
reference Dx Dy Dz Rx Ry Rz
1 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.000 0.000 -0.337
2 -0.63 -8.19 0.00 0.000 0.000 -0.279
3 -0.53 -14.21 0.00 0.000 0.000 -0.173
4 0.00 -16.68 0.00 0.000 0.000 0.000
5 0.53 -14.21 0.00 0.000 0.000 0.173
Support reactions – shows the reactions and resisting moments at the supported joints by combination. Support Reactions For Combination Comb1 Analysis Type : Linear elastic Effects Load factor : 1.0 Joint Support reactions (kN) Support moments (kNm)
reference Px Py Pz Mx My Mz
1 59.374 72.789 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
7 -59.374 72.789 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
Member effects – shows the axial, shear and moment effects at intervals along the members by combination. The number of intervals may be changed in the configuration.
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A3D MAX
Function Guide
Version:3.0
Date: 01/08/03 Member Effects For Combination Comb1 Analysis Type : Linear elastic Effects Load factor : 1.0 Interval Interval Axial Shear force (kN) Moment effects(kNm)
no pos. (m) force (kN) Normal Lateral Torsion Normal Lateral
Member 1
0 0.000 59.374 0.073 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
1 0.375 59.374 0.045 0.000 0.000 0.022 0.000
2 0.750 59.374 0.017 0.000 0.000 0.034 0.000
3 1.125 59.374 -0.011 0.000 0.000 0.035 0.000
4 1.500 59.374 -0.038 0.000 0.000 0.026 0.000
Member 2
0 0.000 -9.387 0.068 0.000 0.000 0.026 0.000
1 0.375 -9.387 0.041 0.000 0.000 0.046 0.000
2 0.750 -9.387 0.013 0.000 0.000 0.056 0.000
3 1.125 -9.387 -0.015 0.000 0.000 0.056 0.000
4 1.500 -9.387 -0.043 0.000 0.000 0.045 0.000
Member deflections – shows the displacements and slopes at intervals along the members by combination. The number of intervals may be changed in the configuration. Member Deflections For Combination Comb1 Analysis Type : Linear elastic Effects Load factor : 1.0 Interval Interval Displacements (mm) Slopes (°)
no pos. (m) Axial Normal Lateral Torsion Normal Lateral
Member 1
0 0.000 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.000 -0.337 0.000
1 0.375 -0.16 -2.19 0.00 0.000 -0.331 0.000
2 0.750 -0.32 -4.31 0.00 0.000 -0.315 0.000
3 1.125 -0.47 -6.31 0.00 0.000 -0.296 0.000
4 1.500 -0.63 -8.19 0.00 0.000 -0.279 0.000
Member 2
0 0.000 -0.63 -8.19 0.00 0.000 -0.279 0.000
1 0.375 -0.61 -9.96 0.00 0.000 -0.260 0.000
2 0.750 -0.58 -11.57 0.00 0.000 -0.232 0.000
3 1.125 -0.56 -12.98 0.00 0.000 -0.201 0.000
4 1.500 -0.53 -14.21 0.00 0.000 -0.173 0.000
Shear envelopes – produces a shear and axial effects envelope table at the configured number of intervals on specified members.
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A3D MAX
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Version:3.0
Date: 01/08/03 Member Axial And Shear Effect Envelopes Interval Interval Maximum Maximum shear (kN) Minimum Minimum shear (kN)
no pos. (m) Axial (kN) Normal Lateral Axial (kN) Normal Lateral
Member 1
0 0.000 59.374 0.073 0.000 59.374 0.073 0.000
1 0.375 59.374 0.045 0.000 59.374 0.045 0.000
2 0.750 59.374 0.017 0.000 59.374 0.017 0.000
3 1.125 59.374 -0.011 0.000 59.374 -0.011 0.000
4 1.500 59.374 -0.038 0.000 59.374 -0.038 0.000
Moment envelopes – produces a moment effects envelope table at the configured number of intervals on specified members. Member Moment Effect Envelopes Interval Interval Maximum (kNm) Minimum (kNm)
no pos. (m) Torsion Normal Lateral Torsion Normal Lateral
Member 1
0 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
1 0.375 0.000 0.022 0.000 0.000 0.022 0.000
2 0.750 0.000 0.034 0.000 0.000 0.034 0.000
3 1.125 0.000 0.035 0.000 0.000 0.035 0.000
4 1.500 0.000 0.026 0.000 0.000 0.026 0.000
Max axial shr & def – produces a summary of maximum axial, shear and deflection effects on specified members. Maximum Axial, Shear And Deflection Effects For Combination Comb1 Member Axial Effects Shear Effects Deflection Effects
Ref Compr'n Tension Normal Lateral Axial Pos Normal Pos Lateral Pos (kN) (kN) (kN) (kN) (mm) (m) (mm) (m) (mm) (m)
1 59.374 0.000 0.073 0.000 -0.63 1.500 -8.19 1.500 0.00 0.000
2 0.000 -9.387 0.068 0.000 -0.63 0.000 -14.21 1.500 0.00 0.000
3 0.000 -49.986 0.085 0.000 -0.53 0.000 -16.68 1.500 0.00 0.000
4 0.000 -49.986 -0.085 0.000 0.53 1.500 -16.68 0.000 0.00 0.000
5 0.000 -9.387 -0.068 0.000 0.63 1.500 -14.21 0.000 0.00 0.000
Max moment effects – produces a summary of maximum moment effects on specified members.
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Torsion Normal Lateral
Ref Anticlk Position
Clkwise Position
Max+ve Position
Max-ve Position
Max+ve Position
Max-ve Position (kNm) (m) (kNm) (m) (kNm) (m) (kNm) (m) (kNm) (m) (kNm) (m)
1 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.036 0.982 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
2 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.057 0.923 0.026 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
3 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.093 1.139 0.045 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
4 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.093 0.361 0.045 1.500 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
5 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.057 0.577 0.026 1.500 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
Max member stresses – produces a list of maximum axial and bending stresses in each member. The values are simply based on the maximum forces divided by the area or elastic modulus as appropriate. They are only an approximate guide and not intended as a substitute for a proper design. They are not reported for non-prismatic or haunched member types. Max Member Stresses For Combination Comb1 Member Load Axial Stresses (N/mm²) Bending Stresses (N/mm²)
Combination Normal Lateral
Compression Tension Positive Negative Positive Negative
1 Comb1 86.3 0.0 4.6 -0.0 0.0 0.0
2 Comb1 0.0 13.6 7.4 -3.3 0.0 0.0
3 Comb1 0.0 72.7 12.0 -5.8 0.0 0.0
4 Comb1 0.0 72.7 12.0 -5.8 0.0 0.0
5 Comb1 0.0 13.6 7.4 -3.3 0.0 0.0
Summation check – This produces a check on the total applied forces and moments against the total support moments and reactions to ensure a summation to 0.0. It acts a further QA check on the validity of the results. Of course it cannot guarantee that the model itself is appropriate to the structure. This is for the engineer and any independent checker to determine. Summation Check For Combination Comb1 Analysis Type : Linear elastic Effects Load factor : 1.0 Load Summation (kN) Moment Summation (kNm)
Loads Px Py Pz Mx My Mz
Member loads 0.0 -42.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 -188.9
Joint loads 0.0 -103.6 0.0 0.0 0.0 -466.2
Total loads 0.0 -145.6 0.0 0.0 0.0 -655.1
Reactions 0.0 145.6 0.0 0.0 0.0 655.1
Summations 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
The following results are available in A3D MAX only when a plastic analysis has been carried out. Plastic analysis res. Opt1 – This gives the plastic hinge formation history for each ‘plastic’ load combination.
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Hinge Load Member Hinge Local buckling no factor ref position classification
1 0.770 8 End 1 Not Avail Unhinge 0.791 8 End 1
3 0.923 5 End 2 Not Avail
Notes: Frame collapses with 2 hinges formed at load factor of 0.923 Plastic analysis res. Opt2 – This gives the plastic analysis results in terms of each hinge and is an alternative way of presenting the above data. Plastic Analysis Results
Ultimate load
Comb2
No.of hinges at Lf = 1.0 3 Hinge 1 - load factor 0.770 - member 8 - position (m) End 1 - local buckling class. Not Avail - unloaded factor 0.791
Hinge 2 - load factor 0.791 - member 4 - position (m) 7.485 - local buckling class. Not Avail - unloaded factor Not Applicable
Hinge 3 - load factor 0.923 - member 5 - position (m) End 2 - local buckling class. Not Avail - unloaded factor Not Applicable
The following results options are available if the CADS SW Member Designer is installed. SWMD Result Summary – This allows the summary of results obtained from CADS Steelwork Member Designer for jobs designed under Analyse3D verion2 and early A3D MAX version of the Grouping method. Steel Group Results Summary
Utilisation Factors Design Group
Reference
Template Reference
Analysis Section
Design Section Local
Capacity Lateral
Buckling Torsion Buckling
Deflection Design Status
Top leftcolspan1 305x165 UB40 305x165 UB46 0.521 0.981 0.521 n / a Passed Btm default 305x165 UB40 0.520 0.675 0.325 n / a Passed
Design Results Summary – This shows a summary of all the Design objects giving their type, status and any other messages that may be relevant. If you want more detailed
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Date: 01/08/03 information choose the table for the particular type of Design Object required. In this version only SW members are supported. Design Results Summary
Group Design object Design reference Referenc Type Code
Comments status
Top 1 SW Design BS5950:2000 Failed 2 SW Design BS5950:2000 Passed Btm 3 SW Design BS5950:2000 Passed 4 SW Design BS5950:2000 Passed
Steelwork Results – This shows the Design Results for SW Member types of Design Objects. It includes the status and utilisation factors for the Design object. Steelwork Design Results Design Member Template Analysis Design Utilisation Factors
Object Reference Reference Section Section Local Lateral Torsion Deflection Status Reference capacity buckling buckling
Group Reference - Top
1 7-12 Ex3-1 80x40x4.0 RHS 0.503 7.510 7.575 n / a Failed
Group Reference – Btm
2 1-6 Ex3-2 50x30x5.0 RHS 0.314 > 10 > 10 n / a Failed
Group Reference – end
3 13 defaults 50x30x4.0 RHS 0.466 0.888 n / a n / a Passed
4 19 defaults 50x30x4.0 RHS 0.466 0.888 n / a n / a Passed
Group Reference - Lacer
5 14 defaults 50x30x2.5 RHS 0.536 0.948 n / a n / a Passed
6 15 defaults 50x30x2.5 RHS 0.316 0.558 n / a n / a Passed
7 16 defaults 50x30x2.5 RHS 0.210 0.371 n / a n / a Passed
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Date: 01/08/03 1.13.4 Print order panel This is where you list the items of data you wish to output. Highlight the required items in the Data panel and use the ADD button to place the items in the Print order list.
Figure 1.21
You can use the up and down arrow buttons to change the order of the highlighted item. If you no longer wish to output an item, select it in the Print Order list and pick the remove button. You can now select more than one item or a block of items in the Print Order list and they can be moved as one group using the arrow buttons alongside. ‘Add All’ adds the entire list of items in the data panel to the print order. ‘Remove All’ removes all items from the print order. 1.13.5
1.13.6
1.13.7
‘Selection to print’ panel You can choose ‘Print all’, which will output the data items in the Print Order list for all the objects in the model, or ‘Use diagram selection’ to only output the data for those objects selected in the main view.
‘Combination results to print’ panel This list allows you to choose which combinations to include in the output. Highlight the combinations required by toggling them on or off.
Edit Header This option allows you to set up the page header that is divided into three panels. The left panel is reserved for your company logo, the middle panel for the Header Text data and the right panel for references, page information and authorship details. It also allows you to choose paper size and the start page no.
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Figure 1.22
Header Text – The Header Block Layout dialog contains the ‘Project description’ input field into which you may place any text you require for the Project description panel. Using the default font, this is up to 8 rows of 34 characters in width. References – The fields on the right correspond to the fixed printed items. Again with the default font, they allow up to 20 characters. More can be entered but this may overflow the box when printing.
Figure 1.23
Logo filename – Your company logo can be any ‘.bmp’ (Windows bit map) file and the program scales to fit a rectangle 55 x 30 mm. To maintain the correct measure, your logo should be drawn to the same proportions. To specify the file to be used, type the path and filename in the Filename panel or click on the Browse button and locate the file you require. The location of the file is saved with the job so that different logos can be used with each job, if desired. If the logo fails to appear on the printout or print preview, then it is probably because the logo file has been moved or erased.
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1.13.9
1.13.10
Save RTF Rich Text File format outputs in the same format as the current print settings. This option is not available if the Print Engine is disabled.
Output Methods The program offers several methods of outputting the data. The normal Windows Preview and Print methods plus some text output methods described in the next section. Since the program has to calculate the job before printing it, there is sometimes a slight delay before the output is started. 1.13.9.1 Preview This is the normal Windows Print Preview display which replaces the main view. Not only does this show how the printout will look it is also a useful way of producing selected results as an alternative to the Tabular Results dialog provided for reviewing the job. 1.13.9.2 Print Print initiates the normal Windows printer output to the current printer attached to your system.
Text Output In addition to printed output the program can create a text file or a special file for reading by the CAD Word Macro utility. 1.13.10.1 Word Macro The CADS Word Macro is specially written for the ‘Microsoft Word®’ word processor and imports the data from CADS Applications in a similar format to the printed output. The utility is provided on the Windows Support application that accompanies every CADS Design application. You will need Word Version 6 or later. If this option is chosen then picking the SAVE Text button will create an ‘.aft’ file which is a text file including format and diagram information to enable the Macro to create the document. 1.13.10.2 CADS Font Settings By default the Word Macro creates the document using Arial font. However, picking this setting forces the use of the currently specified output font. As this is also Arial by default you will not notice any difference unless the output font is changed. See Pick Font above for details. 1.13.10.3 Export the Macro file Having specified the output you require pick the ‘Save Text’ button to create the output ‘.aft’ file. A standard Windows file browser will open where you can place the file. By default it is the same folder as the current job data.
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Date: 01/08/03 1.13.10.4 Importing into ‘Word’ To create the output document in Word you should carry out the following operation from within Word: 1. Start a New document – pick ‘New…’ from the File menu which opens the ‘New’
dialog and choose the General tab. One of the templates shown should be called ‘CadsWordMacro.dot’. Choose that and ensure the ‘Create New’ option is set to Document. Pick OK. This opens a new instance of Word with the Macro loaded. Alternatively you can open the new document using the CADS Word Macro template shortcut set up when the Macro was installed.
2. Pick ‘CADS’ Tool button – this opens a standard windows file browser where you can
choose the CADS Macro ‘.aft’ file to import. By default the browser will open on the directory where the last .aft file was saved. A new document is created and the file imported. The program then formats the data and informs you when it is complete. The new document may be edited and added to any normal Word document.
Note that any subsequent change in the job is NOT reflected in this document. You will need to create a new document in that event. 1.13.10.5 Comma and Tab Separated text The data can be saved as a comma separated (.csv) or plain text (.txt) file. The former is useful for reading by database or spreadsheet applications and the latter is useful for reading into any word processor or text editor. No diagrams are included with the file. Choose the required option and pick ‘Save Text’ to open a standard Windows file browser for you to place the file. By default it is the same folder as the current job data. 1.14
1.15
1.16
Print Preview… This shows the normal Windows Print Preview display, which replaces the main view. It opens the Print Layout dialog for you to set up the output as described under the section ‘Print…’ above. Not only does this show how the printout will look but it is also a useful way of producing selected results as an alternative to the Tabular Results dialog provided for reviewing the job. If you have a large job with many load combinations and request full data then this can take some time to prepare before displaying.
Print Setup… This opens the Windows Print Manager ‘Print Setup’ dialog. This enables you to specify the settings appropriate to your printer. The dialog options will depend on the printer and drivers you have installed. See your printer manual for details.
Modify Protection This dialog allows you to modify the protection on your system. The options available vary according to the nature of your installation.
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1.18
1.19 Exit
Send To This option enables you to send the job directly to an e-mail recipient. If you have an e-mail application available on your machine then this will start a new e-mail with the current job attached ready for you to send. See your e-mail software manual for details of using that application.
Recent Files The penultimate part of the menu lists the most recent files opened by A3D MAX. Normally this shows four names but the number may vary according to your system settings. This is a useful facility for finding frequently opened jobs.
This closes the application. If a job has been changed since you last saved you will be asked if you wish to save it. In common with normal Windows practice the small cross at the top right of the main title bar also closes the application.
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2.0 Edit Menu
Figure 2.1
This menu allows access to the usual Windows editing functions. It also enables you to edit the properties of the objects in the model, which is a powerful feature of the program. 2.1 Undo
This allows previous steps to be undone. The menu item reports the last step carried out and picking that or the toolbar button will undo that step. Picking the little arrow next to the toolbar button opens a list of steps and you can undo several in one go. Use Undo with caution as many actions apply several steps at once. Generally it is easier to control if you undo one step at a time particularly if you are uncertain as to the exact point you wish to return to. 2.2 Cut
This removes selected objects from the model and places them in the clipboard. Note that loads applied to members or joints, which are cut but not selected themselves will be cut also and placed in the clipboard. These objects are not available to other applications. 2.3 Copy
This copies selected objects from the model and places them in the clipboard. Note that loads cannot be copied on their own. They need to be copied with the members or joints to which they are applied. Panels which need to be copied should be selected along with supporting members, at least on two opposite edges. Panel loads will be copied if selected in the view. The objects copied are not available to other applications. 2.4 Paste
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This allows objects in the clipboard to be placed in the model. The objects are shown in the main view ghosted and can be dragged into position. The objects can be attached to an existing joint in the model or if ‘dropped’ on the main view background can be placed at specified co-ordinates. 2.4.1 Dragging the objects
Figure 2.2
When the clipboard objects are to be pasted they appear in ghosted form in the main view with the pointer (in crosshair form) over one of the joints. This is called the ‘Anchor Joint’ and is the joint by which the objects are attached to the model or placed at specified co-ordinates. Note that if a member is placed on the clipboard without end joints they will be added automatically when it is pasted. While the objects are being dragged you can rotate the objects and change the Anchor Joint using the Pop up menu (right mouse click). 2.4.1.1 Pick Anchor joint This option allows you to change the anchor joint, which is chosen by the program, to any other as required for attaching or placing the objects. The objects to be pasted are temporarily suspended while you pick the required joint.
Figure 2.3
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Version:3.0
Date: 01/08/03 2.4.1.2 Rotating the objects There are a number of options that allow you to rotate the objects so they may be placed as required. Rotate – opens a Transform dialog in which you may specify the degree of rotation in three axes about the anchor joint. The axes are parallel to the global axis system. While you may enter a rotation about more than one axis it is easier to predict the behaviour if rotations about more than one axis are done one at a time.
Figure 2.4
Set rotate Snaps – this opens the dialog in which a preset degree of rotation can be specified. By default it is 90°. This is particularly useful when copying radial members in a circular structure.
Figure 2.5
Rotate X, Y, Z – these three options apply the preset rotation about the particular axis chosen. 2.4.1.3 Cancel Pasting This option cancels the current pasting operation but leaves the objects on the clipboard. 2.4.2 Placing in position If the pasted objects being dragged are dropped over the main view background, then the Transformation dialog is opened so that the location of the anchor joint may be specified.
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Figure 2.6
2.4.2.1 Relative This option offsets the anchor joint relative to its original position by the amount specified for each direction parallel to the global axes. This option is currently disabled. 2.4.2.2 Absolute ‘Absolute’ places the anchor joint at the specified global co-ordinates. Picking the ‘Tick’ places the objects whereas picking the ‘Cross’ resumes the dragging. 2.4.3
2.4.4
2.4.5
Attaching to model If the anchor joint of the pasted objects being dragged is dropped over an existing joint then the objects are attached to the existing model at that point.
Incorporating the objects Once the pasted objects have been placed the program incorporates their data into the model. For instance joints that are coincident within 1 mm are merged retaining the original joint and support data. Members that lie exactly over existing members and are of identical length replace the originals, as do any loads that they carry. You are advised to be careful when copying that a series of members does not overlay existing members accidentally. Although members of identical length cannot overlay, it is possible to lay one member over two which sum to an equal length. This condition is not easy to see. However the program does detect this as part of its pre-calculation checks and reports the error.
Copying across jobs The clipboard can also be used to copy geometric data (i.e. joints and member data) between different jobs. If you copy members etc. from one job into the clipboard they can be pasted into another job running in a different instance of A3D MAX. This is very useful for handling standard components such as trusses and other repeating elements.
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Date: 01/08/03 Note this does not transfer loads and the object references may change to avoid conflict with existing objects. 2.5 Delete
2.6
2.7 Properties…
This option deletes selected objects from the model. Generally deletion removes the instances of an object not the types. Hence deleting members does not delete the member type, and deleting loads does not delete the load type. If you wish to delete those you can delete them explicitly from there Editors. Normally all instances of their use have to be removed first. Not noted in the menu but the ‘Delete’ key is the hot key for this operation.
Copy Bitmap This copies the current view as a Windows bit map .bmp image to the clipboard. This image is then available to paste into other applications that can read .bmp file such as word processors. This is particularly useful for adding additional diagrams to reports prepared using the CADS word Macro (see the File Menu – text output above).
This option opens the properties dialogs for any selected objects. Properties can also be accessed by picking objects when in ‘Info mode’ using the toolbar button. Object properties can be accessed from the pop up menu when the right mouse button is clicked over an object. If more than one object type is selected the dialog will show the data in common or ‘varies’ or ‘multiple’ where the data is different across the objects. This is a very powerful feature as the setting can be changed so that all the selected objects can have the same attributes applied. 2.7.1 Member Properties Every member has a number of attributes that determine its behaviour. The term ‘attributes’ is used because they extend beyond the normal physical properties of the member. Some affect how it is placed in the model, some its stiffness and some its behaviour under plastic analysis. Although a limited number of the most frequently changed attributes can be set in the Member Editor, the Member Attributes dialog offers control over all of them. The Member Attributes dialog shows an illustration of the member and its reference and member type. You can change the reference in the top left field and assign another member type from the list below it. In addition, there are four 'property pages' containing the additional attributes: 2.7.1.1 Properties The Properties page (as illustrated above) shows the basic properties of the member, such as its length, slope and location. You can change the member handing, orientation
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Date: 01/08/03 and end fixity details here but other pages allow greater control, details of which are given below.
Figure 2.7
To the right of the properties data is an explorer window that shows the selected members. Expanding this tree allows you to get information about the various objects associated with those members. 2.7.1.2 General This page shows placing information, i.e. orientation and handing together with summaries of end fixity and plastic limits, details of which are given below. You can also control the directional behaviour of the member. Orientation – this controls the rotation of the member about its longitudinal axis. 0° is the default, where the member cross section is 'vertical' about the major axis. 90° is the minor axis orientation with the rotation being anticlockwise viewed from end 1 (start) of the member. Any other angle can be entered from -180° to +180°. Handing – this controls the orientation in which asymmetrical sections are placed. The default is Right handing and this corresponds to the way members' cross sections are shown in the structural section tables or their elements definition. This is mainly to assist design and detailing applications, as the handing is not relevant to the analysis in this program version. The buttons below these fields offer some useful preset orientation and handing combinations, which vary according to the member type symmetry.
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Figure 2.8
Directional Behaviour – members can be constrained to only act in one direction using this attribute. There are three options:
Normal (reversible) - is the normal behaviour whereby a member can sustain both compression and tension. Compression only - set this option if the member can only sustain compression.
Tension only - set this option if the member can only sustain tension.
The compression or tension only settings can be temporarily suspended by clearing the ‘Tension/compression’ tick box in the Analysis Options dialog. This is useful in examining the structure, if it is unstable, without having to change the individual member settings before an analysis. 2.7.1.3 Partial fixity When members are added to the model they are assumed to be connected to the joints at their ends. There are four options that control the degree of rotational fixity of the member end to the joint. These are: Fixed – in which the member is considered to be rigidly fixed to the joint. This means that any moment at the member ends can be transmitted to any other similarly fixed member or support. Pinned – in this case the end connection is assumed to be free to rotate in the member major and minor axes but not twist about the longitudinal axis. This implies torsional rigidity in the connection. Ball – in this case the member is free to rotate in both major and minor axes and about the longitudinal. Be careful when using this option as it is easy to produce an unstable model. Take particular care to only have a ball fixity at one end of a member because if
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Date: 01/08/03 both ends are specified as ball then the member is theoretically able to spin. The program detects this condition and issues a warning as part of the Analysis calculation pre-check.
Figure 2.9 Partial fixity – enables you to specify any degree of fixity about the major or minor axes for the ends of the member. This option has particular relevance to steelwork design for which BS5950 and other codes and design authorities now provide guidance for frames with connections offering partial fixity as well as fully rigid and `simple’ types. Partial fixity can be expressed in one of three ways chosen by setting the appropriate radio button:
Proportion of full fixity - is a factor in the range from 0.01 to 0.99. A factor of 1.0 would represent a fully rigid connection. This is usually the most convenient and intuitive option for beams.
Proportion of member stiffness - is a factor in the range from 0.01 to 100. The spring stiffness is derived from the member stiffness when the analysis is carried out. The actual stiffness value used will therefore change if the member or its length is changed. The member proportional stiffness of a fully rigid connection would be infinite. This option is useful for modeling partially fixed bases, which in BS 5950 clause 5.1.2.4 are related to the stiffness of the supported column. In this application you would specify the support as fully fixed but apply partial fixity to the column member.
Absolute stiffness - is a stiffness value from 10 to 1e20 kNm/radian. This allows a fixed value, which will not vary even if the member or its length is changed.
The values at the lower end of the range are effectively 'free' rotations and the upper end effectively 'fixed'. If you change the option settings, the program will attempt to offer a default based on a conversion of the existing value but in the case of multiple selections, this is not possible for the proportion of member stiffness option.
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Date: 01/08/03 2.7.1.4 Plastic Limits With A3D MAX you can carry out a plastic analysis and this page enables you to specify member constraints relevant to that analysis.
Figure 2.10
It would normally only need to be accessed if a plastic analysis is to be undertaken. You are advised to consult the section 'Plastic Analysis' for more details but the data required is described below. Each End panel has settings for member and connection limits. These limits relate to the member local section axes only and are requested in terms of hogging, sagging and lateral resistance moments. Hogging moments are entered in absolute terms, i.e. it is not necessary for the conventional negative sign to be entered. Lateral resistance moments are assumed to be the same in both directions.
Member plastic limit option – for members the plastic limit options are ‘Unlimited’, ‘Auto Mpr’, ‘Auto Mp’ and ‘Specified’. Unlimited – This is the default setting for members other than those selected from the CADS steelwork section library (SW members) and is effectively the same as applied to all members for normal elastic analysis. Note that SW haunched and tapered members are forced into this option. If you require plastic analysis of a steel structure with haunched members you should specify the haunched lengths as separate tapered SW haunch members and the uniform portions as normal SW members. Auto Mpr – This carries out the automatic calculation of the reduced plastic resistance moments allowing for coexistent axial and shear forces for steel I, box and circular hollow sections from the SW Library in grade 43, 50 or 55 steel. Other shapes and steel grades may be included in future versions. Auto Mp – This carries out the automatic calculation of the simple plastic resistance moments without axial/shear reduction for steel I, channel, box and
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circular hollow sections from the SW Library. Other shapes may be included in future versions. This option is included to allow testing against text book examples which usually do not include for axial and shear reductions. It is of limited practical use because any members containing plastic hinges and axial force will fail the local capacity check in CADS SWMD. Specified – This option allows you to define the limiting resistance moments for a member. It is normally used where the resistance moments and their dependency on coexisting axial and shear forces cannot be calculated automatically from the current library data, e.g. other metal and RC sections. The local member inputs are enabled under this setting. The initial default value is 1.0E20 i.e. unlimited. The range is 0.0 to 1.0E20 kNm. Tick the ‘Constant’ box if you require one resistance moment to be applied throughout the member. Un-tick the box if you wish to input different moments for different zones and for sagging and hogging modes. Validity checks are not applied to ensure that any standard steel sections or other types chosen are in fact suitable for plastic analysis. This is the responsibility of the user. However if steel members containing hinges are calculated under the AutoMpr option, the collapse analysis results will report the local buckling classification of the section where each hinge forms as ‘plastic’, ‘compact’, ‘semi-compact’ or ‘slender’ as defined in BS5950 pt 1. A judgement may then be made as to whether there is sufficient rotational capacity to develop the full mechanism. Connection Limiting Moment - The connection plastic limit is similar to the member specified limit but is intended to represent the plastic moment capacity of the connection attached to the member end rather than the member itself. Tick the ‘Specify’ box if you wish to apply connection resistance moments in a plastic analysis. Un-ticking the box has the effect of applying unlimited connection resistance moments. This is the default condition. The initial default value is 1.0E20 i.e. unlimited. The range is 0.0 to 1.0E20 kNm. This option enables you to specify partial strength moment connections.
2.7.2 Joint Properties The Joint Properties dialog shows both objects associated with the joint and its support condition.
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Figure 2.11 Figure 2.12 2.7.2.1 General The data associated with the joint is shown as follows:
Reference – alongside the joint symbol is the name of the joint. Position – is the co-ordinate location of the joint. Support summary – shows the support type or free if it is un-supported. Joint tree – the panel near the middle of the dialog shows an explorer view of the joint and can be expanded to show the objects associated with the joint. Common applied load types – this lists the loads applied to the joint.
2.7.2.2 Support This shows details of the support condition for a joint.
Reference – alongside the joint symbol is the name of the joint Restraint type – shows the support type or free if it is un-supported. The panel also contains settings for the support restraints as described below. You can also select the predefined support types or others you have created in the job.
New Support – this button allows you to create a new support type. Once picked it will offer a default name in the restraint type field which you can amend and you can then set the restraints as required. Translation – defines the restraint against movement in the three global axes. There are three options ‘Fixed’, ‘Free’ and ‘Spring’. Fixed applies a very high
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stiffness to model a rigid restraint. Free applies no restraint in that direction, it is equivalent to a roller. Spring allows you to specify a resistance in kN/mm. Rotation – defines the restraint against rotation about the three global axes. There are three options ‘Fixed’, ‘Free’ and ‘Spring’. Fixed applies a very high stiffness to model a rigid restraint. Free applies no restraint in that direction, it is equivalent to a pin. Spring allows you to specify a resistance in kNm/radian. Lift off – this is to allow the joint to lift off if subject to uplift forces but still retain its restraint under downward ones. This could be useful in situations where you are modelling a bearing which does not have significant holding down capacity. There is an option in the Analysis Options to temporarily disable this setting which can be of help in assessing instabilities in the structure without having to turn the Lift off options individually. Edit – Allows you to modify the ‘spring’ values if specified.
2.7.3 Panel Properties
Panel properties dialog shows the panel view on the top in the panel local co-ordinate system. It contains four property pages that are described below. 2.7.3.1 General This page contains the basic properties of the panel. Panel reference – This is a name given to each panel to identify it. Panel thickness – as the name suggests, is the thickness of the panel. A panel has a constant thickness. This property is used in point, line and patch load disribution. Alignment – a panel may be aligned relative to its top or bottom surfaces, its mid thickness, or offset by a specified amount. This alignment is relative to a plane through the defining joints. If the ‘User defined’ option is set, then the Offset field is enabled so that it may be specified. Note that the top and bottom faces are +ve and –ve offsets of half the panel thickness respectively. Further offsets can be defined so as to represent finishes in addition to this. Rigidity – panels can be ascribed a rigidity which affects how the joints displace relative to each other. The main use for this is to allow a panel to act as a rigid diaphragm, which is how many slabs do in practice. There are two states:
Non-rigid – in this condition the panel’s joints are free to move (unless they are supports themselves) under the influence of the loading so that the panel can deform in any way. This is the default setting.
Rigid plane – in this condition the panel joints cannot displace relative to each other in the plane of the panel. This means the panel always maintains its original shape. The panel can however deform normal to its plane. The panel can also be displaced and rotated bodily in respect of the whole structure.
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Date: 01/08/03 There are some limitations in the use of the rigid panels (i.e. panels that are not ‘non-rigid’) to avoid conflicts within the mathematical model. 1. A rigid panel cannot have a supported joint. 2. Rigid panels in different planes cannot share a common joint. For instance, you can have layers of rigid slabs but you cannot intersect them with a rigid wall.
Figure 2.13 Material type – panels may be constructed with any material as specified in the materials library. Edge fixity – The edges of a panel may be regarded as ‘Simply supported, Restrained or Free’. The proportion of load reactions at the panel edges is dependent on the distribution and fixity conditions of the edges. By default all edges of a panel are assigned simply supported. Actual edge fixity depends on continuity of the panel, which is defined by panels / overhang adjacent to the panel under consideration within its plane. If one or more edges of a panel are not fully populated with members it becomes a free edge. In order to automatically update ‘edge fixity’ on model changes, you need to enable the ‘Auto Edge Fixity Update’ configuration item. This will update ‘edge fixity’ of all panels when a new panel or overhang is created or deleted. The user can change ‘edge fixity’ from ‘simply supported’ to ‘restrained’ and vice versa. This property will be used in panel load distribution using the grid method.
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Date: 01/08/03 2.7.3.2 Load distribution scheme ‘Load distribution scheme’ page allows you to specify how loads applied to the panel are distributed to its supports. The scheme can be set individually for loads acting normal to the panel and loads acting in the plane of the panel.
Figure 2.14
2.7.3.2.1 Normal These loads are normal to the local x-z plane of the panel (positive load acts in local y towards the panel). Normal distribution scheme deals with loads normal to the panel e.g. most surface loads. The options are:- Two way – where the load is assumed to distribute in two perpendicular directions towards all edges of the panel. One-way Solid – where the load is distributed in a specified direction to opposite edges of the panel. In this case you can specify the direction. This represents load distribution in most RC slabs with isotropic properties.
One-way distribution axis – If ‘One-way Solid’ distribution is set then this option is enabled. In general there are two choices of load distribution to edge1 and 3 or
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edge2 and 4. If one of the edges is free (no members or partially populated edge) then only the valid option is available.
One-way Ribbed – where the load is distributed in a specified direction to opposite edges of the panel. In this case you can specify the direction of ribs. This represents load distribution in most one-way systems with minimal transverse stiffness.
Ribs perpendicular to – If ‘One-way Ribbed’ option is set then this option is enabled. In general there are four options to choose – edge1, edge2, edge3, edge4, but if one of the edges is free then only two options are available. For example if edge 2 is free then edge1 and edge3 are the possible options available to choose.
The ribs can be viewed in the main view in rendered model. Triangular panels have only ‘One-way Ribbed’ and ‘Two way’ options available. 2.7.3.2.2 In-plane In-plane loads are those that act in the local x-z plane of the panel. In-plane distribution scheme deals with loads in the plane of the panel e.g. bearing loads on a wall. The options are:- Two way – where the load is assumed to distribute in two perpendicular directions towards all edges of the panel. One-way – where the load is distributed in a specified direction to opposite edges of the panel. This option is available only for quadrilateral panels.
One-way distribution axis – If ‘One-way’ distribution is set then this option is enabled. There are two choices of load distribution to edge1 and 3 or edge2 and 4. If one of the edges is free then only one option is present.
Bearing – Load is transferred in bearing. For example, the program finds the members that are perpendicular or inclined less than 90 deg., to the loads and transfers to them, i.e. the load is assumed to distribute in compression to the edge. Hanging – is opposite to bearing, where the load is assumed to distribute in tension to the edge. Please note the proportion of load reactions at the panel edges is dependant on the distribution and fixity conditions of the edges. 2.7.3.3 Loads ‘Loads page’ in panel properties allows you to create, edit and delete variety of panel loads. The spreadsheet lists are the applied loads to selected panels and is non editable. Panel point, line and patch loads are new loads and explicitly intended for application to panels. These loads may be placed anywhere on a panel and is applied normal to the panel. The load is then distributed to the panel supports according to the load distribution defined. The old method of defining area loads is no longer valid. Area loads now need to be applied to panels. It can be applied in both local and global directions.
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Date: 01/08/03 The directions are normal, in the plane of the panel (local X and Z directions), vertical, horizontal and transverse. Area loads in old jobs will be converted to panel area loads.
Figure 2.15
To create a panel load pick the load type from the palette, which has four icons of point load, line load, patch load and area load. Picking load type opens an individual dialog where the required data is entered. Clicking on ‘Create’ in the individual dialog creates the load on the selected panels after load position validation. Please note the dialog allows to create multiple loads (stays open after load creation until) without having to open for each load definition. Loads as created are shown both in the main view and the view above in panel properties dialog. Area loads are defined, edited and deleted from ‘Load editor’ dialog. It can also be applied and deleted from ‘Loads’ page of panel properties dialog. Area Load – is a constant load applied to the whole surface of the panel. Load direction, category and intensity are specified. An area load can also be applied to an overhang, which is then transferred to the supporting member.
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Date: 01/08/03 Point Load - is a concentrated load applied at a particular position in the panel. A positive panel point load acts in the normal direction away from it. The category, intensity, and location in the plane of the panel are specified. Line Load - is a linear load applied along the panel in normal direction. In this case the category, start and end intensities and locations are specified. Patch – is a uniform load applied to a specified triangular or quadrilateral area normal to the panel. Any other shape needs to be defined with multiple patch loads. In this case the load category, intensity and each corner location of the load are specified. Patch defined should be such that the internal angles of the quadrilateral are not more than 180 degrees. If it is so then the last point will be omitted and the patch would be considered as a triangular one. Point, Line and Patch Loads need the load position to be specified. The location can be entered either through the edit fields or by picking graphically. The location is with respect to the local panel axis. Please see topic on Panel local co-ordinate system for axis definition. 2.7.3.3.1 Graphical entry of load co-ordinates ‘Panel Graphics Tool’ aids input of panel load co-ordinates. This is placed in the top view
of panel properties dialog. Choosing the option from individual load creation dialog (point, line, patch) transfers the control to the tool. The status bar just below the diagram in the tool prompts the user with appropriate messages. During a graphical session load co-ordinates can be entered through the box below the panel view adjacent to the snap button. Double clicking on the graphic tool’s view ends the current session. To enable picking, click on "Pick graphically" option button. Once it is clicked the edit fields for load position will be emptied. They will be subsequently filled with the points picked. Point load – The status bar below the tool prompts – ‘Pick point 1 of 1 for point load’. Once the point is clicked it is marked in red with a ‘+’ sign. Click on ‘Create’ to create the load. Point load created is represented with a dot ‘.’ Line load – The status bar prompts – ‘Pick point 1 of 2 for line load’. Once picked you will notice a dashed rubber-band line in red from the picked point to the current cursor position. The message then says ‘Pick point 2 for line load’. Picking the second point positions the dashed line. The co-ordinates can be adjusted to the required decimal place if desired. Clicking ‘Create’ creates the line load. Patch load – The status bar prompts – ‘Pick point 1 of 4 for patch load’. Spreadsheet gets filled on picking the points. If you want to create a 3-sided patch after picking the third point double click on the tool’s view. You will notice a four-sided figure in the view but the spreadsheet shows only 3 points, which confirms triangular patch. Double clicking any time in between will cancel the picking operation.
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Date: 01/08/03 Loads are shown in the colour of load category. Load created is also shown in the main view if the appropriate load toggle is ON. 2.7.3.3.2 Editing panel loads All panel loads created except for area loads can be edited from the loads page of the panel properties dialog. To edit a load created select the load from the spreadsheet and click on the ‘Edit’ button. This opens the appropriate loads page. Load co-ordinates, intensity and category can be edited. 2.7.3.4 Overhangs This page lists all the overhangs applied to selected panels. It also lists the loads applied to the overhang. Overhang type and width can be edited for trapezoidal and circular overhang. For rectangular overhang only the width field is editable.
Figure 2.16
2.7.4 Overhang Properties
The overhang properties can be edited through the ‘Overhang Editor’ dialog.
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Figure 2.17
For rectangular overhang only the width field is editable. For circular and trapezoidal overhang both overhang type and width can be changed. Changes are validated and set on pressing ‘OK’. 2.7.5 Load Properties
Figure 2.18
The Load properties dialog shows the load and its related objects with an option to show the load type definition. 2.7.5.1 General This shows the load reference and below that an explorer panel which can be expanded to show the object related to the load. By setting the tick box below the panel the load type properties are displayed. 2.7.5.2 Load type properties This shows details of the load as specified in the Load Editor. More details of properties are described under the Load Editor. Load reference – this is the name given to the load.
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Figure 2.19
Type – is the generic type of load i.e. Joint, Uniform, Trapezoidal etc.
Direction – is the specified direction of the load. The range of possibilities depend on the type of load. Category – is a description of its nature as a dead, imposed, or wind load etc. and is used to assist in the analysis and design of the model. Start and End size – are the intensities of the load at its start and in cases where it can vary its end. End 1 Position and Loaded Length – are the position of the start of the load and its length where applicable.
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3.0 View Menu
Figure 3.1
This menu allows you to view the model in various ways and to set up the toolbars as you wish. 3.1 Toolbars This opens the standard Windows Customize dialog where you can choose which toolbars to display and edit their content. You can also create your own. Set the tick boxes to turn the tool bars on or off. From the Commands page you can drag buttons onto the tool bar. The toolbars provide a quick means of accessing the most common functions. They are arranged in a logical order.
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Figure 3.2
The top row contains the Standard, Geometry, Loads and Results toolbars. By working left to right along them you follow a natural order for creating and analysis a frame. These are described in other sections of this guide.
Figure 3.3
The second row contains the View, Preset views and Display toolbars. These are described in this section.
Figure 3.4
Below the main view are the Tree, Selection, and Tools toolbars for manipulating the model. They are described elsewhere in this guide. 3.2 Status bar
Figure 3.5
The Status bar is located below the main view. It is used mainly to report the status of the selection lock, used when transforming the model, and offsets when moving objects or stretching the model. The co-ordinate fields expand to show the appropriate values.
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Figure 3.6
The Explorer Window alongside the main view shows the objects in the model and can be toggled on and off. By default it lists the members. The objects can be expanded to show the other objects associated with them. This can be a useful way of interrogating the model. There are a number of options available from the Explorer by clicking the right mouse button over different objects. 3.3.1 Explorer control
Figure 3.7
Clicking the right mouse button over the background of the Explorer window can control the appearance of the object tree. The explorer tree now has some controls to make it
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Date: 01/08/03 easier to use. The controls are placed on a new Tree Operation toolbar that is located below the explorer tree by default. Allow docking – causes the window to be incorporated with the main window rather than as a separate window. Hide – closes the explorer window. You can re-open it by picking Explorer Window in the view menu. See above.
Expand all - expands all the objects completely.
Expand one level –expands all objects by one level. Picking successively will produce a complete expansion of all the objects.
Collapse all - closes all the expanded objects down to the basic list.
Collapse one level – closes all the expanded objects down to the preceding object in the list.
3.3.2
Object menu If you click the right mouse button over an object the pop up menu shows various options depending on the state of the model.
Figure 3.8
Draw object as – allows you to choose stick or render mode of display (see below for details). Properties – open the properties dialog for the object (see the previous section). Add to Group – allows you to add an object that is not already part of a group, to any existing group. Objects may be members, joints, loads etc. This opens with a submenu of Simple, Design and Layout group objects from which the user can select which group to add on. Remove from Group – allows to take a particular member or object out of the group. The object still exists but it is no longer associated with the group. A pop up menu similar to
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Date: 01/08/03 ‘add to group’ helps to choose which group to remove it from. Choosing the ‘all’ option removes the member/object from all groups.
Figure 3.9
Rename Group – allows editing the name of group defined earlier. Remove Group – completely deletes the group along with its objects. This merely causes removal of group references.
Figure 3.10
Remove Design Object – deletes the selected design object. Only the design object is deleted while the member still exists. 3.4 Zoom There are a number of zoom functions available.
Figure 3.11
Note that you can also use a wheel mouse whereby rotating the wheel zoom in and out. For non-wheel mouse users if you press the ‘Z’ key while dragging the pointer up and down this also zooms in and out.
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Date: 01/08/03 3.4.1 Zoom window
This zooms to the area defined by a box that you drag out in the main view. 3.4.2 Zoom Extents
This forces the view to zoom to the extents of the model. The Advanced sub menu has some particular extents controls, which are also available from the sub toolbar attached to the arrow adjoining the Extents tool button.
Figure 3.12
Extents Selected – zooms to the extent of selected objects in the main view.
Extents All Windows – zoom extents the view in all open windows. Useful for multiple views.
Extents Selected All Windows – zooms to the selected objects in all open windows. Extents Exclude Grid – not available.
3.4.3 Zoom Manual
This allows you to zoom in and out by dragging the pointer up and down the view. The option is cancelled immediately you release the mouse button. 3.4.4 Zoom Previous
This restores the previous zoom setting. It can also be used to toggle between the last two zoom settings. 3.5 Rotate
This control allows you to rotate the view by dragging the pointer. It is cancelled immediately the button is released. You can also use the ‘R’ key as a hot key. Note that vertical members are always constrained to remain vertical even if foreshortened. This avoids the confusion that can arise if the model can be rotated about all of its axes.
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This control allows you to ‘slide’ the model around the view. It is cancelled immediately the button is released. For wheel-mouse users keeping the button pressed while dragging the pointer also operates the pan. In addition you can use the ‘P’ key as a hot key. If the model extends beyond the main view you can also use the scroll bars to pan the view. 3.7 Info Mode
While in this mode if you click on an object in the main view its properties dialog will open. This gives you detailed information about the object as described under ‘Edit > Properties’ in the previous section. 3.8 Render The model can be displayed in seven ways. The toggle alternates between the ‘Stick model’ and whichever ‘Rendered model’ is currently set. The options can be accessed from a sub menu or through the sub toolbar attached to the arrow adjoining the render tool button.
Figure 3.13
3.8.1 Stick model
Figure 3.14
The members are displayed as lines and the labels are also simple characters drawn over the model. This is the quickest to draw and the recommended mode for most purposes.
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Figure 3.15
This shows members in full detail with shading and thickness to flanges etc. The labels are also presented within a filled background so they maintain clarity. This is set by picking the ‘High quality full render’ option. 3.8.3 Low quality full render
Figure 3.16
This shows member shapes but details such as thickness are suppressed and the shading is limited. The labels are plain characters similar to the stick model. This is useful for obtaining an adequate view of the model for confirming orientations etc., and also quicker to draw than the high quality render. This can be useful in large jobs on slower machines.
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Date: 01/08/03 3.8.4 High quality full wire frame
Figure 3.17
This option shows wire frames with member thickness. 3.8.5 Low quality full wire frame
This option shows wire frames without thickness. This is the quickest render mode.
Figure 3.18
3.8.6 High quality hidden wire frame
This shows wire frames with hidden line removal and member thickness.
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Figure 3.19
3.8.7 Low quality hidden wire frame
Figure 3.20
This shows wire frames with hidden line removal without thickness. 3.9 Partial views
Large and complex models can often be confusing to view from whatever the angle or the size zoomed. Partial view allows you to show just the selected objects effectively filtering out extraneous information. You can clear the selection and process the object in a partial view just like a full view. However, if you add objects or operate the toggles (see below) you may find some stray additional objects being drawn as they have been added to the internal view list. This feature can be useful when used in conjunction with multiple views. 3.10 Restore Full view
This restores the current partial view to a full view.
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Date: 01/08/03 3.11 View A number of standard views are set up so that you can view the model in the principal planes together with an isometric view. The direction of view should be self-explanatory. In each case the model is viewed to its extents.
Figure 3.21
3.12
3.12.1
Preset Views
Figure 3.22 In addition to the standard views you can set up your own views and save them as part of the job so that they can be used during subsequent editing sessions. These views retain their zoom settings and also partial view characteristics if appropriate. This enables you to easily look at particular parts of the model repeatedly without having to set up the view each time. A major new feature has been introduced which allows views to be saved and output to the printer as a series of diagrams in various formats. Note that these new features are not available when the Print Engine is disabled.
Preset Views
This shows a list of preset views from which you can choose the one to view. The preset button opens a dialog, which lists the views already created. It will be blank in the first instance. This dialog offers three controls. 3.12.1.1 Capture This button will capture the existing selection including the results settings and view angle and zoom etc which you then name so that it can be retrieved later. In addition to the name, which appears above the diagram when printed, you can also add a caption. This appears centred below the diagram and can be up to 255 characters long. The caption will wrap around to fit the width of the output available.
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Date: 01/08/03 3.12.1.2 Edit This allows you to change the name of an existing preset view or edit its caption. Click on one to select it first. 3.12.1.3 Delete This allows you to delete an existing view. Click on one to select it first. 3.12.2
3.13
3.13.1
Capture Preset View This open the same dialog to capture the existing selection including the results settings and view angle and zoom etc which you then name so that it can be retrieved later. These Preset Views are saved with the job so that they can be used on subsequent editing sessions.
Toggles Display toggles control all objects that appear in the model. They can be turned on or off. This can simplify the display of complex models.
Toggle Objects
The Object toggles control the display of the physical objects in the model such as joints, members, panels, overhangs loads and panel loads, and also the results. The graphical results have separate controls for the particular results. The design objects only change the display if there are design results available.
Figure 3.23
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The Labels toggles control the display of object labels. The labels only appear if the objects are displayed. The appearance of the labels depends on the render settings (see below) and the size setting in the Configuration.
Figure 3.24
3.13.3 Toggle Tool-tips
This toggle controls the display of tool-tips in the main view. The tool-tips give basic information about the objects they pass over. Joints & Supports – this shows the joint reference, and co-ordinates. If it is a support the support type is also shown. Members – shows the member reference, member type, and its orientation. Loads – shows the load reference, types and intensity and position values. Results Graphics – This shows the joint displacements when the deflection graph is shown. Otherwise, it shows the key values for the other effects if poised near the curve or the ordinate value if over an ordinate. 3.14 Refresh All Windows When various changes are made to the model the main view is updated as well as the explorer view. In order to speed up the normal usage a full refresh is not always called after every update. This can sometimes mean that the explorer window selection may not always be in step with the main view. Picking this option ensures that it is.
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Figure 3.25
The objects in the main list in the Explorer tree can be changed using the sort facility. Click the right mouse button over the background of Explorer window or title of the job and open the sub menu of the ‘Sort By’ item on the pop up menu. No objects may appear if the model does not contain any of the chosen type. The same can also be accessed from View > Sort by.
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4.0 Selection Menu
Figure 4.1
The Selection menu allows you to carry out editing operations on selected objects in the model. These operations modify the model in various ways such as moving, stretching, scaling and rotating parts of it. They are known generally as Transformations. 4.1 Normal
This is the default setting for selections. In this mode a selection merely creates a list (or selection) of objects to which to apply some process. The program uses normal windows selection methods by default. 4.1.1
4.1.2
Picking Picking an object will highlight it as selected (the colour can be set in the configuration) and deselect any others. To make multiple selections press CTRL while picking further objects. Picking a selected object will deselect it.
Selection box You can also select objects using selection boxes. If you pick on the background and drag the mouse you will see a box form, which is the selection box. This has two modes of operation. In both cases you can use more than one box to make selections by pressing CTRL while dragging the box. 4.1.2.1 Enclosing box If you drag from left to right this forms an enclosing box, which selects all the objects totally contained within it. 4.1.2.2 Crossing box
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Date: 01/08/03 If you drag from right to left this forms a box which selects all objects enclosed within it and any object which crosses its boundary. 4.1.3
4.2
Clearing the selection To clear a selection double click the background.
Move
This allows a part of the model to be moved to a different location. It acts directly on the model and does not use the clipboard. It can do in one operation what you might otherwise do by cutting and pasting. It does however offer better control.
Figure 4.2
If you already have a selection the Move will take this and lock it to prevent further action deselecting its objects. You then pick one of the objects and drag it in the required direction. In order to control the direction there are direction restraints that are described below.
Figure 4.3
As you drag the objects the relative movement is shown in the right of the status bar. This movement may be controlled by Snaps that can be toggled on or off and alternative values set (see below). Once the drag has stopped the move action ceases and the selection is unlocked, but remains selected. This enables you to move in another direction without re-selection, if necessary. 4.3 Move By
This is similar to Move above but instead of dragging the selected objects to their new location you specify the amount ‘by’ which you want them moved. You must already have objects selected to use this option.
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Figure 4.4
This opens the Transform dialog box set to Move, Relative offset. Enter the offset values in the appropriate direction fields and pick the OK (tick) button. 4.4 Stretch
Stretch is similar to Move except that when the selected objects are moved any other objects attached to them are ‘stretched’. This is a particularly useful feature when used in conjunction with the frame generators.
Figure 4.5
4.5 Stretch By
Stretch By is similar to Stretch except that the Transform dialog opens for you to enter specified offset values as Move By above. 4.6 More… There are also some lesser used transformations available from the More sub-menu and toolbar. The button on the toolbar changes to reflect the last Transform option used.
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Figure 4.6
4.6.1 Rotate
This Rotates the selected objects about the current axis according to the restraint setting, see below. It works rather like a stretch.
Figure 4.7
By default the rotation takes place about the centre of the selection as indicated by the triad, but if you click the right mouse button whilst in this mode the pop up menu allows you to alter the base point of rotation.
Figure 4.8
Pick base point – allows you to pick a joint about which to rotate the objects. Enter location – allows you to specify the absolute co-ordinate of the base point. 4.6.2 Rotate By
This is similar to Rotate but a dialog opens in which you can specify the degree of rotation.
Figure 4.9
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Date: 01/08/03 4.6.3 Scale
This enlarges or reduces, i.e. Scales, selected object in the direction of the current axis according to the restraint setting. It works rather like a stretch. By default the scaling takes place about the centre of the selection as indicated by the triad, but if you click the right mouse button whilst in this mode, the pop up menu allows you to alter the base point of scaling. The options are the same as those shown under Rotate above. 4.6.4 Scale By
This is similar to Scale but a dialog opens in which you can specify the Scale value. 4.6.5 Detach on Transform
This setting makes any transformation detach the objects being transformed so it behaves like a Move rather than a Stretch. This setting is toggled on or off. 4.7 Lock Selection
This locks the current selection so that picking other objects does not affect the existing selection. It is used normally with the various Transforms where it is activated automatically. If this were not used, once a selection was made, picking the object to drag would clear the selection. If you do need to add to the selection you can unlock the selection, add to it (or remove) as necessary, and then lock again before dragging. It has a hot key activated by pressing the Spacebar. 4.8 Restrict to
When dragging the Transforms it is necessary to be able to control the placing of the objects accurately. It is useful to be able to drag using any convenient view which may not align with the screen axes. To over come this problem drags are confined to a particular axis using the ‘Restrict to’ setting. These ensure that the transformation takes place parallel to the axis set or in the case of rotations about the axis set.
Figure 4.10
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When dragging, the movement is constrained to set increments, or Snaps, so that the placing is accurate. You can toggle these snaps off and then the drag will be according to the pointer movement. This is difficult to control accurately and is a function of screen resolution, mouse sensitivity, and zoom setting. 4.9.1 Set snaps
This option opens the Set Snaps dialog in which you can set the values used for controlling the transformations when dragged.
Figure 4.11
Linear – is used by Move and Stretch. Angle – is used by Rotate. Scale – is used by Scale.
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5.0 Model Menu
Figure 5.1
This menu contains the tools to create the model of your structure. Some of the tools act directly on the objects whereas others can produce an almost complete model. However before describing the tools it is worthwhile outlining the logic used by the model. 5.1
5.1.1 Joints
Outline of the model As a basis for the analysis, you construct a structural model out of various objects such as members, joints and supports and then you apply loading data. The completed model is analysed by the program to obtain the forces, moments and deflections on the structure, collectively known as effects.
The model is principally composed of members connected to joints. The joint positions determine the shape of the model and the positions of its components.
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Figure 5.2
The model is constrained relative to the outside world by supports applied to particular joints. The program uses types of support to define how they behave and includes built in types which include common forms such as pinned and fixed supports. There is a Quick Support tool to apply these readily. 5.1.2 Members
Members are connected at their ends to joints and there is a Quick Member tool which allows you to do this directly, rather like joining the dots. The properties of a member are determined by its type and you compile a list of types you wish to use in the model. This can be done in advance while you place the members themselves or after the model has been defined, as new member types can be added at any time. By using member types, it is easy to change the properties of individual or many members in one go. The program provides tools to enable you to select objects to work on, so that properties can be applied to particular objects or selected results obtained. 5.1.3 Panels and Overhangs
Panels represent surfaces carrying load. They make modelling of the structure easier for you as they would reduce the need for ‘hand’ calculation of their effect on the structure. It is much easier for you to apply unit loads over a panel or set its stiffness behaviour than to work out linear loads on surrounding members or apply a mesh of stiffeners to simulate a rigid region. A panel is defined by its corner joints but must also have supporting members along some edges and must be plane. Panels are mostly rectangular but may be triangular or quadrilateral. Panels have properties such as thickness and material but also have a number of other properties concerning their behaviour within the model. This makes them a very powerful element when modelling a structure.
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Date: 01/08/03 A further benefit is that applying loads to panels makes it much easier to set up the loads on a typical building as the need to calculate the distribution onto beams is avoided. Overhang is the part of the floor extension that is attached to the boundary of the Panel group. 5.1.4 Loads and Moments
Loads and Moments generally referred to simply as loads in this document can be applied to member or joints. There are a variety of types, which can be applied relative to global or local member axes. Loads have a category attribute such as dead or imposed which is used when creating load combinations. 5.1.5
5.2
Load combinations These define how the loads are to be analysed and the partial safety factors to be applied for a particular combination of loads.
Create Frame… Rather than create a model from scratch by entering joints and members A3D MAX includes a series of ‘Frame Generators’ that enable typical frame forms to be modeled easily. Even if these do not exactly correspond to your structure you may find them a suitable basis for adding to or modifying.
Figure 5.3
There are five general forms. All of these can be used to create a variety of different frames.
1. 3D Building Frame 2. 2D Girder Frame 3. 2D Grillage 4. 2D Truss Frame
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5. Portal Frame 5.2.1 3D Building Frame Generator
This is a simple frame in which you can define the number of bays in each direction and the number of storeys. The bay sizes are constant by default but may be varied, if required.
5.2.1.1 Bay data No. – This input field is for entering the number of bays/storeys in the particular direction. Length – This input field is the typical length of each bay/storey. If the lengths vary then by clicking the button adjoining a dialog opens in which the lengths may be entered. The order of bay spacing is:-
Figure 5.4
Width (x) – left to right Height (y) – bottom to top Depth (z) – front to back
Closing this field will then show ‘Varies’ and the total will appear under the Total Length heading.
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Date: 01/08/03 Member Type – This list box allows you to select the member type to be used. A default type is provided and if the type you require has not been defined you can do so later using the Member Type Editor and apply it to the members subsequently. Total Length – This field shows the total length of the frame in the particular direction. Altering this value changes the Length according to the number of bays by making them all equal. 5.2.1.2 Panel creation options Floors – Set this option to create panels in all the storeys other than the top storey. Roof – Set this option to create panels in the top most storey. Inner walls – Set this option to create panels in the inner walls. Outer walls – Set this option to create panels on outer walls. Properties can be set individually for each panel option using the panel properties dialog, which opens up by clicking the button adjoining the option. 5.2.1.3 Grouping Options The members of the 3D Building Frame can form a Design Group using the Grouping Options. For more information on the use of Design Groups see the section on the Design Menu. Apply grouping – set this option if you wish to include the members in a design group. Frame reference – this is the name given to the group. By default it is ‘Frame n’, where ‘n’ is according to the number of 3D frames so far created. Design Type – this enables you to choose the basic type of design and code for the frame. Design Application – this allows you to choose the design application to use. Continuous Beams – this indicates whether you want all the beams to be continuous. This will be applied to all beams at each level and in each direction. Otherwise they will be included as individual design objects. Generally you cannot generate a mixture of continuous and dis-continuous beams. The one exception is when there is only one bay in one direction. Beam design objects are labelled in the form ‘bX1’ i.e. type (b: beam), direction (X: parallel X axis) and increment (1: number). Continuous Columns – this indicates whether you want all the columns to be continuous. This will be applied to all columns and you cannot generate a mixture of continuous and dis-continuous columns. Column design objects are labelled in the form ‘cY1’ i.e. type (c: column), direction (Y: parallel Y axis) and increment (1: number).
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Date: 01/08/03 If you want a Design Grouping arrangement other than those provided by the 3D Frame Generator then turn ‘Apply Grouping’ off and use the Grouping Wizard, also described under Design, to create the groups separately. 5.2.1.4 Generating the frame Create Frame – generates the frame as specified and either places it directly in the main view if it is the first frame or allows you to drag it and attach it to an existing model. For details of placing objects see Placing under the Edit Menu. Cancel – closes the Frame Generator without doing anything. 5.2.2 Girder Frame Generator
This Frame Generator creates a wide variety of girder shapes and lacer arrangements.
Figure 5.5
There are two main panels dealing with the geometry and member types, plus two list boxes which allow you choose the basic shape and lacer arrangements. 5.2.2.1 Girder Shape
Figure 5.6
Shapes – This list box includes four basic shapes for the girder. Flat – where the girder is parallel and has a horizontal top chord. Mono Upslope/Downslope – for a mono-pitch girder the top chord slopes upwards or downwards to the right. The bottom chord may be flat or sloped also. Duo – for a duo-pitch girder where the top chord comes to an Apex and the bottom chord may slope in a similar manner or be flat.
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Figure 5.7
Lacers – This list box shows the lacer arrangements available. There are three types N, W and M: The diagrams in the list box should give sufficient indication of the lacer arrangements. The terms top and bottom post refer to the vertical lacers where they meet the top or bottom chords alone in W and M girders. Note that for the two N girder left/right arrangements, if there is an odd number of bays, then the lacers cross in the middle. 5.2.2.3 Girder Geometry This panel defines the overall size of the girder and the number of bays. It has two main areas in which the overall dimensions of the girder are entered and the other which deals with slope angles and end depths for mono and duo-pitch girders. Number of bays – This input field specifies the number of bays in the girder. Bay Length – this is the length of each bay in the girder and is the overall length divided by the number of bays by default. However for Flat and the two Mono Pitch girders the bays can be of varying length which is entered by picking the button alongside. This opens a dialog in which you can enter the length of each bay from left to right. The overall length then is the sum of these. Overall Length – This is the length of the girder over the extreme end joint positions. If you modify this value then the Bay length will be calculated on the basis of equally spaced bays of the given number.
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Figure 5.8 Overall Depth – This input is the greatest depth of the girder and dictates the height of a flat girder, the deeper height of a mono-pitch girder and the apex height of a duo-pitch girder. Changing this value alters the top slope of the girder. Apex Position – This input is the distance of the apex from the left hand end of a duo-pitch girder to the nearest top joint position. It is disabled out in other shapes. Changing this value alters the left and right slopes. End Depths – This input sets the depth of the girders at either end for mono and duo pitch girders. If the parallel option is set, then only the left end depth can be set. Changing these values alters the corresponding top slopes. Top Slope – This input allows you to enter the slope of the top chord in degrees. Positive values imply a slope upwards towards the right (i.e. positive gradient). Changing the top slope alters the end depths for a mono-pitch and duo-pitch girder. Bottom slope – This allows the bottom slopes of mono and duo-pitch girders to be specified. In a mono pitch girder the slope can vary between 0° (flat) and a minimum end depth of 100mm. Parallel – This is a tick box which forces the bottom chord parallel to the top. This is applicable to Mono and Duo-pitch slopes. 5.2.2.4 Girder Members The Members panel allows you to choose which member types and end fixities you require for the various members comprising the girder. A default type is provided and if the type you require has not been defined you can do so later using the Member Type Editor and apply it to the members subsequently.
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Date: 01/08/03 Top Chord – These represent the members along the top of the girder. By default, they have fixed ends. Bottom Chord – These are the members along the bottom of the girder. By default, they have fixed ends. End Posts – These are the members at each end of the girder. By default, they have fixed ends. The check box allows you to omit them if it is turned off. This may be appropriate if you are placing the girder between columns. In the W and M girder shapes the adjacent bottom or top end member of the chord is also omitted. Vert Lacers – These are the vertical internal members and they have pinned ends by default. Diag Lacers – These are the diagonal internal members and they have pinned ends by default. Purlins – These link the upper nodes of the girder if more than one is specified. Type – These list boxes allow you to choose which member type is to be used for each of the girder components. Fixity – These list boxes allow you to choose fixed or pinned ends for the members. They apply to both ends of the members making up the girder components. If you need some other arrangement, then set the nearest to your requirements and use the Member Editor to alter the member types or end fixities. 5.2.2.5 Multiple Frames
Figure 5.9
You can set up multiple identical frames in the Frames panel. Number of Frames – if more than one is entered then the ‘Frame pitch’, and ‘Total pitch’ fields are activated. The fields relating to purlins are also enabled. Frame pitch – is the distance between frames if more than one is specified. If the frame pitch varies then pick the button alongside to open a dialog in which the pitch dimensions from front to back can be entered. Total pitch – is the sum of the pitch values. You can enter a value here, which will update the frame pitch to the appropriate equal values.
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Date: 01/08/03 5.2.2.6 Grouping Options The members of the 2D Girder can form a Design Group using the Grouping Options. For more information on the use of Design Groups see the section on the Design Menu. Apply grouping – set this option if you wish to include the members in a design group. Frame reference – this is the name given to the group, and by default it is ‘Girder n’, where ‘n’ is according to the number of 2D girders so far created. Design Type – this enables you to choose the basic type of design and code for the frame. Design Application – this allows you to choose the design application to use. Continuous Top Chord – this indicates whether you want the top chord members to be continuous. Top chord design objects are labelled in the form ‘Tc1’ i.e. type (Tc: Top chord), and increment (1: number). Continuous Bottom Chord – this indicates whether you want all the bottom chord members to be continuous. Bottom chord design objects are labelled in the form ‘Bc1’ i.e. type (Bc: Bottom chord), and increment (1: number). The other members are always individual design objects. End posts are labelled ‘Ep1’ etc. and lacers ‘Lac1’ etc. If you want a Design Grouping arrangement other than those provided by the Girder Generator then turn ‘Apply Grouping’ off and use the Grouping Wizard to create the groups separately. 5.2.2.7 Generating the frame Create Frame - This button accepts the data, creates the frame and draws it ghosted in the current view, ready for placing, unless there are no other objects in which case it is placed directly. Cancel - This button aborts the frame generator operation. 5.2.3 2D Grillage Generator
This frame is a simple grillage in which you can define the number of bays in each direction, which may be of constant or variable size. You can also specify a skew angle.
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Figure 5.10
5.2.3.1 Bay Data No. – This input field is for entering the number of bays in the particular direction.
Figure 5.11
Length – This input field is the typical length of each bay. If the lengths vary then by clicking the button adjoining a dialog opens in which the lengths may be entered. The order of the bay spacing is:
Width (x) – left to right Depth (z) – front to back
On closing the dialog this field will then show ‘Varies’ and the total will appear under the Total Length heading. Member Type – This list box allows you to select the member type to be used for each direction. A default type is provided and if the type you require has not been defined you can do so later using the Member Type Editor and apply it to the members subsequently. Total Length – This input field is the total length of the frame in the particular direction. Altering this value changes the Length according to the Number of bays. Skew angle – The grillage does not have to be orthogonal. The Z direction members can be skewed away from the Z direction by this angle. The Depth is then along the line of the members not the Z direction. Create panels – Selecting this option will create panels in addition to members and joints.
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Date: 01/08/03 Properties – Clicking this button opens a panel properties dialog. Properties that can be set are thickness, rigidity, material, alignment and load distribution scheme. 5.2.3.2 Grouping Options The members of the 2D Grillage can form a Design Group using the Grouping Options. For more information on the use of Design Groups see the section on the Design Menu. Apply grouping – set this option if you wish to include the members in a design group. Frame reference – this is the name given to the group, by default it is ‘Grillage n’, where ‘n’ is according to the number of grillages so far created. Design Type – this enables you to choose the basic type of design and code for the frame. Design Application – this allows you to choose the design application to use. Continuous Beams (parallel to X) – this indicates whether you want all the beams in the direction parallel to the X direction to be continuous. This will be applied to all beams in that direction, otherwise they will be included as individual design objects. You cannot generate a mixture of continuous and dis-continuous beams in a given direction. Beam design objects are labelled in the form ‘bX1’ i.e. type (b: beam), direction (X: parallel X axis) and increment (1: number). Continuous Beams (parallel to Z) – this indicates whether you want all the beams in the direction parallel to the Z direction to be continuous. This will be applied to all beams in that direction, otherwise they will be included as individual design objects. You cannot generate a mixture of continuous and dis-continuous beams in a given direction. Beam design objects are labelled in the form ‘bZ1’ i.e. type (b: beam), direction (Z: parallel Z axis) and increment (1: number). Note: that in a skew grillage the beams counter to the X direction will still be given the direction Z even though they are not actually parallel to the Z direction. It is a convenient label. If you want a Design Grouping arrangement other than those provided by the Grillage Generator then turn off ‘Apply Grouping’ and use the Grouping Wizard to create the groups separately. 5.2.3.3 Generating the frame Create Frame - This button accepts the data, closes the dialog and draws the frame ghosted ready for placing. Cancel - This button ignores the data, aborts the operation and closes the dialog. 5.2.4 2D Truss Frame Generator
This Frame Generator creates a variety of symmetrical triangular trusses. These trusses can be generated singly or as multiples at a specified distance apart and optionally linked by purlins.
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Figure 5.12
There are two main panels dealing with the geometry and member types, and a list box which allows you to choose the lacer arrangements. 5.2.4.1 Truss Type
Figure 5.15 Truss type – This list box allows you to choose the lacer arrangement. The lacers divide the top and bottom booms into equal length divisions. The diagrams in the list box should give sufficient indication of the lacer arrangements. 5.2.4.2 Geometry This panel defines the overall size of the truss and the number of trusses, if multiple trusses are required.
Figure 5.13
Overall Width – This input is the span of the truss over the extreme end joint positions. Overall Height – This input is the height of the truss. Centre Panel Width – This input is only active for the attic type truss and it is the distance between the internal posts.
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Date: 01/08/03 Centre Panel Height – This input is only active for the attic type truss and it is the height to the internal collar. Number of Frames – This input specifies the number of frames to be generated. By default, a single frame is drawn. However, any number up to 99 can be generated simultaneously. Frame Pitch – This is the distance between frames and it is only active if more than one member is specified. If you have variable pitch then pick the button alongside to open a dialog in which you can enter the pitch from front to back. Overall Depth – Is the sum of the frame pitches. If you enter a value here then the frame pitch is adjusted to give equal values depending on the number of pitches. 5.2.4.3 Members The Members panel allows you to choose which member types and end fixities you require for the various members comprising the truss. Top Chord – These represent the rafters of the truss. By default, they have fixed ends. Bottom Chord – These are the members along the bottom of the truss. By default, they have fixed ends. Lacers/Internals – These are the various internal members depending on the truss type and they have pinned ends by default. Purlins – These are members which link the joints along the top chord between multiple trusses. They have pinned ends by default and the check box determines if they are to be generated. The option is not available for a single truss. Type – These list boxes allow you to choose the member type to be used for each of the truss components. A default type is provided and if the type you require has not been defined you can do so later using the Member Type Editor and apply it to the members subsequently. Fixity – These list boxes allow you to choose fixed or pinned ends for the members. They apply to both ends of the members making up the truss components. If you need some other arrangement, then set the nearest to your requirements and use the Member Editor to alter the member types or end fixities. 5.2.4.4 Grouping options The members of the 2D Triangular Truss can form a Design Group using the Grouping Options. For more information on the use of Design Groups, see the section on the Design Menu. Apply grouping – set this option if you wish to include the members in a design group. Frame reference – this is the name given to the group, and by default it is ‘Truss n’, where ‘n’ is according to the number of 2D trusses so far created.
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Date: 01/08/03 Design Type – this enables you to choose the basic type of design and code for the frame. Design Application – this allows you to choose the design application to use. Continuous Top Chords – this indicates whether you want the top chords (rafters) to be continuous. This will be applied to both rafters in all the trusses. Otherwise they will be included as individual design objects. You cannot generate a mixture of continuous and discontinuous rafters. Top chord design objects are labelled in the form ‘Tc1’ i.e. type (Tc: top chord), and increment (1: number). Continuous Bottom Chords – this indicates whether you want all the bottom chords (ties) to be continuous. This will be applied to all the ties in all the trusses. You cannot generate a mixture of continuous and discontinuous ties. Bottom chord design objects are labelled in the form ‘Bc1’ i.e. type (Bc: Bottom chord), and increment (1: number). The internal lacers are all individual design objects labelled ‘Lac1’ etc. Purlins, if present, are also individual design objects and labelled ‘Pur1’ etc. If you want a Design Grouping arrangement other than those provided by the 2D Truss Generator then turn ‘Apply Grouping’ off and use the Grouping Wizard to create the groups separately. 5.2.4.5 Creating the frame Create Frame – This button accepts the data, creates the frame and draws it ghosted in the current view ready for placing. Cancel - This button aborts the frame generator operation. 5.2.5 Portal Frame Generator
This Frame Generator can create a wide range of portal forms. The frame can consist of as many spans as you require, each of which may be one of three basic types: duo-pitch, mono-pitch or flat.
Figure 5.14
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Figure 5.15
The frame may also be repeated for as many bays as required and linked by optional eaves beams. The upper part of the dialog consists of the spreadsheet in which the geometry of each span is entered. By default, a 10m single span duo-pitch portal is defined but this is easily edited to any other type. Below the spreadsheet, typical members are specified. If they vary through the frame, then they may be edited in the usual way once the frame is placed. There are also facilities to help you to visualise the frame as it is created and to specify the number of bays and their depth.
Duo-pitch Mono-pitch
5.2.5.1 Portal Geometry
Flat
Figure 5.16
The spreadsheet is of the normal type with the first column showing the span number. The remaining columns allow the frame data to be entered as follows: Span Type - This sets the basic shape of the span, as illustrated.
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Date: 01/08/03 The duo-pitch does not have to have its apex at mid-span and the mono-pitch may slope in either direction. Enter the initial letter for the type required.
Figure 5.17
The diagram may clarify the other Geometry field entries:
Span Length – This is the distance between centres of the columns in metres. L.Eave Height – This is the height of the left eaves, in metres, above the column datum. In the case of the first (leftmost) column, this is measured from the foot of the column. The default value for the right eaves height is calculated from this value and the roof slope or slopes. In the case of subsequent spans, this value may be greater or less than the R.Eaves Height of the previous span, allowing for a different springing point either side of the column. Ridge Position – This is the distance to the apex (for the duo-pitch type only) from the left column of the span in metres. The roof slopes are kept constant and the right eaves height is adjusted as this value is changed. Left Pitch – This is the slope of the left side of the span in duo pitch types or the slope in mono pitch types. It is set to zero for flat types. The slope is entered in degrees and a positive value signifies an upward slope towards the right. Changing this value changes the right eaves height. Right Pitch – This is the right half slope in duo-pitch types only. It will usually be a negative value indicating a slope down to the right. Changing this value changes the right eaves height. R.Eave Height – This value (m) is dependent on the preceding geometry but it can be changed and the right slope will change to correspond. R.Base Level – This value is the level (m) of the foot of the right column relative to the datum established by the first column (i.e. the foot of left column of the first span which is assumed to be datum 0.0.)
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Date: 01/08/03 5.2.5.2 Member Type You can assign a defined member type to each of the main members in the portal. Note that in most cases the left and right rafter will use the same member type as the members are placed starting at the eaves. A default type is provided and if the type you require has not been defined you can do so later using the Member Type Editor and apply it to the members subsequently. Left Column – the left column of the second or subsequent spans refers to any part of the column above the eaves of the span to the left. Right Column – the right column of any span except the last refers to the lower column if there is a difference in eaves level to the span to the right. Left Rafter – this is the rafter to left of the apex in a duo pitch roof or the whole rafter in a flat or mono-pitch. Right Rafter – this is the rafter after the apex in a duo pitch roof, otherwise it is ignored in flat and mono-pitch roofs. Eaves Beam – these members will be added at eaves or valleys if one or more bays are specified under the Bay Repeat heading. However, no members will be provided if the type is set to ‘None’. Ridge Beam – these members will be added at the apex of roofs if one or more bays are specified under the Bay Repeat heading. However, no members will be provided if the type is set to ‘None’. 5.2.5.3 Bay Repeat This allows you to specify several identical bays in depth. Number of bays – This will add the specified number of bays. Bay Depth – is the dimension for each bay, the total being shown in the field at the right of the panel. If you require varying depths of bay picking the button alongside opens a dialog in which you can enter the values from front to back. 5.2.5.4 Visualisation An illustration of the frame being defined in the spreadsheet may be obtained by clicking on the Visualise button below the Member Types panel. The diagram includes a scale and the span currently being edited has its number emboldened. The diagram is updated dynamically as the data is changed.
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Figure 5.18
Note: This panel can be moved and scaled so that you can view it whilst working on the spreadsheet. 5.2.5.5 Haunch nodes
Figure 5.19
This option allows you to add joints to the columns and rafters to assist in simulating plastic hinge points close to haunches. The dialog shows a spreadsheet in which the positions of the nodes are entered. A diagram below indicates the current dimension. The position of the nodes on the rafter can be entered by specifying their horizontal distance from the column or apex or the distance up the slope. One is automatically adjusted if the other is changed. The span may be changed using the spin buttons below the spreadsheet. If the Apply Nodes tick box is set, then they will be included in the frame when it is created, otherwise no additional nodes will be added.
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Date: 01/08/03 The nodes are also shown on the Visualisation diagram, if that is on. 5.2.5.6 Grouping Options The members of the Portal Frame can form a Design Group using the Grouping Options. For more information on the use of Design Groups see the section on the Design Menu. Apply grouping – set this option if you wish to include the members in a design group. Frame reference – this is the name given to the group, by default it is ‘Portal n’, where ‘n’ is according to the number of Portal frames so far created. Design Type – this enables you to choose the basic type of design and code for the frame. Design Application – this allows you to choose the design application to use.
Figure 5.20
Continuous Rafters – this indicates whether you want all the rafters to be continuous. By default rafters consist of only one member unless you opt for haunch nodes. In that case they are divided into three members representing the eaves member, normal rafter member and apex member. Each member of the rafter could be designed individually or more often the rafter would be designed as one by ticking the continuous rafters option. Note that all rafters in each span will be treated as continuous unless there are no haunch nodes in that span. Rafter design objects are labelled in the form ‘Raf1’ where the number increments are generally left to right, front to back. Continuous Columns – this indicates whether you want all the columns to be continuous. This will be applied to all columns and you cannot generate a mixture of continuous and discontinuous columns. Columns are treated as continuous from the base level up to the highest eaves level. By default columns consist of one member for a simple outside or internal case but could be two for an internal column with differing eaves for rafters either side.
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Date: 01/08/03 If you opt for haunch nodes a column will have a short eaves member added thus giving up to four members in an internal column. This will also be one continuous Design object if you choose the ‘Continuous columns’ option. Column design objects are labelled in the form ‘Col1’ where the number increments are generally left to right, front to back. If you want a Design Grouping arrangement other than those provided by the Portal Generator then turn ‘Apply Grouping’ off and use the Grouping Wizard to create the groups separately. 5.2.5.7 Creating the Frame When you have defined the spans and any haunch nodes, click on the Create Frame button and the frame will be created ready to place in the model in the usual manner. Note that if you do not select the Haunch Node option at all, then no additional joints will be created. 5.3 Automatic Panels
This tool allows creating panel in a complete region. It requires a suitable arrangement of members to be selected and the program then attempts to populate the region with quadrilateral or triangular panels. Members not included in the selection will be ignored. This way bracing and other subsidiary members can be ignored by not selecting them. All the members must lie in a plane.
Figure 5.21
The tool will open the panel properties dialog and the settings will apply to all the panels to be created by the selection. Any areas that are not valid will not have panels applied but no warning will be given. Full render mode is particularly recommended to show the coverage. You may wish to add additional members or set up panels individually in complex areas. In all other respects each panel acts as an individual. This tool is likely to be the most frequently used one to create panels. Setting an appropriate view and using a box selection can most easily accomplish the selection of planes. The partial view tool can also be useful with complex structures.
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5.5
Create Portal… This option starts the Portal wizard which is a plug in application available only for A3D MAX and is fully described in the Portal Wizard User Guide.
Joints…
All members in the model must be attached to a joint at each end. Joints can be positioned by specifying their co-ordinates in space. Joints can be turned into supports by applying various restraints. 5.5.1 Joint Editor The geometry of the model is determined by the joint positions and the Joint Editor enables you to view or change their positions and add new ones.
Figure 5.22
5.5.1.1 Joint data Joints are shown highlighted if they have been selected in the editor or the main view. A joint is 'free' to move in any direction unless it is constrained by having some support condition applied to it. Reference – is the name given to the joint. This is used when locating members and joint loads and when reporting joint displacements etc. It can be anything you like but simple numbers tend to be clearer particularly when labelling the view. X, Y, Z_Coord – is the global co-ordinate of the joint. Support – is a list of support types defined for the job. By default several typical conditions are already defined but you can add others if you wish. See Supports for details. Picking ‘Free’ effectively removes a support.
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Date: 01/08/03 5.5.1.2 Selection These options become available if one or more joints are selected. Properties – this opens the Joint Properties dialog which has been described in detail under Edit > Joint Properties. Delete – this will delete a joint provided it does not have a member attached. You will need to delete the member first. Support – this opens a menu of support types similar to the list under the Support heading in the main body of the editor. The advantage of this is that the support condition can be applied to all the selected joints in one go. 5.5.1.3 Relabel All This re-numbers all the joints in the model. It is useful if you have deleted part of the model and want to keep the list sequential. 5.6
5.7
Support Types… Joints are normally free to move or rotate in any direction. But if you need to restrain them in some way, then a support condition must be applied. A3D MAX allows you to specify whether a joint is restrained in the direction of the global axes (Translation) or about the global axes (Rotation). These restraints may be Free, Fixed, or Spring. For your convenience it has several pre-defined support types which cover the most common conditions. Free – This has no restraints and is the default joint condition. Fixed – This applies a very high value of stiffness to all restraints to model a fully rigid condition. Pinned – ‘fixes’ the translational restraints, leaving the rotational ones free. Fixed roller in X, Y or Z – This is similar to Fixed but with one direction Free. Pinned roller in X, Y or Z – This is similar to Pinned but with one direction Free. The creation of New supports and other settings are described in detail under Edit > Joint Properties.
Members…
Members are the fundamental components of the model. 5.7.1 Member Editor
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The Member Editor allows you to define where each member is to be placed, its type and some basic attributes. Members are placed relative to joints at their ends. At least two joints should be defined before the Member Editor can be opened.
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Date: 01/08/03 Members selected in the main view are highlighted in the editor and vice versa. 5.7.1.1 Member data Reference – name or number given to identify the member. It is recommended that simple numbering be used.
Figure 5.23
End1 – is the joint number at the start of the member. End 1 of a member is the end from which loads and other position dependant features are measured. There is a ‘Member direction’ toggle on the Display toolbar which shows the direction of the member in the model. The arrow points away from End1. End1 fixity – Allows you to choose the standard end fixity conditions for the member. See the paragraph on end fixities below. End 2 – the joint number at the other end of the member. End 2 fixity – is the fixity condition at end 2 of the member. See below. Handing – This allows you to indicate which handing unsymmetrical members are to be placed. This is not used by the analysis calculations but is passed to Design and Detailing application for their use if required. Orientation – this is the angle of the member rotated about its longitudinal axis, sometimes referred to as the Beta angle. It is measure positive anti-clockwise looking in the direction of the member axis from end1. For users of Analyse 3D versions 1.xx and 2.xx, 0° is the equivalent of ‘Major’ and 90° ‘Minor’ orientation. Member type – is the member type assigned to the member. You can choose from any of the types already defined or use the Member type editor (described below) to add more. 5.7.1.2 Selection Properties… – opens the Member Attribute Editor. This allows many more attributes of a member to be modified than the few offered in the Member Editor. The member end
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Date: 01/08/03 fixity, orientation and plastic limits are some of the attributes that can be set. See Edit > Properties for details. Delete – this will delete the selected members. Note that it does not delete the member type used by the members. Swap – this allows the direction of a member to be swapped by swapping the order of the end joints. Note that position dependant loads on a member remain in the same position relative to the member start. This may mean a change in their position relative to the rest of the model. Type > – offers a menu of the currently defined member types which may be applied to all selected members. 5.7.1.3 Sorted Display OFF This is a toggle. When ON it sorts members based on their references with alphanumeric followed by numeric in ascending order. This is particularly useful after a copy and paste operation, which merges any new joints, members if incident on existing one within a tolerance. 5.7.1.4 Relabel All This re-numbers all the members in the model. It is useful if you have deleted part of the model and want to keep the list sequential. 5.7.1.5 End Fixity The frame is modelled by connecting the members to the joints, there being a choice of Fixed, Pinned, Ball and Partial, End Fixity conditions. The End Fixity defines the stiffness of the connection between the member and the joint and hence other connecting members. Fixed – is fully rigid in the normal, and lateral planes of the member and torsionally. Pinned – allows free rotation normally and laterally but fixed torsionally. Ball – is the same as Pinned but is torsionally free as well. Do not define a member with Ball end fixities at both ends. Otherwise, it is free to spin in its axis and will probably cause a ‘Mechanism’ failure in the analysis calculations. The program does a pre-analysis check for this condition. Partial – fixity allows you various options to define the normal and lateral fixity. This is set fully via the Member Attributes dialog. Details of this can be found under Edit > Properties. 5.8 Panels… Panels are objects that are intended to represent surfaces carrying load. This is the smallest area element within A3D MAX. The panels when taken together can constitute a slab or a wall.
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The panel editor lists all the panels created along with their properties. Only the reference can be edited from the spreadsheet.
Figure 5.24
Properties – this option helps to edit properties of selected panels. It opens the panel properties dialog. See topic on Edit>Panel properties. Create panel – Creates a panel with default properties with joints entered. Delete panel - deletes the selected panel. 5.9 Create Panel…
This tool creates an individual panel and requires three or four joints to be selected. The joints must lie in a plane. The tool opens the panel properties dialog in which you can set the principle attributes of the panel. See topic Edit > Panel properties. Clicking OK creates a panel after validation and Cancel exits the operation.
Figure 5.25
Few of the principle validations are:-
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�� Adjacent edges of a panel cannot be empty. �� At least two opposite edges must be fully populated with members. �� You cannot create a panel that overlaps with a part or whole of an existing
panel. If the selection fails any of the principle validations, a warning message will be shown and no panel will be created. Please note the properties set in the dialog for panel creation are validated before application. For example if one of the selected joint is a support then panel rigidity will be set to non-rigid even though you specify it as rigid. Similarly if load distribution axis is set to one-way and the axis chosen (say X-axis) is not valid because the edges are free it will be changed to another axis (Z-axis). 5.10 Overhangs…
Overhang is the part of the floor extension that is attached to the boundary of the Panel group. Overhang can be attached only to those edges that are simply supported (not free or restrained). Overhangs are applied to the bounding members of a panel.
Figure 5.26
To create overhang, select members on which it has to be applied. A dialog opens to choose the type and width of overhang. There are three forms of overhang available: Rectangular – this overhang extends parallel to the notional panel edge by a constant specified width. Members selected need not be continuous. It can be different (at right angles). Trapezoidal – this overhang has a straight edge extending to differing widths from the start and end of the notional panel edge. Members selected should be continuous. Circular – this overhang is a circular arc extending to a maximum specified width from the notional panel edge. Members selected should be continuous. Note that these overhangs extend to either partial or full length of an edge and may extend over several members. Multiple overhangs can be applied to members shared between panels in two perpendicular planes.
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Date: 01/08/03 Multiple overhangs cannot be created for members that lie in two different parallel planes in a single operation. It is done for one panel group at a time. Area load can be applied to overhangs. On analysis the load gets distributed to members supporting the overhang. 5.10.1.1 Editing Overhangs To edit an overhang right click and select properties. For rectangular overhang, only the width can be edited. For trapezoidal and circular overhang, ‘type’ and ‘width’ can be edited. 5.11 Member Types…
Member types are used to specify the properties of each member in the model. It is recommended that you create a member type for each set of members in a frame (even if they are similar) as it makes modifying them easier. 5.11.1 Member Type Editor They are defined using the Member Type Editor. This allows you to: �� Give each type a recognisable name �� Choose from a range of different sections and profiles �� Create your own types �� Specify the material �� Assign the types to members already defined in the model By default, a 305x165UB40 is defined to give the model something to work with.
Figure 5.27
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Date: 01/08/03 5.11.1.1 Member Type data Reference – is an input field for you to give the member type a sensible name, e.g. Roof Beam or Corner Column. Entering something that indicates its purpose will help you to identify it later, particularly if you return to the job after some time. Type – contains a list of generic member types that A3D MAX recognises. The types are:
SW Library – a structural section from the steelwork library. Timber Library – a timber section from the timber library. Properties – a section where you define the properties directly. Elements – a section built from rectangular elements. SW Haunch – a variety of tapered or haunched steel I or box members. RC Members – a variety of RC beam and column sections and profiles. Non-prismatic - a user defined tapered and/or segmented member.
These are described in detail later. Member types also fall into one of two general categories, Prismatic and Non-prismatic, although for the most part it makes no difference to the way they are used.
Prismatic – These are member types that have a constant cross section throughout their length. Generally they are defined by their cross section. These include the SW Library, Timber Library, Properties and Elements member types (see below). Non-prismatic – These are member types which do not have a constant cross section. They may be tapered, or stepped, and are defined by their cross sections at either end of one or more segments. They include the SW Haunch and RC Member types which provide tools for setting up several typical profiles and thus do much of the work for you. For other more unusual cases there is a Non-prismatic member type (not to be confused with being non-prismatic by nature) where you define the sections and segments directly.
Section – This shows the particular section chosen from the type specified. If you click on this field it is actually a list of all the sections of that generic member type defined in the job. This makes it easy to swap between sizes if you so wish. Normally you can skip over this field when you create new member types, as it is often used when changing an existing member type. Material – Shows the list of Materials that you can assign to the member type. If the material you require is not listed, use the Materials Editor to create a new one. This is described later. Usage – Shows the number of instances the member type is used in the model. Initially it is zero but applying it to a member will automatically update this field.
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Date: 01/08/03 5.11.1.2 Visualise
Figure 5.28
The Visualise button expands the Member Type Editor dialog to reveal a panel in which a representation of the current member is shown. This view can be altered using the presets at the foot of the panel with the Free option allowing you to rotate the image by dragging the view around the panel. This visualisation is helpful in confirming that the member type you have created is of the general form you envisaged. The ‘Hide’ button closes the visualisation panel. 5.11.1.3 Controls There are a number of buttons that allow you to handle the member types. Edit – Opens a dialog depending on the generic member type so that you may choose another or modify its properties. This is described in detail below. Delete – Highlighted member types that are no longer required can be deleted provided they are not in use by a member (i.e. their Usage is 0). Note that it does no harm to leave member types, even if they are not used. The only real benefit of deleting them is to make the list shorter, so that the ones you need are easier to find. Select – This will select the current member type in the main view. The current member type is the one with the focus and is marked by an arrow in the index field on the left of the member type data. Alternatively if a member type or several member types are highlighted, this button will also select them in the main view. This facility is particularly useful when used in concert with the Apply button. Apply – this applies the current member, marked by an arrow, to any members selected in the main view. You will notice that the Usage field is updated by the number of instances the member type was applied. There will be a corresponding reduction against the previous types used by the members. Highlight – This highlights the member types in the editor for any members selected in the main view. It enables you to readily find the member type of any member.
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Date: 01/08/03 5.11.2 SW Library member type
Figure 5.29
This is a prismatic member type based on a structural section chosen from the steelwork library. Picking the SW Library option opens the Section Library dialog filtered to show only steelwork sections. From this dialog, you can choose the section you require. The library contains a full set of UK sections to Revision 3, Revision 5, Revision 6 of the 'Steelwork Design Guide to BS5950: Part 1 plus Cold Rolled Hollow section tables. In addition channel and angle sections can be defined as compound back to back, laced or braced with a specified gap.
Depending on your installation there may be other national sections tables available also. You can also create you own non-standard and fabricated sections based on the generic shapes. The library opens with the currently used section highlighted. Section properties are grouped into four tab pages dimension, elastic and plastic properties. The filter setting can be used to view only the sections necessary. Filters include: Table type – The user may choose between standard and user defined tables. Country – The user can choose a country. The options depend on the type of installation. Fabrication type – Hot rolled, Cold rolled, fabricated or a combination may be selected.
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Date: 01/08/03 Section shape – The user may choose either one or a combination of I, Box, Tube, Channel, Angle, Tee, Castellated, Bar sections. Section types – Depending on the selection in “Section shape” either all or selected section types will be displayed. Non standard sections can be defined using the create button. It is enabled on clicking ‘Material - Steel’ in the explorer view. A series of details needs to be filed such as Table / Country name, Section name, Generic type, Fabrication type and section dimension. 5.11.2.1 Preferred Section List The Section Library has been enhanced by a new Preferred Section list facility. This allows you to set up lists of sections for particular purposes, such as portal rafters, or a current stock list. This is particularly useful when automatically designing a job as the selection can be restricted to the most suitable or available sections. 5.11.2.2 Overview of preferred section lists Preferred section lists are lists of sections chosen from the standard tables, or your own tables, and are intended to allow you to set up lists containing just the sections you wish to use for a particular project or purpose. Typically they are based on the standard tables such as UK6 and the sections required in the list marked. A name is given to the list so it can be identified. A list called ‘Preferred UB’ is supplied which contains the most commonly available UB sections. You can choose to use the full table by setting ‘All’ or any preferred list available. The list then acts as a filter on the normal table and hence only the sections marked are shown.
Preferred section list – This shows the preferred section lists available for the particular table chosen. In the case of UK6 this is ‘All’ which is the full section table, and ‘Preferred UB’ which is the reduced UB list mentioned above.
Set default preferred section list – allows you to choose which list new SW library member types are to be created from by default. When set by default the list is marked with a tick in the box above. The button acts as a toggle so defaults can be turned on or off. The setting of a default list does not prevent you choosing sections from another list or the full table if you wish.
Create a Preferred section list – this button allows you to create your own preferred section lists, which are described in more detail below.
Edit a preferred section list – allows you to change the content of an existing preferred list and change its name if required. This does not edit the table contents only the lists of sections to show.
Delete a preferred section list – allows you to delete a preferred section list. It does not delete section tables.
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Date: 01/08/03 You can create as many preferred section lists as you require for each section table. The preferred lists shown in the list box will depend on the set of tables chosen in the main Tables and Section Types tree. Example preferred lists called ‘Preferred UB’ for both UK6 and UK5 tables are supplied based on the respective UB section tables. 5.11.2.3 How to create a preferred section list This is done using the Section Library. Hence open it by picking a new SW Library member type. Choose the section table on which you wish to base your preferred list e.g. UK6 with the Preferred list box set to ‘All’ which gives access to the full list. Pick the ‘Create a preferred list’ button which opens the Create Preferred list dialog. This shows two panels. The left one shows the table chosen and its section types, and expands it if necessary. The right panel shows the sections themselves.
Figure 5.30
Click on a section that will mark it with a tick and add it to the preferred list. Pick it again to remove it. You can select a block of sections by holding SHIFT and by clicking, tick them on or off. Repeat this procedure for all the section types you want included in your preferred list and then pick Save. This opens a dialog in which you can enter the name of the list and a brief description. This name will appear in the preferred section list box in the toolbar. You can then either make a fresh selection using Save As to save another list or pick Close to finish.
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Date: 01/08/03 5.11.2.4 Using Preferred Sections You use a preferred section by choosing the required list from the preferred list box in the toolbar. This displays the appropriate table in the Section Library explorer panels, filtered according to the preferred list, and the required section can be chosen in the normal way. When you specify member types from the preferred list and if they are used by a SW member design object then the Design process only uses sections from the same preferred list. This way you can limit the range of possible choices according to your requirements. If you send such a job to other people who may need to change the data, then they will need a copy of your preferred list. They are stored in files named xxx.upl (user preferred list) where xxx is based on the name of the source table e.g. UK6, UK5 etc. These files are found in the \shared folder in the folder in which your CADS applications are located (typically c:\cads\shared). 5.11.2.5 Editing preferred section lists If you need to change the content of a preferred list then choose the required list and pick the ‘Edit preferred list’ button. This opens the Edit dialog which is similar to the Create dialog described above. You can add or remove sections from the list as needed. Pick ‘Save’ when you have finished your changes. You can also create a new preferred list from an existing one by picking ‘Save As’ and giving the list a new name. Close the dialog when you have finished editing.
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Figure 5.31
This is a prismatic member type based on a structural section chosen from the timber library. Picking the Timber Library option opens the Section Library dialog filtered to show only timber sections from which you can choose the one you require. The library contains a full set of UK softwood and hardwood sections and commonly used glue laminated sections to BS 5268. You can also create you own non-standard and fabricated sections based on the generic shapes. The library opens with the currently used section highlighted. The filter setting can be used to view only the sections necessary. Filters include Table type, Country, Material and Finish (Sawn timber, Regularized, Planned, Surfaced). 5.11.4 Non-prismatic Member Type This allows you to create almost any non-prismatic member type consisting of tapered and/or discontinuous steps.
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Figure 5.32
It is defined as a series of segments, each of which has the sections at either end specified. The segments have a fixed length assigned to them, except for one which is 'stretched' to fit between joints when the member is placed. This is a particularly powerful facility in handling haunched or stepped members because it allows those with varying lengths but standard haunches to be placed using only one member type definition.
Figure 5.33
this input is the reference for the member type.
this is a list of materials from which you can choose the one for the member type. Default Length – reports the length of the member type based on the sum of the segment lengths. The actual length will depend on the members to which it is applied and might vary. Start & End Sections – can be defined using a SW Library, Timber Library, or Properties section type but there must be the same section type at both ends (i.e. the segment must be prismatic). Elements section types can also be used and a different type may be used at each end to create tapered segments. However, the pair of Elements section types must have the same number of elements in the same order. These limitations arise because the stiffness calculations integrate the geometry, so the start section must map dimensionally to the end section of each segment. Length – Each segment has a length specified. One of these segments must be ‘Variable’ so the member type can be fitted to the actual members in the model. It is
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Date: 01/08/03 worth giving a sensible value to this, as it is used in the Member Type Editor to visualise the member profile. A warning is given as part of the analysis pre-check routine if the member type does not fit. Placing rule – this determines which segment is variable so that the member type can be fitted to the members. All segments must be ‘Fixed’ except for one. 5.11.5 Properties member type
Figure 5.34
This is a prismatic member type based on a section for which you define the geometric properties.
this input is the reference for the member type.
this is a list of materials from which you can choose the one for the member type.
this is a list of Properties sections that have already been defined for the job. The panel on the right shows the section as a rectangle based on the ratios of the inertia values. It is not intended as a true representation of the shape but does give an indication that the proportions are reasonable. 5.11.5.1 Section Properties data Area, Inertia & Torsional Constant – values must be greater than zero and are used for the analysis calculations. Elastic Modulus – must also be greater than zero as they are used by the simple Stress results. Shear Area – is not used at present, as Shear Deformation calculations are not available.
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Figure 5.35
This is a prismatic member type based on a section built up from rectangular elements.
this input is the reference for the member type.
this is a list of materials from which you can choose the one for the member type.
this is a list of Elements sections that have already been defined for the job. 5.11.6.1 Section Properties This panel shows the properties as calculated from the elements data provided. It is updated as the data is entered. Note that the Shear Areas are set to 0.000 as they are not used. The panel on the right shows the cross section derived from the elements and should prove useful in confirming that the arrangement is as you expect. This also forms the cross section for the rendered view in the model. Because of the ordering of the elements, it is possible for members with voids to be rendered incorrectly. This is unavoidable but it is only a visual problem. 5.11.6.2 Element Data The element sizes are entered relative to the local directions of the section. Each element is positioned relative to an arbitrary datum by specifying vertical or lateral offsets to its centroid. Be careful to avoid overlapping, as the program makes no checks on this. When the member type is assigned to a member the section may be rotated according to the orientation of the member. Width – is the horizontal dimension of the element. You can specify a void by entering a negative width for an element.
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Date: 01/08/03 Height – is the vertical dimension of the element. Vertical offset – is the distance from the horizontal datum to the mid height of the element. +ve is upwards. Lateral offset – is the distance from the vertical datum to the mid width of the element. +ve is towards the right. 5.11.7 RC Member, member type This offers both prismatic and non-prismatic member types to give a variety of RC beams and column sections and profiles. These prismatic profiles and sections are fully compatible with CADS RC Beam Designer which designs and details reinforced concrete beams under various codes of practice.
Figure 5.36
5.11.7.1 Section Section type – There are a range of cross sections available for RC beams and columns.
Figure 5.37
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Date: 01/08/03 The diagram in which the dimensions are entered varies according to the section type chosen. The dimension should be self-explanatory, except perhaps the dimension to the ‘balloon’ which is an offset to a vertical datum. This is not used by the analysis but may be used by design and detailing applications. Note that the CADS RC Column Designer application does not support elliptical columns. Reference – is the name you give to the member type. It is repeated on the Profile page. Material – is the material you wish to assign to the member type. It is repeated on the Profile page. 5.11.7.2 Profile
Figure 5.38
There is a range of profile shapes available for RC Beams but the RC Column only uses the Prismatic profile. This page is not available if a column section is chosen. Profile type - Allows you to choose the RC beam profile shape to be used. The choice available depends on the RC beam section chosen. The I shaped section only allows a prismatic profile to be used, and will offer the T shape if you use one of the others.
Figure 5.39
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Date: 01/08/03 For Rectangular and T shaped beam sections there are four profile shapes. Note that only the prismatic profile is supported by the CADS RC Beam Designer application. For all the Beam sections the depth is entered in the Profile dialog. The prismatic profile only requires the depth of the beam to be entered apart from the vertical offset. The remaining profiles require the depths of their various segments to be entered and the lengths of the segments at either end. These lengths are fixed when the member type is placed in the model with the 'centre' portion varying in length according to the actual distance between joints. Note that the stiffness of the member is based on an integration of the profile, not just an average cross section. 5.11.8 SW Haunch Member Type This is a non-prismatic member type which can form a variety of tapered or haunched members from steel I or box sections. Reference – is the name you give to the member type. Material – is the material you wish to assign to the member type.
Figure 5.40
5.11.8.1 Profile There are six tapered or haunched profiles which are available in 2, 3 or 4 flanged forms. These can be built from standard I and box sections or from defined fabricated I or box shapes.
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Date: 01/08/03 In addition, a Uniform profile enables fabricated sections of this profile to be created, otherwise a normal SW Library member type would be more appropriate.
Figure 5.41
Profile Type – is the list of available member profiles. The main diagram changes according to the profile chosen. At either end there may be an option button where you may choose whether to specify the overall haunch depth or the ‘cut’ depth of the haunch component. By default this is set to the depth of the haunch section less one flange (3 Flange Haunch). For ‘2 Flange Haunch’ cut depth is haunch section depth less haunch section top flange, root radius, main section’s bottom flange and root radius. For ‘4 Flange haunch’ it is 1.2 times the haunch section depth. The assumptions about the formation of the haunches is shown under each haunch type below.
Figure 5.42
Haunch End types – The member is composed of the main section, or main component, and the haunch section or sections from which the haunch is actually cut. By default the haunch section is the same size as the main section, but cannot be of a different type i.e. you cannot have an I main section and box haunch or vice versa. The haunch can also be made up from flat plates and there is an option to define the size of these. The following assumptions are made about the formation of the haunches. Tapers follow the same logic except that they extend across the full length of the member. 2 Flange Haunches – The main member is assumed to have the lower flange and root cut away with the haunch fitted to suit. Normally the haunch would be cut from the same size section as the main member but the program does allow any other size to be chosen. The lower flange is assumed to be effectively continuous. The maximum depth can be specified greater than the depth available from a cutting from the haunch sections and is assumed to be made up of plate of the same thickness as the haunch web for I sections or walls in box sections.
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3 Flange Haunches – The main member is continuous and the haunch cut such that its depth varies from that specified at the eaves to the thickness of its flange where it ends.
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Date: 01/08/03 The maximum depth can be specified greater than the depth available from a cutting from the haunch sections and is assumed to be made up of plate of the same thickness as the haunch web for I sections or walls in box sections. 4 Flange Haunches – The main member is continuous and the haunch member is splay cut with a web/wall plate of the same thickness as the web or walls of the haunch section welded between them. These SW Haunch member types are compatible with the CADS SW Design application. 5.11.8.2 Section types Main – is the main rafter component of the member type. This is the component that will be stretched to fit the particular instance as a member in the model. End 1 & 2 – are the haunch components and are enabled according to the profile chosen. By default they are the maximum cut depth from the same section as the main component. The ends have the same meaning as a normal member, with End 1 effectively being the start from which position dependant objects, such as loads, are measured. Each of the components can be chosen from:- Library – These are chosen from the I or box sections in the SW Library.
Figure 5.43
Non-standard – This allows you to define the key dimensions of an I or box section. When this option is chosen the following dialogue box appears in which you can enter the required dimensions. Fabricated – This is similar to non-standard but with fillet radii omitted as the sections are assumed to be composed of plate. In all cases the full section is defined and the program extracts the data it requires. Edit – Pick the appropriate button to choose or specify the section.
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Date: 01/08/03 5.11.8.3 Member dimensions The diagram allows you to enter the haunch depths, either overall or cut depth, and its length. Length – this is the distance between the joints and depends on each member placing. This value will actually depend on each individual placing and hence a value cannot be shown. Column offset – is the distance between the joint in the model (normally centreline of column) and start of the main body of the beam. It does not affect the analysis but is passed to subsequent design and detailing applications. Haunch length – this specifies the length of haunch parallel to the main member axis. Changing this will also affect the overall depth as the haunch depth is kept constant. Haunch depth – this specifies the depth of the haunch component from the end of the member bottom flange line to the haunch flange measured perpendicular to the haunch flange. Changes to this value update the Overall depth. Overall depth – this specifies the depth of haunch perpendicular to the main member axis. Changes to this value update the Haunch depth.
For left and right tapered members and the right side of the double taper the haunch length is dependent on the member length so that the relationship between the haunch depth and overall depth cannot be established. In these cases a radio button is provided for you to choose which depth to specify. The other will be calculated automatically when the member is placed. It should be remembered that the overall member length or slope is not known until the member is placed between the defining joints. When placed, the haunch length is fixed and the main member between haunches 'stretched' to fit. This means that the relationship between the overall and cut haunch depth is not known before the member is placed, therefore radio buttons are provided to allow you to select which you wish to base the haunch depth on. Note that the stiffness of the member is based on an integration of the profile, not just an average cross section. 5.12 Sections…
This shows details of all the principle sections defined for the model. By default as member types are created their sections are added to this list. The only exceptions are SW Haunch and RC member types which store their sections as parameters of the overall member definition.
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Figure 5.44
5.12.1.1 Section data Type – The generic type of section. Reference – the name given to the section to identify it. Area, Ixx, Iyy, Torsional constant – these show the most significant properties of the section. Usage – this indicates the number of member types (not members) which use the section. 5.12.1.2 Button controls Edit – opens the appropriate section editor to alter the choice or change its data. Delete – allows you to delete a section type provided it is not used by a member type, i.e. its usage is zero. You can use the Section Editor to create new SW Library, Timber library, Properties or Elements section type by starting a new line at the foot of the editor and picking the required type from the list. This opens the appropriate editor for you to choose or enter the data which updates the remaining fields. These are for information only and are not directly editable. These sections cannot be used directly by members but only by member types. You may find this facility most useful for creating a number of section types, particularly Elements types, for use with Non-prismatic member types. 5.13 Materials…
This allows you to edit or create new materials. Each member type has a material assigned to it which the analysis calculation uses to calculate its stiffness.
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Date: 01/08/03 5.13.1 Steel materials library
Figure 5.45
The Materials Editor has been expanded to give access to the Steel materials library used by the Steel Member Designer application. This supports a wide range of international codes and allows more comprehensive definition of new steel types. You can also configure which grade of steel you want to use by default, and the program now defaults to UK-S275 grade. A new labelling scheme has been introduced to prevent duplication of short names across different nationalities and codes. The ‘old’ grades 43,50 and 55 are retained but have been relabelled so that they can also be labelled briefly and unambiguously. Existing jobs retain their original labelling scheme and the types are still available for new members. You can create your own material data using the steel library. When you click on ‘User defined’ the last entry in the country list the ‘Create’ button is enabled. Clicking on Create prompts you to enter the code reference and the steel grade name. The steel properties Young’s Modulus, Design strength etc. can then be edited and saved using ‘Edit’ and ‘Save’ Buttons. Clicking ‘Ok’ takes the steel data to Materials editor. 5.13.2 Materials Editor 5.13.2.1 Materials data By default when a new SW Library or SW Haunch member type is defined the steel grade is set in the configuration dialogue. Reference – The new materials editor has the same default materials as before but they have been re-labelled to accord with the new scheme being adopted across CADS applications.
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Figure 5.46
Elastic modulus – or Young’s modulus of elasticity for the material. Poisson’s ratio – Poisson’s ratio for the material.
5.14
Density – density of the material in kN/m3.
Thermal Expansion – coefficient of thermal expansion in length units per °Cx10-6. Design strength – design strength of the material, currently only used in automatically determining the plastic properties of SW Library member types. Material Type – It refers to the type of material as the name denotes. Steel materials library will be enabled only when the material type is ‘Steel’. You can also create and use steel material data without entering the library. The advantage of creating new data from within the library is that the data can be used for any subsequent job you create. 5.13.2.2 Button control Delete – allows the material type to be deleted if it is not used by a member type. Steel Library – this opens the steel materials library.
Load and Moments…
Loads, including moments, can be applied to members or joints. The properties of a load are determined by its type in a similar manner to the member. The load type properties include Type (a generic form such as Uniform load, Point moment etc.), Direction (Vertical, Horizontal etc.), Category (Dead, Imposed, etc.), Size and Position along a member where appropriate.
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Figure 5.4 7
A load is placed on members or joints by applying the appropriate load type to selected members or joints.
Figure 5.48
The data required is as follows: Load reference – a name to identify the load type by. 5.14.1 Type The program recognises a number of generic load types and all of the load types you define are based upon these. The load types broadly describe the 'shape' of the load and they can be applied in certain directions relative to the global axis or local member axis. The directions available depend upon the generic load type. The generic types are listed below together with the abbreviations used in the Load Editor and the default units for the data. 5.14.1.1 Uniform Load UL ‘UL’ is a constant load applied for the full length of a member. Default units kN/m. 5.14.1.2 Distributed Load DL ‘DL’ is a varying load which may start and end at any point along a member and have different values at each end of the load. Default units kN/m & m.
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Date: 01/08/03 5.14.1.3 Point Load PL ‘PL’ is a concentrated load which may be placed at any point along a member. Default units kN & m. 5.14.1.4 Triangular Load TL ‘TL’ is a varying load which extends the full length of the member and rises from zero at either end to the specified value in the middle of the member. Default units kN/m. 5.14.1.5 Trapezoidal Load ZL ‘ZL’ is a symmetrical varying load which has a segment of constant value for part of the member length with two equal segments rising from zero at either end to the value of the constant segment. Default units kN/m & m. 5.14.1.6 Self Weight SW ‘SW’ is a constant load which always acts downwards over the length of a member and is intended to represent the self weight of that member. It automatically compensates for the slope of the member and behaves like a Vertical load generally but also works for vertical members where a Vertical load would fail because it would have zero projected length. An applied self weight overrides any value that might otherwise be calculated for the member if the ‘Automatic self weight’ option is on. Default units kN/m. 5.14.1.7 Area Load AL ‘AL’ is an uniform load applied over the entire panel. It is transferred to the supporting members based on load distribution scheme and ‘Consider edge continuity’ setting in the ‘Analysis options’. Default units kN/m². 5.14.1.8 Joint Load JL ‘JL’ is a concentrated load applied to a joint. Default units kN. 5.14.1.9 Uniform Moment UM ‘UM’ is a constant torsional moment extending the full length of a member. Default units kNm/m. 5.14.1.10 Distributed Moment DM ‘DM’ is a varying torsional moment which may start and end at any point along a member and have different values at each end of the load. Default units kNm/m & m. 5.14.1.11 Point Moment PM ‘PM’ is a concentrated moment which may be applied at any point along a member. Default units kNm & m. 5.14.1.12 Joint Moment JM ‘JM’ is a concentrated moment applied to a joint. Default units kNm.
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Date: 01/08/03 5.14.2 Direction For loads the direction options are: Vertical – A global load positive downwards, i.e. parallel to the Y axis but in the opposite direction. Horizontal – A global load positive parallel to the X axis. Transverse – A global load positive parallel to the Z axis. Normal – A local load perpendicular to the longitudinal and major member axis. Lateral – A local load perpendicular to the longitudinal and minor member axis. Axial – A local load along the longitudinal axis. Positive loads act towards member end 1. For moments the direction options are: X axis – a global moment about the X axis through a joint. Y axis – a global moment about the Y axis through a joint. Z axis – a global moment about the Z axis through a joint. Normal – a local moment about the major axis of a member. Lateral – a local moment about the minor axis of a member. Torsion – a local moment about the longitudinal axis of a member. Load directions Global Local
Member loads Vertical, Horizontal, Transverse Normal, Lateral, Axial Joint loads Vertical, Horizontal, Transverse Member moments Normal, Lateral, Torsional Joint moments @ X-axis, Y-axis, Z-axis Panel loads Vertical, Horizontal, Transverse
(for area loads only) Normal, InplaneX, InplaneZ
Some load and moment types may not have all directions available. 5.14.3 Category
5.14.4
Indicates whether the load is Dead, Imposed or any other you may define. Categories are used to assign partial safety factor to loads in load combinations. See the section on Load Combinations and Categories for details.
Load values The remaining inputs in the Load Editor deal with the actual values, such as size and placing, which pertain to the load.
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Date: 01/08/03 5.14.4.1 Positioning Some loads need to be positioned on the members by giving certain dimensions to their location and in some cases their loaded length. By default these are actual values which then stay ‘Fixed’ even if the member changes in length. There is also an option to specify such load positions as ‘Proportional’ in which case the positions are given as a percentage of the member length. Thus, even if the member changes in length the load still remains in the same relative position. For instance a load at a 50% End 1 position will remain in the middle of the member. However, its length changes. 5.14.4.2 End 1 Size The value of the load at its end nearest end 1 of the member. This also represents the load value where only one is required. All loads require a value in this field. 5.14.4.3 End 1 Position This is distance of a load from end 1 of a member. Only required for position dependant loads and moments such as distributed, point, and trapezoidal. 5.14.4.4 End 2 Size This is the value of the load at its end furthest from end 1 of the member. Only required for distributed loads and moments. 5.14.4.5 Load Length The length of the loaded portion of the member for distributed loads and moments. 5.14.4.6 Usage The number of instances the load is used in the model. This value is automatically updated as loads are applied or removed. 5.14.5 Load Options 5.14.5.1 Automatic self weight This when turned on, calculates the self weight of each member from its cross sectional area and density. It is overridden by any Self Weight load type applied to a member. 5.14.5.2 List All This shows all loads in the model in the editor spreadsheet. 5.14.5.3 List Selected This shows only loads on selected members or joints in the editor spreadsheet. This helps to keep the number of items to scroll through down if a model has very many loads.
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Date: 01/08/03 5.14.6 Load Controls 5.14.6.1 Apply This applies the current or selected loads to selected members or joints in the model.
5.14.6.2 Remove This removes the current or selected loads from selected members in the model. It does not delete the load type definition itself. As this is a quite frequently used option it has its own toolbar button which is enabled if any load itself is highlighted in the main view. 5.14.6.3 Delete Deletes the load type if it is not used in the model, i.e. Usage is zero. 5.14.6.4 Select This selects the members in the model to which the current or selected loads have already been applied. This helps if you wish to apply a new load to the same members or joints as an existing one. 5.14.6.5 Show ‘Show’ highlights in the editor, loads applied to members or joints selected in the model. 5.14.7
5.14.7.2 Selected load application
Applying Load Types to Member and Joints To actually load the structure, the load types are applied to the members and joints as required. There are two basic methods, directly as each load type is entered or as a selected set of loads. In both cases, you must have the members or joints that you wish to load selected in the model view. It does not matter if you select both, as the program will ensure that only the correct load types are applied to the members or joints. 5.14.7.1 Direct load application As you enter the data for each load, picking the Apply button will apply that load to the selected members or joints. The Usage value will then update according to how many objects the load was applied to. Tabbing off this field takes you to the next entry ready to enter a further load.
Alternatively, you can enter a selection of loads. This is particularly useful if you have a number of loads, all of which need to be applied to the same member or joints. To do this, click the load number field (the left most column) to highlight the load and then pick the others using normal windows selection methods. Providing you have members or joints selected in the model view, picking Apply will apply the selected loads to the selected members.
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Date: 01/08/03 5.15 Panel Loads
Panel loads are different form other conventional A3D MAX load types. Panel load types include point load, line load, patch load and area load. Area load can be applied both through the load editor dialog and loads page of Panel properties dialog. Other panel loads are applied through the loads page of ‘Panel properties’ dialog.
Figure 5.4 9
5.15.1
To create a panel load, select the panels in which you want to apply the load. Then select a panel load type from Model > Panel Loads. The same action can be achieved by selecting load type from loads toolbar. These loads are applied in panel local directions – normal, in-plane X and in-plane Z. At present only normal is available.
Area Loads
Clicking ‘area load’ opens a dialog. Area load is a constant load applied to the whole surface of the panel. Load direction, category and intensity are specified. Area loads may be specified in both global (Vertical, Horizontal, Transverse) and panel local directions (Normal, InplaneX, InplaneZ).
Figure 5.5 0
An area load can also be applied to an overhang, which then transfers the load to the supporting member.
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Date: 01/08/03 5.15.2 Point Load
Clicking ‘Point load’ opens a dialog. Point load is a concentrated load applied at a particular position in the panel. A positive panel point load acts in the direction of normal but away from it. You need to specify the category, intensity, and location in the plane of the panel. The default position offered is the center of the panel.
Figure 5.51
5.15.3
Load position can be entered or picked from view above. To enable picking from view above, click on ‘Pick graphically’ button. Once done, you will be prompted with appropriate messages from the status bar just below the panel view “Pick point 1 of 1 for point load”. If the picked point is valid it will be marked with a red cross. While on pick mode snap setting and spacing can be changed to ease the action. Default snap spacing of 100 mm is provided. Then click on ‘Create’ to create the load. Load created is represented in the main view (if point load toggle ON) and the tool in load category colour. The dialog remains open to create the next load.
Line Load
Clicking ‘Line load’ opens a dialog. Line load is a linearly varying load. A positive panel line load acts in the direction of normal but away from it. You need to specify the category, start and end, intensity and location. The default position offered is from the center of the panel to the start vertex joint.
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Figure 5.5 2
5.15.4 Patch Load
Load position can be entered or picked from view above. To enable picking from view above, click on ‘Pick graphically’ button. Once done, you will be prompted with appropriate messages from the status bar just below the panel view “Pick point 1 of 2 for line load”. A dashed rubber band line appears from the point picked. Then pick point 2 for line load. While on pick mode snap setting and spacing can be changed to ease the action. Default snap spacing of 100 mm is provided. Then click on ‘Create’ to create the load. Load created is represented in the main view (if point load toggle ON) and the tool in load category colour. The dialog remains open to create the next load.
Figure 5.5 3
Clicking ‘Patch load’ opens a dialog. Patch load is applied to specific areas of the panel with uniform intensity. You need to specify the category, intensity, and location –either three or four points in the plane of the panel. The default position offered is a triangular patch connecting vertex1, vertex2 and center of the panel.
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5.15.5
Load position can be entered or picked from view above. To enable picking from view above, click on ‘Pick graphically’ button. Once done, you will be prompted with appropriate messages from the status bar just below the panel view “Pick point 1 of 1 for patch load”. A rubber band starts appearing from the picked points. To cancel picking operation, double-click on the panel view. To create a triangular patch, double click after picking point3. The fourth point if invalid (internal angle > 180 deg.) then only a triangular patch will be created.
Area loads shading scheme Area loads are represented by a solid fill over the entire panel in the main view. Fill colour is based on the load intensity. A specific colour can be assigned to start intensity and end intensity. The program computes the colour for any intermediate load applied. For example if a panel has 5 kN/m2 load applied and another panel has 10 kN/m2 load applied, the start intensity colour will be assigned to the 5kN/m2 loaded panel and end intensity colour will be applied to the 10 kN/m2 loaded panel. If another panel is loaded by 7 kN/m2 an intermediate colour between start and end intensity will be applied.
Figure 5.5 4
The shading scheme helps to identify the loading pattern on a floor area. This colour setting is saved with the job. Default colour setting for area load fill can be configured from File>Configure>Preferences>Colours.
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Figure 5.5 5
Having applied loads to the model this dialog gives you control over the circumstances under which they are included in the analysis and the partial safety factors to be applied. The dialog has two main panels in which the data for each combination appears. The combinations scroll in tandem with each other so that all the relevant data are always visible. 5.16.1
This is used when transferring information to CADS Design Applications. It allows you to specify which load combinations are to be treated as Serviceability Limit State (SLS) or
Load combinations 5.16.1.1 Add
This button creates a new load combination ready for you to enter its data. You may have an unlimited number of combinations.
5.16.1.2 Remove This button is enabled if one or more combinations are selected and will remove them. It does not affect any load data but only the load combination data. 5.16.1.3 Combination Reference It is a suitable name so that the combination can be identified. It is also useful to give a meaningful name so that the purpose of the combination is clear as this name appears in the results and printout. 5.16.1.4 Limit State
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Date: 01/08/03 Ultimate Limit State (ULS). There is also an Ignore option which omits the combination from a particular analysis run. This is useful for complex jobs when you are trying to optimise the model for particular combinations and do not wish to wait while the application calculates all the combinations defined.
5.16.2
5.16.2.1 Category ref.
This is a generic type to enable design applications to handle the combinations correctly. There are three types Dead, Imposed and Other.
5.16.1.5 Elastic analysis This offers Linear, and P-Delta options for the particular load combination. Linear is a standard linear elastic analysis. P-Delta takes account of the second order effects. P-Delta can also be temporarily turned off by using the Analysis Options. See P-Delta analysis for details and limitations. 5.16.1.6 Plastic analysis This allows plastic analysis to be applied to the combination when set to Yes. See Plastic Analysis for details and limitations.
Load Categories
A Load Category is an attribute of a load which allows you to assign different partial safety factors to it for different load combinations (see below). A category is used rather than the load name itself as normally you only need a few, such as dead, imposed or wind whereas you may need many loads. This provides a convenient way of grouping loads together. Three load categories Dead, Imposed and Other are provided by default and you can add as many as you require.
A name to identify the category. This appears in the category list box in the Load editor. 5.16.2.2 Category
5.16.2.3 Show load This is an untitled tick field which allows loads of certain categories to be turned on or off when the loads and moments display toggles are on.
5.16.2.4 Load Category colours
This untitled colour swatch field allows you to set different colours for each load according to its category. This makes it easier to tell which Dead, Imposed or any other category of load has been applied. 5.16.2.5 Combination data This is where the partial safety factors for the particular combination are entered against each category. For any categories that are inappropriate to the particular combination enter a value of 0.000.
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Date: 01/08/03 5.16.2.6 Remove This button allows you to delete a category if it is no longer required. It is enabled when one or more categories are highlighted. You cannot remove a category if it is in use by a load type. 5.16.2.7 Load Editor… Allows you to open the Load Editor directly. 5.16.2.8 Display selection This is a toggle acting on a selected load combination. It turns on the show load tick for all load categories that have non-zero partial safety factors. This means that only loads of those categories are shown in the main view. Thus only loads that are effective under that load combination are indicated. As an adjunct to this display the effective load categories are shown in a dialog with their partial safety factors. This provides a useful summary of the combination. While in this mode you can scan the load combinations by picking the buttons at the head of each combination. You can also use the list box in the ‘Categories for display’ dialog.
Picking the display Selection button will turn the feature off and restore the display as before. Right clicking on the load combinations dialog other than the spreadsheet brings a menu with the following options: Set all Show Loads – Set to show all load categories. Restore previous Show Loads – Restores previous setting.
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6.0 Tools Menu
Figure 6.1
This is a miscellany of facilities to assist in creating the model. 6.1 Mirror Selection
This tool flips the selected objects about the centre of the selection relative to the plane chosen.
6.2
Figure 6.2
The objects remain attached to the rest of the model, which may then deform according to the nature of the mirroring. This option effectively moves objects. It does not copy them.
Quick Member
The Quick Member tool allows you to add members simply by picking joints.
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Figure 6.3
Picking this tool will open to the Set Member properties dialog to allow you to set the various properties for the members you are about to add. In most cases, all you will need to select is the member type but you can also change the end fixities, orientation and handing attributes.
Member type – this is the list of member types defined for the job.
Start and End fixity – this is the fixity to the joints at End 1 and End 2 of the member.
Orientation – this is the rotation of the member about its longitudinal axis.
Handing – this is the direction of the member section and is applicable to unsymmetrical sections. However, all of these can be changed later, if you prefer, using the Member Attributes dialog. See the topic on Edit > Member Attributes for more details. Pick OK when you are satisfied with the settings. The pointer will change to a box with cross hairs to indicate that you are in Quick Member mode. Pick the joint you wish to start the member from (End1) and then pick the end joint (End2). Carry on picking joints to continue a run of members. To terminate a run of members, pick anywhere over the background. You can resume adding members by picking another joint or node.
Figure 6.4
While you are in Quick Member mode if you right click the mouse the pop up menu allows you to modify the member settings before you continue. Thus you can remain in Quick Member mode but place different members or apply different attributes. Pick start joint – this allows you to pick a joint and start a new run of members. It is equivalent to picking on the background as described above.
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Date: 01/08/03 Select Member type – opens the Set Member Properties dialog so you can choose another member type or change the various member attributes before continuing to place members. End mode – This finishes the Quick Member session. Double clicking on the background also finishes the Quick Member session. The pointer returns to normal to indicate this has happened. 6.3 Quick Panel
The Quick Panel tool allows you to add panels simply by picking joints similar to the quick member tool. Picking this tool opens Panel properties dialog to allow you to set the various properties for the panel you are about to add. These properties are described in more detail under the Panel properties heading later but briefly: Thickness – is the thickness of the panel. Rigidity – panels can affect the structural behaviour of the frame by imposing constraint on the joints. Non-rigid panels do not constrain the joints. Material – is the material of the panel Alignment – determines the position of the panel in relation to the plane of its joints. It can be Centre, Top, Bottom or aligned to User offset values. Load distribution – The way in which loads applied to a panel are distributed onto the supporting members can be specified. This is effectively the span direction of the panel. It can be set separately for normal loads and loads in the plane of the panel. The latter is particularly relevant to walls. Normal loads – allow two-way or one-way distribution. If one-way is chosen then there is a choice of X axis or Z axis directions. X axis direction ‘spans’ parallel to the X direction thus loading Z direction members. In-plane loads – allow two-way and one-way distribution similar to normal loads above. They also have two additional distributions, ‘Bearing’ and ‘Hanging’, where the entire in-plane load is transferred to one edge. All of these can be changed later, if you prefer, using the Panel properties dialog. See the topic on Edit > Panel properties for more details. Pick OK when you are satisfied with the settings. The mouse pointer will change to a panel with cross hairs to indicate that you are in Quick Panel mode. Pick the joint from which you wish to create the panel. Picking four joints successively creates a quadrilateral panel. Picking joints can be continued for run of panels.
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Date: 01/08/03 While you are in Quick Panel mode if you right click the mouse the pop up menu allows you to modify the panel properties before you continue. Thus you can remain in Quick Panel mode but place panels with different properties.
Figure 6.5
Create Triangular Panel – To create triangular panels pick three joints and select this option from right click pop up dialog. Pick start joint – this allows you to pick a joint and start a new run of panels. Change Panel Attributes – opens the Panel Properties dialog so you can change the various panel attributes before continuing to place panels. End mode – This finishes the Quick Panel session. Double clicking on the background also finishes the Quick Panel session. The pointer returns to normal once this is completed. 6.4 Quick Support
The Quick support tool allows you to apply pre-set support types to joints by means of a Quick Support Palette.
Figure 6.6
This palette offers the pre-defined support types as described under Edit> Support Types which can be applied in two ways. If no joints are selected then pick the required support type from the palette and then pick the joints to apply it in succession. Alternatively, select the joints to have a common support type applied and pick the type from the palette to apply to them all.
If you require a non-standard support type that you have already defined, select the joints to apply it to and pick the User Support Type button in the palette. This opens the Joint Properties dialog on the Supports page where you choose the required type as described under Edit >Support Types.
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If you require a new non-standard support type, select the joints to apply it to and pick the New Support Type button in the palette. This opens the Joint Properties dialog on the Supports page where you can create a new one as described under Edit >Support Types.
6.5
To clear the current support type, pick it again or double click the background of the Main view.
To close the palette pick the small X on its title bar or pick the Quick Support tool bar button or its menu item.
Split Selected Members
This tool enables you to split selected members by inserting one or more joints into them. There are two main reasons to split members:
1. to introduce joints so that other members may be attached or
2. to alter the alignment of a member.
Figure 6.7
The tool offers a choice of joint insertions: Distance – splits all members at the specified distance from end1, unless the member is not long enough, in which case it is ignored.
Percentage – splits all members at the specified percentage of their length from end1.
No. of Joints – allows you to insert a specified number of joints equally spaced along the members. Thus one joint divides the member into two.
Selection type – reports whether the split is to be applied to a single member or a multiple selection.
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Date: 01/08/03 Shortest Length – reports the length of the shortest member in the selection. This is to assist when deciding the distance of the joint from End 1. Apply – inserts the specified joints. Close – closes the dialog without inserting joints. A member with uniform loads when split, copies it into all the sub members. The other load types are not implemented.
Splitting a member that is an ordinary design object
If you set the Maintain continuity option to ON then the members will be joined as part of the parent’s design object. This means they will be designed as one member.
If you set it to OFF then the new members will be added to the design group but as separate design objects so they will be designed separately. Note that if the design group is set to have ‘common design’ then the new members will also be set for a ‘common design’.
Splitting a member that is part of a joined design object
The basic assumption is also that you want the new member designed to be similar to above.
If you set the Maintain continuity option to ON then the members will remain joined as part of the parent’s design object.
When members which have been designated as Design Objects are split this status is not bestowed on the new members thus created. This meant that in many cases new design objects needed to be created which was time consuming. There have been a number of enhancements to the split member tool so that design objects are handled more logically. Most of the work is behind the scenes in the actual data handling with the only obvious difference being a new option in the split member dialog.
Maintain continuity for grouping If this option is set then the split member tool will endeavour to keep the new members thus formed as part of a designed object. Exactly what happens depends on the situation and is set out below. The detailed explanations may seem complicated but in essence if you set the option to ON then the tool tries to maintain the original structural behaviour. 6.5.1.1 Splitting a member that is not a design object No change to the present action. This just creates the new members and reduces the parent.
The basic assumption is that you will also want the new member to be designed so that it will be assigned as a design object in the same groups as the parent. The question is whether these new members should still be regarded as one like the parent was originally.
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Date: 01/08/03 If you set it to OFF then the new members will be added to the design group but as separate design objects so they will be designed separately. Depending on the new member’s location within the design object the existing design object may be split into lesser joined objects. The program will endeavour to maintain as much logical joining as it can. This option is not likely to be used very often but may be appropriate when splitting the end member in a joined run.
6.6 Remove Selected Loads
This removes the current or selected loads/moments from selected members or joints in the model. It does not delete the load type definition itself. As this is a quite frequently used option it has its own toolbar button, which is enabled when any load itself is highlighted in the main view.
6.7 Old Grouping …
This gives access to the original Grouping for SW design dialog, and method, introduced in A3Dv1.70. It is included for backwards compatibility with existing A3Dv1xx and v2.xx jobs. Details of this method can be found in Appendix B.4. However, for all new SW designs you are advised to use the new grouping wizard which offers much better facilities.
6.8 Layout Grouping wizard
6.8.1
A major new feature has been added to allow easy generation of General Arrangement layouts from the model that can be exported to drafting applications via DXF file transfer. It works on the principle of setting up groups of members as a 3D stick model or as planes to be output in a DXF file for reading by a drafting application. The 3D stick model just puts out the member geometry so you can enhance it in the manner you wish in the drafting application. The plane output can be in the form of a plan, elevation (which also serves for sections) and may include grid and member references. There is also a special version of the elevation for portal frames. A Layout Grouping Wizard is provided to assist you with this.
Create Layout Group
Before you start it, you should select those objects that are to form part of the group. Select the member in the plane you wish to create and pick Design > Create Layout Group. The figures below show a typical plane selection. The Wizard consists of four pages, with just a few simple inputs, most of which are defaults that will not need to be changed often.
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Figure 6.8
Figure 6.9
The opening page has two input fields.
Layout style – The first page of Layout grouping Wizard allows you to choose whether the layout is a Plan, Elevation or Portal style and enter a name for it. DXF output will vary depending on the style. For example elevation style will not have horizontal grid lines or sections at the intersections unlike the plan style. Reference name – this allows you to give your group a name. This name will appear in the Layout group editor and explorer tree. Next> – Takes you to the next step in the process. A warning is shown if selected objects do not lie in a plane and consequently next is disabled. You have to come out of the wizard and modify the selection. Cancel – this terminates the Wizard without setting up a group. Help – shows help relating to this page of the Wizard.
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Grid line and dimension settings
All the layout objects are broken into two sets of lines, represented by intersecting grid lines in two directions. This page allows you to specify the grid and dimension settings. The Horizontal grid label options are disabled if you are setting up an Elevation.
Figure 6.10
Label Position – the tick box indicates whether grid labels are present at all. The adjacent list box allows you to set where the labels should appear whether to the left, right or both sides of the horizontal grid lines or top, bottom or both sides of the vertical grid lines.
Style – the list box allows various styles of grid labeling to be set, ‘A,B,C…
6.8.3
’, ‘a,b,c…’, or ‘1,2,3…’. Please note here that the same style cannot be set for both horizontal and vertical grid lines. One needs to be numeric and the other alphabetic. Extension length – is the distance to scale of the ends of the grids beyond the intersections. The grid labels and bubbles are placed beyond that.
Dim location – is the position of the grid dimension lines. The choice depends on the grid label position and includes ‘None’ if you wish to suppress dimensions. Back> – takes you to the preceding step to make corrections. Next> – takes you to the next step.
Layer and file information The layers, LineTypes, text styles, sizes etc. used to create the DXF output, are controlled by Layer information files (LIF). They enable you to set up various styles according to your requirements and save them by name. This can be done via the Layout Grouping Editor described later.
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Folder for LIF – you can specify the LIF file name with the path to be used for the layout group.
Figure 6.11
<Back – this returns you to the previous page where you may review or modify the settings if you wish.
6.8.4
Scale Factor – you can create the plan and elevation to a specified scale on a particular drawing. You can enter the desired scale factor.
Folder for DXF – is the path to the folder where you want the DXF files to be created. By default it is the current job folder. The ‘…’ button opens a file browser for you to choose an alternative location. DXF file name – is the name you wish to give the DXF file to be created. This name will be the one used when importing the DXF file into AutoCAD or other drafting packages. The ‘…’ button opens the file browser so you can view the existing DXF files in the folder.
Next> – this takes you on to the next page.
End Layout Grouping Wizard This page confirms the completed layout structure before you create it. You can go back to any part of the wizard and amend the settings if you wish.
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Figure 6.12
Group structure – the scrolling panel shows the hierarchy of the group in ‘Explorer style’. The icons shown will depend on the layout objects and their component analytical objects.
– the grid icon represents the group containing the layout objects.
– the grid line icon represents the layout object.
– this is the standard member icon used in the analysis model.
Finish – this will create the group and close the Wizard.
6.9
<Back – this returns you to the previous page where you may review or modify the settings if you wish. The Grouping hierarchy can also be shown in the main explorer panel. Right click over the job reference at the top of the tree and pick ‘Sort by > Layout Group’ from the menu. The tree is now shown in a similar manner to the panel in the Grouping Wizard. Note that the DXF file has not been created but only the settings for the layout. The DXF file can be written when you are ready and will incorporate any changes to members etc. that may take place in the meantime.
Layout Group Editor
Once the group is created you can view, modify the property of layout groups with this editor. Its contents vary slightly based on the view.
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Figure 6.1 3
6.9.2 Sort
6.9.3 Property
Its contents vary slightly based on the view. The available views are group view and object view. Layout group view gives the property of the group. Item lists the groups available, type (plan, elevation, portal) and the dxf file name. Layout object view gives the display label name and the object type.
The content of the display panel is controlled by the view chosen. The view can be the layout group view or the layout object view.
Layout group property – you can view and modify the properties - group reference, grid line extension, LIF, DXF path and file name. Other properties that can be edited include the label position, style and the dimension line location.
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Figure 6.14
Layout object property – displays the object type and associated grid line type. The object type may be a Primary member, Secondary member, Bracing member or a Column member. The grid line types are primary, secondary or invisible.
Figure 6.1 5
Each object is drawn on a different layer with the associated properties.
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Date: 01/08/03 �� Primary member – Primary member layer �� Secondary member – Secondary member layer �� Bracing member – Bracing member layer �� Grid line – Grid line layer �� Column – Section layer �� Similarly the labels for the above are also drawn on different layers. Primary grid lines have a single labelling style e.g. A, B, C or 1, 2, 3. Secondary grid lines have a suffix attached to the label e.g. A1, 1a etc. No grid lines are drawn for a bracing member. In the present version, all inclined members are considered to be bracing members. 6.9.4
6.10
Creating DXF files When you have created your layout groups they are stored with the job and can be output at any time. You can also edit the grid settings and the output scale using the Layout Group Editor via the Properties dialog. The editor allows you to export your layouts individually or as a batch when required using ‘Create DXF File’.
Layer Information File The scale setting is important because this influences the text height and symbol sizes in the drawing, although you can subsequently use the drafting application’s own tools to alter this if you wish. You can also configure the output to suit your drafting standards using the LIF File Editor. LIF files are Layout Information Files and contain the layer and style settings. Two versions are supplied by default: one for the general building forms and one for the portal elevations. The Layout Grouping Wizard chooses the appropriate one, automatically for you but you may override it if you wish. Options in LIF file are described below.
DXF objects – gives details of the object name, layers, style, line start offset, end offset, label alignment and orientation. They include �� Primary member �� Primary member label �� Secondary member �� Secondary member label �� Bracing member �� Bracing layer �� Grid line layer �� Grid line dimension text �� Bubble label �� Section �� Sections label
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Figure 6.1 6
Each DXF object has a layer and style attached to it. Their properties can be edited in the next tab page.
Figure 6.1 7
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7.0 Analysis Menu
Figure 7.1
This is the part of the program that actually carries out the frame analysis. There is a tool to set up various options for the analysis and tools to show the results on screen. Printed and other forms of output are covered by the topic on File > Printing. 7.1 Calculate
This activates the Analysis Calculations. Depending on the options set the analysis is carried out in a number of stages. These are described briefly here and more detail is to be found in various appendices as noted below.
Figure 7.2
While the calculations are under way a progress dialog is shown. Loading data – fetches all the data needed for the analysis. During this process it does the following: Pre-process – In all cases the job data undergoes an internal audit to ensure it is complete. There are no un-referenced objects and that editing has not invalidated some of the data. For instance the program checks that all position dependent loads fit still on their members.
Initialising calculations – prepare the matrices for elastic analysis solution.
Auto Save – If the job has not been saved after some data change then the pre-processor will automatically save it. This is to avoid corruption should there be a failure during a protracted calculation run.
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Date: 01/08/03 Solving stiffness matrix – carries out the main solution process. This can take some time if it is a large job with many load combinations. Non-prismatic members slow the process somewhat as there is addition integration to take account of the variable geometry. The program makes an accurate integration of the properties not a simple averaging of end properties.
The calculation process then varies according to the type of analysis being under taken.
Elastic analysis – passes directly to the calculation of final results. Details of this method are given in Appendix A.1.
Plastic Analysis – carries out a preliminary elastic analysis similar to that above. Then at the Results stage you can review the progress of hinge formation and readily make changes to the model before under-taking possibly longer and more detailed Plastic Analysis calculations. See the Tabular and Graphical Results below and Appendix A.4 for details and recommendations in using Plastic Analysis.
7.2
P-Delta analysis – carries out a second order analysis to take account of the effect on load positions of the deformation of the frame. Details of the method are given in Appendix A.3.
Torsionless analysis – is a unique facility where the user may elect to ignore the torsional stiffness of the members in the model. This prevents unwanted torsional effects manifesting in structures that would otherwise be regarded as suitable for ignoring torsional effects under BS 8110 part 2 clause 2.4.1, or similar situations. Clearly this option should not be used for structures which rely on torsion in total, or in part, for their stability. Details of the method are given in Appendix A.2. Calculating final results – having obtained the stiffness matrix, and carrying out any additional processes as noted above, the program then calculates the end effects for every member. These are then used to obtain the final interval results for the members when displayed. Once the analysis calculations have been completed the Tabular and Graphical Results become available.
Analysis Options
There are a number of options that controls the analysis of the model. Generally, they allow modification of the model to include or suppress some aspect so that alternative solutions can be tried.
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Figure 7.3
7.2.1 Note
7.2.2 Options
This is a warning to be alert for a particular problem that can arise when dealing with what are apparently 2D plane frames but actually require to be dealt with as 3D structures because of the disposition of its members or loads. This is not an error in the calculations but a frequently encountered problem with the model as defined by users which may cause some concern.
7.2.2.1 Auto fixity The program requires that every joint has at least one restraint, either to a support or to a member, to prevent it spinning and thus causing a "mechanism" error in the analysis calculations. Failure to provide the necessary restraint is most likely to occur in fully pinned frames. To overcome this, the program can automatically fix one member to a joint, where required. This is accomplished by setting this option. The program will report that it has applied automatic fixity if it finds that it needs to. This automatic fixing is usually satisfactory but can result in the structure not behaving as the designer would wish, particularly if it is a 3D structure which has significant torsional effects. In this case, the designer is advised to select the appropriate members to fix manually.
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Date: 01/08/03 Early versions of the program always carried out this autofix procedure and displayed a warning. This change has been introduced to reduce the risk of overlooking unexpected effects and to enable the user to precisely define the model more easily. Note that only true 2D frames with all members, loads and applied moments in the XY plane can confidently have Auto Fixity set, as the arbitrary fixing of one member has no effect on the structural behaviour. 7.2.2.2 Consider Edge Continuity This option, when selected takes account of the edge restraints during load distribution. Normal components of area loads, panel point, line, patch loads are distributed through the grid method. In-plane area loads are distributed through the bisection method.
This determines whether to take account of the direction limitations that may have been applied to any members. Members may be marked as being suitable for sustaining tension or compression only, and if this setting is on they will be ignored in any load combination where they are subject to the opposite axial force. This option allows you to include or exclude them easily to examine the effect without having to re-define the member each time. See Edit > Member Attributes for more details.
If this option is not selected, all panel edges will be considered simply supported. This is done irrespective of edge restraints set to the panel. Area loads follow the bisection method and other panel loads follow the grid method of distribution. 7.2.2.3 Supporting edge members to be stiff Setting this option treats all edge members of the panel as being stiff (high major moment of inertia) during panel load distribution. 7.2.2.4 Plastic Analysis This option determines whether the setting for Plastic in the load combinations editor is to be taken into account or ignored. The switch allows the presence of Plastic analysis to be examined easily by simply turning it on or off without having to redefine each load combination. See Appendix A.2, ‘Plastic Analysis’ for more information. 7.2.2.5 P-Delta Analysis This option determines whether the setting for P-Delta effects in the load combinations editor is to be taken into account or ignored. The switch allows the presence of P-Delta effects to be examined easily by simply turning it on or off without having to redefine each load combination. See Appendix A.3, ‘P-Delta Analysis’ for more information. 7.2.2.6 Torsionless analysis This setting determines whether a so called ‘torsionless analysis’ is carried out or not. This is a special form of analysis calculation which emulates common ‘design office assumptions’ when designing frames that do not rely on torsion for stability, which is the case with every day frames. See Appendix A.2, ‘Torsionless Analysis’ for the benefits of this method. 7.2.2.7 Tension/compression
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Date: 01/08/03 7.2.2.8 Lift off supports This determines whether to take account of the lift off setting that may have been applied to any support. Supports may be marked as being subject to ‘lift off’ (i.e. unable to sustain upward forces) and if this setting is on, they will be ignored in any load combination where they are subject to upward force. This option allows you to include or exclude them easily to examine the effect without having to re-define the support each time. See Edit > Support Properties for more details. 7.3 Tabular Results
The tabular results allow you to review the detailed values for joint displacements, support reactions, hinge formation (under plastic analysis) and collapse analysis, member effects (forces and moments) and member deflections. In addition there are summations checks to ensure consistency in the data and simple stress reporting to give a ‘feel’ for the structure. These values are shown for each load combination but the member effects and deflections have an option to show an envelope of results encompassing all the load combinations. 7.3.1 Displacements This shows the joint displacements and rotations for each load combination. The directions are relative to the global axes.
Figure 7.4
Use the ‘Comb’ buttons to page between load combinations or go directly to a combination by picking it from the adjacent list box.
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Figure 7.5
This shows the force and moment reactions at the supports for all load combinations. The directions are relative to the global axes. If a support is marked as ‘Lift off’ and a load combination produces this effect, then the joint is so marked. Use the Comb buttons to page between load combinations or go directly to a combination by picking it from the adjacent list box. 7.3.2.1 Summations This provides checks in the analysis calculations as an additional validation of the calculations.
Figure 7.6
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Date: 01/08/03 This takes the form of summing all loads in each global direction against the support reactions, and moments about global axes plus the load moments (relative to the origin) against the support moments and reaction moments. These values are tabulated with the result of the summation, which should be 0.0 in all cases. 7.3.2.2 Reactions Picking this, returns you to the Reaction results for that load combination. 7.3.3 Hinge Formation This lists all the load combinations that have been marked for plastic analysis. For each combination, the load factor is reported at which the first plastic hinge would form, and the member reference and position along it. If no combinations are marked for plastic analysis then it reports ‘No combinations are selected as plastic".
Figure 7.7
7.3.3.1 Select Collapse Analysis Highlight the appropriate combination and pick this button to select them for collapse analysis. Normally combinations with first hinge load factor less than one should have collapse analysis ‘Yes’ and those greater than one ‘No’. You can of course do whatever you think fit! The use of this facility is explained in detail in Appendix A.4, ‘Plastic Analysis’.
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Figure 7.8
This results sheet shows the collapse analysis for a particular combination provided a plastic analysis has been undertaken. Otherwise it reports "Combination not selected for collapse analysis". For those combinations marked ‘Yes’ for collapse analysis, the history of plastic hinge formation up to collapse is displayed with the following information: Hinge No. – hinge number in sequence of formation. Load Factor – the load factor at which the hinge forms. Member ref. – the reference number of the member in which the hinge forms. Hinge Position – the position along the member at which the hinge forms. Local Buckling Classification – the local buckling status of the hinge. This is available only for SW members having the default Mpr (reduced plastic moment) option set. ‘Unhinge’ – report of any unloading (transient) hinges listed after the new hinge which initiates the unloading. Finally the number of hinges formed at collapse is reported below the main panel. The hinges may form a full plastic collapse mechanism or, if P-Delta effects have been included and are significant, collapse due to instability may occur with a lesser number of hinges formed. The report does not distinguish between instability and mechanism collapses but if necessary you can run comparative plastic collapse analyses with and without P-Delta effects to see for yourself either by using the global P-Delta switch in the Analysis options dialog or running two comparative load combinations.
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Date: 01/08/03 More details on the use of this facility are given in Appendix A.4, ‘Plastic Analysis’. Use the Comb buttons to page between load combinations or go directly to a combination by picking it from the adjacent list box. 7.3.5 Effects
Interval – is the position number, 0 being at End1 of the member, and the distance along the members of each interval reported. This can be configured from File > Configure > Preferences > Sizes > Tabular Results Interval
This shows the local effects in each member for all load combinations. The directions are relative to the local member axes. 7.3.5.1 Member Effects Analysis type – reports whether elastic or plastic analysis applies to the particular combination. Effects load factor – reports the load factor applicable to the particular combination. For elastic analysis it is always 1.0 but will vary for plastic analysis.
Figure 7.9
Axial force – compressive forces are positive. Shear Normal – upward shear to the left is positive, when viewed with member End 1 at the left. Shear Lateral – forward shear to the left is positive, when viewed looking down on the member with end 1 at the left.
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Date: 01/08/03 Moment Torsion – anti-clockwise torsion is positive when viewed along the member from end 1.
Moment Normal – moments tending to cause sagging when the member is viewed from the side are positive. Moment Lateral – moments tending to cause ‘sagging’ when the member is viewed from the top with end 1 at the left are positive. 7.3.5.2 Maximum moments This shows the true maximum values which may occur between the reported intervals and their positions. 7.3.5.3 Controls Memb – these buttons allow you to page between members and you can go directly to a member by picking it from the adjacent list. Comb – these buttons allow you to page between load combinations or go directly to a combination by picking it from the adjacent list. Intervals – this input allows you to specify the number of intervals to report along every member. More intervals give ‘finer’ results but take longer to calculate which may be significant on a large job. This can be configured from File > Configure > Preferences > Sizes > Tabular Results Interval Apply – forces a recalculation for the number of intervals specified. Envelope – shows the range of values for shears and moments for all load combinations under the control of the Shear and Moment radio buttons. The Comb buttons and list are disabled while this option is active. 7.3.5.4 Stress
This shows simple maximum stress values for members in place of the Maximum Moments. The stresses reported are maximum Compression, Tension and Positive and Negative bending about the principle member axes. The stress calculations are simply Force/Area and Moment/Section Modulus (for the extreme fibre). At present the stresses reported are confined to prismatic members. These reports are provided as a guide and in no way represent an adequate design or check on a member’s suitability. Moment – this returns you to the maximum moment results for that member and load combination. Stresses are not reported if the envelope mode is set.
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Date: 01/08/03 7.3.6 Deflections This shows the deflections in each member for all load combinations. The directions are relative to the local member axes.
Figure 7.1 0
7.3.6.1 Member Deflections
Displacement Lateral – is positive away from the viewer with the member horizontal and 0° orientation.
Moment Lateral – ‘upward’ slopes when the member is viewed from the top with end 1 at the left are positive.
Analysis type – reports whether elastic or plastic analysis applies to the particular combination. Effects load factor – reports the load factor applicable to the particular combination. For elastic analysis it is always 1.0 but will vary for plastic analysis. Interval – is the position number, 0 being at End1 of the member, and the distance along the members of each interval reported. This can be configured from File > Configure > Preferences > Sizes > Tabular Results Interval Displacement Axial – is positive in the direction of the member. Displacement Normal – is positive upward when viewed with the member horizontal and 0° orientation.
Slope Torsion – anti-clockwise torsional rotation is positive when viewed along the member from end 1. Slope Normal – upward slopes when the member is viewed from the side are positive.
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Date: 01/08/03 The above descriptions assume a member parallel to the X axis at 0° orientation. For other alignments you may find it easier to imagine the member realigned in such a manner. 7.3.6.2 Maximum deflections This shows the true maximum values which may occur between the reported intervals and their positions. 7.3.6.3 Controls Memb – these buttons allow you to page between members and you can go directly to a member by picking it from the list adjacent. Comb – these buttons allow you to page between load combinations or go directly to a combination by picking it from the adjacent list.
7.4
Intervals – this input allows you to specify the number of intervals to report along every member. More intervals give ‘finer’ results but takes longer to calculate which may be significant on a large job. This can be configured from File > Configure > Preferences > Sizes > Tabular Results Interval. This setting also controls the number of intervals included in the printed tables. Apply – forces a recalculation for the number of intervals specified.
Graphical Results
Figure 7.1 1
Once the model has been analysed, the moments, forces and deflections of the structure can be displayed graphically in the model view. This dialog controls the content of the view.
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Date: 01/08/03 7.4.1 Graph Type The Graph Type panel allows you to choose which set of results to show. 7.4.1.1 Deflection This shows the deflected form of the frame. If tool-tips are turned on the relative displacements at the joints are shown when you pause the pointer over a displaced joint. They are prefixed by ‘�’ to distinguish them from the joint positions.
Figure 7.12
7.4.1.2 Moments This shows the moment effects within the frame. If the tool-tips are on, then pausing the pointer over an ordinate shows the moment at that position. If you pause near the moment curve then the critical moments at the member ends and maximum span are shown.
Figure 7.1 3
7.4.1.3 Shears This shows the shear effects within the frame. If the tool-tips are on then pausing the pointer over an ordinate shows the shear at that position. If you pause near the shear curve then the critical shears at the member ends are shown.
Figure 7.1 4
7.4.1.4 Axial This shows the axial effects within the frame. The colour changes to indicate tension or compression. By default tension is red and compression green. If the tool-tips are on, then pausing the pointer over an ordinate shows the axial force at that position. If you pause near the shear curve then the critical axial forces at the member ends are shown.
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Figure 7.15
7.4.1.5 Torsion This shows the torsion effects within the frame. If the tool-tips are on, then pausing the pointer over an ordinate shows the torsion at that position. If you pause near the shear curve, then the critical torsions at the member ends are shown.
Figure 7.1 6
7.4.2
7.4.1.6 Hinge formation ‘Hinge formation’ - for those load combinations analysed to collapse, the hinge formation may be viewed graphically. All the hinges formed up to collapse are shown on the frame diagram and numbered in sequence. Under the default graphics setting, they will be shown as simple numbers for speed. You may like to switch off member and joint numbering to avoid confusion. Alternatively you can obtain a better hinge display by selecting View > Toggle high quality render. Hinges which are active at the effects load factor are shown as coloured circles. Hinges which have unloaded at below the collapse load factor are shown as white circles.
Graph Plane
Figure 7.17
The Graph Plane settings enable you to choose whether to show the moments or shears in a normal or lateral plane relative to the members, or both. Turning one or the other off can help to make complex views clearer. Note that these effects rotate with the member according to its orientation. The other graph types are unaffected by these settings. The results for each load combination is shown separately although there is an Envelope tick box which shows an envelope of all load combinations.
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‘Toggle’ when set, if only one of the Graph Types is shown at a time, once it is cleared, you can overlay as many as you require. However, it can get quite confusing.
7.4.3.1 Toggle
Figure 7.18
7.4.3.2 Envelope
This turns the labels on or off according to the graph types shown. The labels will appear as simple numbers if the high Quality render setting is OFF or within filled shapes if the setting in ON. The latter can make them clearer. The decimal displayed can be controlled from File > Configure > Preferences > Sizes > Result Graph Labels Precision. This value also controls the precision shown in the tool tips.
If there is more than one combination available then this enables you to show the current Graph Type enveloped. The darker fill marks the region below the lower boundary. If tool-tips are on they show the greater ordinate value or the greater or lesser curve depending on their proximity to the boundary curves. Note that the Envelope option is disabled if the Deflection graph type is set.
7.4.3.3 Label
7.4.3.4 Auto Update If this is set then the graphs are automatically redrawn when the Graph Type is changed. When it is OFF, then you need to pick the Update button to re-draw. This option is provided to improve performance with very large frames on slow machines.
Figure 7.1 9
7.4.3.5 Graph Fills
‘Graph fills’ turns the shading under the graphs on or off. Turning it off can speed up the display with large frames on slow machines.
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Figure 7.2 0
This allows to specify at the number of intervals to split the membe
7.4.4.1 Intervals
r. In fact the program uses this as a basic for the longest members and uses this as a basis for the others. It does not take effect until a new editing session is started. By default, the value is 20. This can be configured from File > Configure > Preferences > Sizes > Graphical Results Interval.
7.4.5
The program also inserts additional intervals at the ends of position dependant loads, such as the distributed load illustrated, wherever possible. This assists in finding the actual values associated with these load discontinuities using tool-tips.
7.4.4.2 Scale factor This allows you to scale the effects graphs to make them clearer. It does not affect the model objects, only the ‘height’ of the graph ordinates. Note, that if a scale factor of 10 is applied the deflection is shown to the same scale as the model and hence gives a true representation. However, this is usually too small to see clearly. 7.4.4.3 Comb This allows you to choose which load combination to show. It is disabled if the ‘Envelope’ option is on.
Elastic critical load analysis
Elastic critical load analysis (lcr) has been added for those cases where the designer considers it appropriate. To use elastic critical load analysis pick the ‘Elastic critical load analysis’ button. This opens a dialog showing load categories and load combinations.
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Figure 7.21
Load category selection – The Load categories allow you to set whether to include dead, imposed categories etc. in the lcr analysis. The default is Dead and Imposed types but not Others. For convenience there are options to set All or None if you wish to choose just a few.
Load combination selection – The lower panel is where you select which combination to analyse. Set the Elastic critical load analysis items to Yes or No as required. For convenience there are options to Select all or not as required. Elastic critical load analysis criteria – lcr is calculated iteratively to a value close to the ‘true’ critical value. You can set how close an increment is to be used to Integer (whole numbers), or 1, 2 or 3 decimal places. You can also set the maximum value to consider which by default is 10. Results – Pick the ‘Calculate lcr’ button and the result will appear for each load combination specified in the ‘Elastic critical load factor’ fields.
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8.0 Design Menu This menu allows you to access the integrated design facilities for Steelwork Member Design. These options become available if you have purchased CADS SW Member Designer.
Figure 8.1
8.1
8.1.1
For those of you familiar with early versions of A3D this supersedes the ‘old’ grouping method to provide much better integration and more powerful interface. The ‘old’ grouping is still available to deal with jobs that use it and it is described in detail in Appendix B.4. However, you are recommended to use the facility described here for all new jobs.
Overview of Grouping The following sections give you an outline on the use of Grouping in the context of Steelwork Member design.
Purpose of Grouping A3D MAX allows you to ‘group’ objects into a set of related components. In its simplest form a group may be a collection of members, such as a truss, which you may want to keep together so they can be easily handled. For instance all groups can be shown in the explorer tree so that when picked all its component members are selected. However, groups can have additional data assigned to them and the main use is to ascribe design information to the components. The components then become ‘Design Objects’ which can link to their appropriate design applications. At present the CADS Steelwork Member Designer (SWMD) is supported. The type of data assigned to steelwork design members ‘SW Members’ includes, design application (SWMD), design code (BS5950:1990 and BS5950:2000), and template name (containing design specific data such as restraints). You can also apply additional parameters such as a ‘Joined’ condition, which signifies that a series of analysis objects are joined together as one Design Object. For example, a steel primary beam may be divided into sub-beams by nodes carrying the secondary beams for the purposes of the analysis. However, you can choose to define this as one continuous (joined) design object for the purposes of the design.
In addition you can specify that all the members in a Group are to be designed using one common serial size, and this is called Common Design.
A3D MAX has a Grouping Wizard to assist in setting up groups easily and the later sections cover this and give further details and guidance.
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The design process is essentially the same regardless of type and you can do the following operations:
8.1.3
8.2
Designing with Groups When you create a Group it can contain design objects. The nature of the objects will depend on the design application. For instance, the CADS Steelwork Member Designer (SWMD) requires its design objects to be SW library or SW Haunch member types, whereas CADS RC Pad Base Designer (RCPBD) will require them to be support types.
Checking – reports how the design object performed according to the appropriate checks for the object. Generally, this is in the form of ‘Passed’ or ‘Failed’ design status, usually with some quantifiable data to support that assertion. Design – makes the design application look for the ‘best’ solution. Normally this will return ‘Passed’ with quantifiable data supporting that assertion. It may, however, return an ‘Error’ such as “No suitable section found”, in which case you will need to re-appraise the model. Update the analysis model – where a design solution may affect the analysis model, such as a new steel section, the program allows you to update the model and re-analyse it. In practise this is an iterative process refining the model until all is satisfactory. Generally, a solution is found in only a couple of iterations unless the structure is particularly sensitive.
Select for Design – you can choose to design or check all or selected design objects. The latter is particularly useful when trying to refine a design in a large structure.
A more detailed description of the operations with some recommended procedures is given in the later sections.
Assigning Groups You can assign members to groups using two methods. 1. Grouping Wizard – using the Create Groups option described below.
2. Frame Generators – which have options to create suitable groups automatically when the frame is created. See Model > Create Frame for choices.
Create Group
This is the tool to create any groups. Before you start this, you should select those objects that are to form part of the group.
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Figure 8.2
The Wizard consists of only four or five pages, with just a few simple inputs, most of which are defaults that will not need to be changed often.
8.2.1
The Wizard will vary slightly after the first two pages according to the design application chosen, but the principles remain the same. The process of creating a Group containing steelwork design objects is illustrated below.
Page 1 – Grouping Wizard
The opening page has two options and two input fields. 8.2.1.1 Simple Collection
This option creates an ordinary collection of objects. Choose this if you just want to make the selection of associated objects easier using the Explorer tree. This kind of group is known as a ‘Simple Group’.
8.2.1.2 Collection of Design/Check objects
This creates a group of Design Objects to which design attributes can be assigned. Choose this if you want to design or check any objects. This kind of group is referred to as a ‘Design Group’. 8.2.1.3 Reference name This allows you to give your group a name. Enter a name that reflects the nature of the design objects as this will make reading the results much easier. Names such as “BeamA1-5”, “ColumnG4”, “First Floor Beams” are typical examples. 8.2.1.4 Annotation
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Date: 01/08/03 This gives you the ability to add brief notes to the group. Such notes can be regarded as an aide memoir for the designer. (Not implemented in this version). 8.2.1.5 Next> This is enabled if you choose to create design objects. When you have entered the group name and notes, this will take you to the next page of the Wizard.
This shows help relating to this page of the Wizard.
8.2.2
8.2.1.6 Finish This is enabled if you choose to create a simple collection as there is no further data to add. Pick this to close the Wizard and create the group. 8.2.1.7 Cancel This terminates the Wizard without setting up a group.
8.2.1.8 Help…
A warning is shown if you start the Wizard without having selected some objects in the main view.
Page 2 – Design Information
This is where you enter information about how the objects are to be designed. In the illustration they are SW Members and the remaining fields will default to appropriate options or locations according to the kind of objects. 8.2.2.1 Kind of Objects
There is a type of Design Object for each CADS Design Application and this setting tells A3D MAX which to use for design or checking the objects in the group. In this example, all the objects are Steelwork Members so the default is ‘SW Members’. At present, only SW members are recognised for Group Design.
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Figure 8.3
The objects need to be of the correct ‘Member Type’, which for this case may be either SW Library or SW Haunch member types. If you make a mistake the program will warn you.
8.2.2.3 Which Template
This allows you to specify a particular template containing the design criteria appropriate to the type of object. Typically for SW Members templates are where you specify particular restraint conditions. Templates are a powerful tool allowing you to use most of the options within the individual designer applications.
If it is set to the wrong location, the browse button ‘…’ alongside will open the File dialog to help you locate it.
8.2.2.2 Design Code
This allows you to choose alternative design codes for the Group where they are available. Currently, you can choose between ‘BS5950:1990’ and ‘BS5950:2000’.
Normally, the default template for the particular application is shown. For example, for SW Members it assumes no restraint other than at the ends of the member. The template itself is called ‘defaults.smd’ and the rest of the path will have been set up from your system settings, and hence rarely needs changing.
8.2.2.4 New This button opens the Steelwork Member Designer so that a new template may be created. Set the required restraints and Save the file, usually in the Template folder. Now close SWMD and the path to the template will be set up in the above field.
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Date: 01/08/03 8.2.2.5 Folder for detailed data This input allows you to specify where any detailed results will be saved. The path shown depends on the application and is automatically retrieved by the Wizard from the application’s current settings. There is rarely any need to change it but you may, by entering the path directly or using the File browser button ‘…’.
This will create the group, applying only the default settings for any further attributes that may be set up on the following pages. Experienced users may find this a useful shortcut.
8.2.2.7 <Back
8.2.3
8.2.2.6 Finish
This returns you to the previous page where you may review or modify the settings, if you wish. 8.2.2.8 Next> – this takes you on to the next page where further attributes may be set according to the type of design objects.
Page 3 – Member Joining This page of the Wizard will depend on the type of design objects.
Figure 8.4
8.2.3.1 Joining
SW Members objects can be joined together to form one continuous member for design purposes. The default is to treat members as individual ones. However there can be benefits in joining them for design purposes. Primary beams in floors and roofs are a typical case.
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Date: 01/08/03 If you choose to join members the program will search out all members forming a continuous line in the same direction. This means that several joined members may be created. Individual members that do not have continuity with their neighbours will be treated as individual design objects.
8.2.4
If you choose to join members you are offered limits on the alignment of adjoining members in order for them to be considered as continuous. Note that all, or none, of the continuous members will be joined according to the chosen option. If you have a frame and want some continuous members joined and some not, then you will need to create atleast two groups to differentiate between them. 8.2.3.2 Directional tolerance
This refers to the relative alignment of the members parallel to their local axes. The maximum tolerance that the Steelwork Member Designer can accept is 5° which is the default setting. This allows minor ‘bends’ in members to be regarded as straight. 8.2.3.3 Torsional tolerance This is relative orientation of one member to the next, about their longitudinal axis. Thus, a slight twist can be accomodated allowing the member to be regarded as straight.
8.2.3.4 Finish
This will create the group applying only the default settings for any further attributes that may be set up on the following pages. Experienced users may find this a useful short cut.
8.2.3.5 <Back
This returns you to the previous page where you may review or modify the settings, if you wish. 8.2.3.6 Next> This takes you on to the next page where further attributes may be set according to the type of design objects.
Page 4 – Common Design A Group can be used to ensure that when its members are designed one common size is used for all. For instance, all lacers in a truss can be designed to the same size. This is called Common Design. This page allows you to invoke Common Design and apply certain preferences.
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Figure 8.5
8.2.4.1 Individual Design If you choose the individual design then each member may have a different serial size when designed, as a suitable section will be found for each case. 8.2.4.2 Common Design If this is chosen then a serial size which works for all the members in the group will be designed, provided one can be found. 8.2.4.3 Size Control With either design method you can control the criteria for determining the size. These options are: Least depth/size – this searches for sections using the tables which are organised by serial depth. It uses the order of these tables to find a suitable size. Generally, the least depth will be found but it is possible that where two sets of sections have a similar serial depth the true depths may overlap and the program will not find the absolute least. Least weight – Uses a re-ordered version of the tables to find the lightest section that works. Use default (global) setting – is available when the Individual Design option is chosen. This allows you change the size criteria from within the Design Results dialog for an individual design run. It thus gives the greatest flexibility when you do not wish to have a common member size.
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Date: 01/08/03 8.2.4.4 Finish This will create the group applying only the default settings for any further attributes that may be set up on the following pages. Experienced users may find this a useful short cut. 8.2.4.5 <Back This returns you to the previous page where you may review or modify the settings, if you wish.
8.2.5
8.2.4.6 Next>
This takes you on to the next page where further attributes may be set according to the type of design objects. 8.2.4.7 Limitations on member type – any arrangement of members can be selected for Common Design provided they form a valid SW member design object and their main members are all from the same section table. For example, SW Library types are all from UB (UK5) or all UC (UK3) or all RSUA section types. You can also have SW Haunch and SW library members in the group again provided they are based on the same section table. The program warns you if the grouping is not allowed and you should make an alternative one or change the section in the Member type or Section type editors. Depending on the type of design objects there may be an additional data page but in most cases the next page is the final one.
Page 5 – Finished! The Group is about to be created but before you leave the Wizard you can review its structure. This can be particularly useful if you have joined members or other collective attributes and wish to ascertain that the task has been carried out as you expected before finally creating the group. You can go back to any part of the wizard and amend the settings, if you wish. In most cases this is unnecessary and you can continue.
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Figure 8.6
8.2.5.1 Group structure The scrolling panel shows the hierarchy of the group in ‘Explorer style’. Its main purpose is to assist you in determining that the grouping structure to be created is as you intended. The icons shown will depend on the design objects and their component analytical objects.
– the atom icon represents the group containing the design objects.
– the steel beam icon represents the SW member design object. Each type of design object has its own icon.
– this is the standard member icon used in the analysis model. In the above illustration the group ‘Roof’ is shown to contain several design objects although only the first two, ‘1’ and ‘2’, appear in view. Scrolling down reveals the remainder. Both the design objects contain two members which indicate they are connected in some way. In the case of SW members they are ‘joined’ meaning they will be designed as one member.
You can expand the tree to reveal objects associated with the member in the usual way, if you wish. 8.2.5.2 Finish This will create the group and close the Wizard.
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8.3
8.4
This returns you to the previous page where you may review or modify the settings, if you wish. The Grouping hierarchy can also be shown in the main explorer panel. Right click over the job reference at the top of the tree and pick ‘Sort by > Group’ from the menu. The tree is now shown in a similar manner to the panel in the Grouping Wizard.
Edit Group
A number of improvements have been made to assist in using the Design Groups. New tools have been provided to allow members to be added or removed from Design groups so it is no longer necessary to delete a group and re-create it if new members need to be added. They are available from the Design Results dialog described below.
Design Results
Figure 8.7
Once the model has been analysed any design objects created can be checked or designed. This process is controlled from the Design Results dialog. The following explanation deals with SW Members as these are the only types supported in this version. The dialog consists of a panel containing the design results, with a message below describing the overall status of the analysis and design, plus various controls. The controls modify the results display and give access to various design and modelling processes. 8.4.1 Results Panel The Results Panel is the area in which the Design Objects are shown together with some related data and a summary of the results from a check or design.
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Date: 01/08/03 8.4.1.1 Item This shows the Design Objects in the form of an explorer style tree. The content of the display can be modified using the View controls as described below. Expanding the items shows the members contained within the design object and further relationships such as joints, member types and supports. If a Group is set to apply Common Design then it is marked with an asterisk for all objects in the group. 8.4.1.2 Status This shows the design status for each design object as follows:
Passed – the design/check is satisfactory i.e. all the utilisation factors are 1.0 or less or not applicable (n/a).
Error – the design/check cannot find a solution for some reason. The reason is posted in the Design/check notes field when ‘All objects’ are shown. There are more details of this below.
Over Design – In addition to the declared status the results are coloured to make the status stand out at a glance. Passed objects are Green, Failed or Errors, Red, and other cases Black. Thus a quick scroll down the list will soon determine whether any items still need to be resolved.
Failed – the design/check is not satisfactory i.e. one or more utilisation factors are greater than 1.0. N/A – the design data is not available (no design/check done) or it has been invalidated by a change to the model and may require re-analysis and design/check. The overall status message below the panel will clarify which one it is.
The Design Results hitherto have just reported Passed, Failed or Error status. A number of users have requested the ability to indicate when members are significantly over designed. This has now been incorporated by means of showing such items in an alternative colour to the Passed items. The status label remains as Passed but the colour serves as a ready indicator. By default the ‘Over design’ colour is Blue and is triggered if the member is over designed by 20%. This value of 20% means that if all the utilisation ratios for the member are less than 0.8 then it will be regarded as ‘over designed’. The colour coding is applied to the Design Results table and display toggle. The colour can be set in ‘File> Configure > Preferences > Colours > Design Results - Over design’. Note that the Pass and Fail colours can now also be set here. The level of over design can be set by ‘File > Configure > Preferences > Sizes > Maximum utilisation for over design report’ expressed as a percentage.
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Date: 01/08/03 8.4.1.3 Mbr. Ref. This shows the Member Reference of the member contained by the design object. If the design object consists of joined members then it will show the reference of the first and last members. 8.4.1.4 Template Ref. This shows the name of the template assigned to the design object. The use of templates is discussed more fully later. If a Detailed Results file for a particular design object has been created then this will be shown. In this program version design to BS5950: 2000 includes checks for deflection locally. This check uses default span to depth ratio set in SWMD template. You should change this according to the member end conditions. 8.4.1.5 Analysis Sect. This is the section used by the analysis model. 8.4.1.6 Design Sect. This is the section returned by the ‘Design’ facility to optimise the size of section. It may differ from the analysis section but you can update the analysis model, if you wish. A re-analysis is required after that, and you are advised to recheck the design objects. A recommended procedure for analysis, design and checking is described in Appendix B.1, ‘The Design Process’. 8.4.1.7 Lcl Cap. Local Capacity reports the most critical load capacity utilisation ratio for all the ULS load combinations designed. ‘n/a’ is shown if the design object has not been designed or checked. 8.4.1.8 Lat. Buck. This reports the most critical Lateral Buckling utilisation ratio for all the ULS load combinations designed. ‘n/a’ is shown if the design object has not been designed or checked. 8.4.1.9 Tor. Buck. This reports the most critical Torsional Buckling utilisation ratio for all the ULS load combinations designed. If the program does not find any potential buckling lengths for any of the load combinations and if the design object has not been designed or checked then it will report ‘n/a’. 8.4.1.10 Defl’n Design to BS5950: 2000 now includes checks for deflection locally. See below. The Utilisation Ratios and other aspects of steelwork member design are described in greater detail in the CADS Steelwork Member Designer User Guide accompanying that application.
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Steel design deflection checks Full support for the Steelwork Member Designer (SWMD) deflection checks under BS5950:2000 has now been incorporated. These require Steelwork Member Designer version 3.10 to be installed.
In accordance with normal practice, this facility reports the local or relative deflections of members’ deflections relative to their ends, i.e. ‘bowing’ of the midpoint relative to the displaced ends and ‘sway’ of one end relative to the other. It does not report global deflections relative to the original unloaded position of the frame (e.g. sway of a multi-storey building or tower or the mid-span deflection of a lattice girder). The global displacements depend on the stiffness of the whole frame and only indirectly on individual members. They may also be important and should be checked separately by examining the frame displacement results. A ‘sort and report’ facility is being prepared for a future version that will assist with this. The steel design check uses the default setting in the Steel design templates for comparison that is typically L/200. You can use alternative values and investigate via the Details option, or create templates with alternative values for specific instances. The value is set in ‘SWMD > Geometry & Parameters > Deflection Limits’ dialog. Attention is drawn to the fact that the deflection limitation given in ratio terms is applied to the member length which does not always correspond to the relevant span. For a symmetrical duo-pitch portal frame, the rafters are separate members for which the typical span/deflection ratio given as ‘200’ should be expressed as ‘100’ in terms of the member lengths. Note that the Automatic design process does not use the deflection as criteria when offering a section for consideration and marks the result n/a accordingly. It does however include the deflection utilisation ratio in the Pass or Failed status in Check mode, which should always be used as the final check anyway. 8.4.3 Overall status messages Below the Results Panel various messages are displayed showing the status of the analysis and design results. This allows you to monitor how your design is progressing. The possible messages are: 8.4.3.1 Re-analysis required This shows when some change has been made which invalidates the current analysis. The previous results are not removed, although their status is changed to ‘n/a’ so that you can still judge the suitability of the design objects, but bear in mind that a re-analysis is likely to alter the results. The benefits of working this way are set out in Appendix B.1, The Design Process. When this message is shown the ‘Check’, ‘Design’ and ‘Details’ buttons are disabled to prevent processing invalid data.
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Date: 01/08/03 8.4.3.2 Current analysis number: This shows the run number assigned to each analysis calculation. This number is incremented for each calculation. It enables you to compare the design runs with the analysis to ensure the calculations are up to date. 8.4.3.3 Results are based on Analysis: This shows the run number of the analysis used by the designs or checks carried out on the design objects. They must be the same to ensure a properly valid design. This message may also show a range of analysis numbers if designs or checks have been carried out on some objects during the development of the design. The message is prefixed with ‘Warning’ if the design analysis number is not the same as the current analysis number. The above can arise because you are not forced to re-analyse or re-design the objects to avoid making the process too slow for large jobs. Where changes are small although the results are strictly invalid they are nonetheless useful while the design is being refined. This is described in more detail in Appendix B.1, ‘The Design Process’.
8.4.4 Show
8.4.5
The Show panel controls the content of the Results Panel. The Design Result dialog layout has been simplified and hence is easier to use. The Show panel has been reduced to two options, which shows either a summary of ‘All objects’ or ‘particular object type’. This is similar to before but now only one click is needed to toggle between them. 8.4.4.1 All objects This option shows the full list of design objects. This view summarises the status of all the design object types. The Item and Status are as above but in place of the remaining data it reports ‘Design/check notes’. These are messages that may be passed back by the design application to clarify some point in the design or to report an error. Thus when viewing the specific design object results, if you notice an Error status, choose ‘Show > All objects’ to see the error message. 8.4.4.2 Current object type This option allows you to choose the type of design object to show the design results.. At present only the ‘SW member’ option is available and is the default display as described above. If there are no design objects of the type selected then the display will be blank. Similar to the main explorer new control buttons, which allow you to Expand it completely, expand by one level, collapse by one level or collapse it completely are provided in design results dialog. The dialog is sizeable so you can see a wider or longer list, if you wish. You can also adjust the column widths to suit your screen size.
Group Editing Tools The panel has tools that facilitate group editing. The operations available are described below.
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8.4.6 Selection
The Selection panel controls the operations you can do with selected design objects. Note that to make a selection you need to pick the design object icon or the associated reference. You can use the normal Windows selection methods to make multiple selections. In addition the corresponding objects in the main view and the main Explorer tree are also selected. There are also some additional selection options available from the pop up menu that are described later.
This option allows combining two groups into a single group. If properties of both groups are different then ‘common design’ option is removed in the newly combined group. This is enabled when more than two groups are selected. 8.4.5.2 Move to This option allows moving design objects from one group to another. Design objects from two different groups can be selected and moved into another already existing group. This can be done either through a simple drag and drop or by using ‘Move to…’ button. On selection a small dialog pops up with a list of groups available. Selecting a group causes already selected design objects to be moved into the group. This option is enabled when one or more design objects are selected. 8.4.5.3 Break This option allows forming a new group by moving objects from existing groups. This option is enabled when one or more design objects are selected. The objects may be from two different groups. Each of the above editing operations can be removed and the model can be restored to the previous stage using ‘Undo’.
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Figure 8.8
8.4.6.1 Properties
This opens the properties dialog which allows you to change some of the parameters applied to the design objects. Where multiple selections are made, the term ‘multiple’ will be shown if the parameters vary across the selection. However, where the parameters may be reset then any change will be applied to all the selected objects.
Reference – is the name of the design object. Type – reports the Design Object type.
Design code – is the design code specified for the design object. You can choose between BS5950:19990 and BS5950:2000
For existing jobs or new ones where you wish to explore the differences you can change the design code by selecting the design objects from the Design Results dialog, picking ‘Properties’ and choosing the ‘Design Code’ required. You will be asked to confirm the change to avoid accidental alteration. Note that if you change the code of a design object, which is part of a Common Design Group then all the objects in that group will be changed to the same code. Any previous results will be cleared ready for new Check or Design calculations. This makes no change to the physical model so there is no need to re-analyse.
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Date: 01/08/03 The effect of BS5950:2000 on designs is outside the scope of this document. You should consult the SW Member Designer User Guide for assistance. (Version 3.00 dealing with BS5950:2000 is currently being prepared).
Template – is the path to the template to be used by the selected objects. Alongside is a button to open the file browser to assist in locating the template. New Template – this button starts up the SW Member Designer application so that you can create a new template directly, if necessary.
Details file – the first field is the path to the location of the Details data files, which will be used by the Steelwork Designer. Alongside is a browse button if you wish to find an alternative folder. See below for more information about Details files.
The second field shows the job name followed by a hyphen (e.g.“jobname”). This is the basic name that will be used by any detailed results files that are created. When such a file is created for a particular design object, an ID number generated by the program is appended and this becomes the reference to that file. (e.g. “jobname-4887”). You cannot alter this name. If a Details file exists it will be used in preference to the specified template when the design object is Checked, Designed, or opened for Detailed review.
Delete – allows you to delete the Details file if it exists. You will be asked to confirm the action. Deleting the details file allows the checking and design to revert to using the specified template. Status – shows the current design status.
8.4.6.2 Details
This opens the detailed results for any selected object that has been designed or checked. In the case of SWMD you can also modify the other parameters controlled by the program. The result is then passed back to the Design Results dialog. If the section has changed then this is shown in the Design Section column of the Design Results dialog. In practice this can be a useful means of modifying the restraints on a particular design object and if a Details file is created this will become the ‘template’ for any future checking or design. If you subsequently wish to revert to the specified template then you can delete the details file via the Properties dialog as described above. More information on using this facility is included in Appendix B.1, ‘The Design Process’.
8.4.6.3 Check
This button activates the checking of selected design objects. What happens is that the design application is started and each of the design objects is passed to it, and the Analysis section is checked and the results passed back to the Design Results dialog. The important point about the Check option is that the section is not changed by the design application, just verified. Checks are carried out quickly and can be used in conjunction with the resulting utilisation factors to see how close to the ‘ideal’ the solution is. This way you may decide
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8.4.6.4 Design
This button activates the design of selected design objects. In this case the design application attempts to find the ‘best’ solution. For SWMD this is a suitable section on the basis of the Least depth or weight according to the option set in the Settings dialog (see below). Because it may test a number of sections this process is a little slower than a simple check.
If an object has Common Design set then all the members of the group will be designed and the program will choose a section suitable for all. You can tell this is happening as a dialog appears counting through the objects being designed (as it does with individual objects). Having then chosen a section it then runs through them again checking the utilisation factors for the chosen section.
8.4.7 Settings
A Check can be carried out at any time there is a current analysis. You are recommended to complete any analysis and design sequence with a check on a fully updated model in order to ensure a strictly valid set of results. See Appendix B.1, ‘The Design Process’ for more on this.
The Design returns the recommended section and its utilisation factors to the Design Results dialog. No re-analysis has taken place at this stage and hence the results are not strictly accurate, although if the change is small the result is likely to be close. A re-analysis is not undertaken automatically as it would slow the design process down and reduces much of the control you need. There is a facility to update the model with the design sections, see below, and a re-analysis and re-check can then be carried out. Because of its iterative nature on very large jobs you may find it expedient to Design only critical objects, which can be identified from a simple check. You may then update the model as required and re-check. This method usually homes in on a satisfactory result in only a couple of passes. More details of this approach are outlined in Appendix B.1, ‘The Design Process’.
This button opens the Design Settings dialog, which allows you to choose the criteria to be used when using the Design option. Only the SW Design options are supported at present and there are two options.
Figure 8.9
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This attempts to choose the section to offer on the basis of the least weight. To avoid searching excessively it finds the first ten satisfactory sections in ascending order and then chooses the lightest of these.
8.4.8
This chooses the section to offer on the basis of the least depth or size depending on the section. It searches the section table in ascending order and stops at the first suitable section. 8.4.7.2 Least weight
Update Analysis Model
Figure 8.1 0
This button allows you to update the analysis model with the recommended section from a Design. This can be done by adding new sections as new member types or updating existing member types. If you do the latter then all members and hence design objects using those types will adopt the new section. 8.4.8.1 Update Update controls what objects are to be updated. All objects – setting this option attempts to update all the design objects which have a Design section assigned. Selected objects – setting this option will only attempt to update those design objects which are currently selected. Objects of type – this setting will attempt only to update those objects of the chosen type. In this version only the SW Member types are supported.
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Date: 01/08/03 8.4.8.2 Update method This allows you to set how the update is to be applied.
OK – this activates the update according to the settings described above. The program will not update if the Design Section is the same as the current Analysis one. Thus if no changes take place, the analysis remains valid.
8.4.9
Create new Member Types – This will create a new member type for each of the design objects. Here, if the design objects are joined out of different types (such as a haunched member might be) then new member types will be created for each of the components. Update existing Member Types – This will update the existing member types. Choosing this option means that any other members using those member types will also be changed. The message below the option serves as a reminder of this.
Note that any change to a Member Type will mean that the model has changed and the current analysis becomes invalid. There is a reminder that updating the model will require re-analysis to confirm a satisfactory solution. Cancel – this returns you to the Design results without updating the model. 8.4.8.3 In the Design Results When an update occurs the Design section field is cleared. Depending on the type of section / member, the Analysis section field may show the change. Some of the more complex forms, or joined members simply show ‘Multiple’ in this case.
If you want to check quickly on the member types used by any design object you can expand the explorer tree in the Item column. Alternatively if you want to examine the member type in more detail; select the design object, open the Member Type editor, pick ‘Highlight’ and then double click on the appropriate highlighted entry in the Member Type editor. Once any update has occurred as pointed out above, the original analysis is no longer valid so a re-analysis is required. The status of each of the design objects will be marked N/A to indicate it is unknown. However, the utilisation factors for the last analysis are retained so you can still judge the approximate validity of the design. You are recommended to conclude any design, update and re-analysis sequence with a complete Check to ensure all results are valid. Appendix B.1, ‘The Design Process’ covers this in more detail.
Design Results menu
If you right click the mouse over the Results data area, a pop up menu will appear which will allow a number of further controls. This menu varies slightly depending on whether the button was clicked over an object or a group.
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Figure 8.11
8.4.9.1 Select All & Clear All You can also use the pop up menu (right mouse click over the Results Panel) to select all the design objects or clear the selection of all the design objects. 8.4.9.2 Highlight
This removes the design object properties from the objects but not the objects themselves. For instance a SW Member design object may consist of two members and deleting the design object removes attributes such as being a design object, being joined, templates to use etc. but not the actual members or their types etc.
8.4.9.5 Collapse one level & Collapse all
This will clear the common design setting, if set, so that the objects within the group are no longer constrained to use the same section size.
This option on the pop up menu will select all the design objects corresponding to any members selected in the main view. This means you can select a design object from the view directly if you wish. Selecting members in the main view does not change the design object selection automatically because you may wish to make selections for viewing purposes without destroying any selection you are using for design purposes. 8.4.9.3 Delete design object
8.4.9.4 Expand all & Expand one level ‘Expand all’ completely expands all the objects in the tree till its last root object. ‘Expand one level’ expands all the objects by one level. Picking successively will produce a complete expansion of all the objects.
‘Collapse one level’ collapses all objects in the tree to its preceding object. ‘Collapse all’ closes all the expanded objects down to the basic list. 8.4.9.6 Common Design
Similarly, Common Design can be applied to a group by picking it and setting this option. Note that it applies to the whole group and all objects within it. The same validation is applied to that described under the Grouping Wizard above.
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Date: 01/08/03 8.4.9.7 Delete Group
This removes the group and all the design objects within it. The objects themselves remain, only their design attributes are removed.
8.4.10 Viewing tools
The program includes a number of tools to assist in viewing the design objects and results. Primarily they are concerned with identifying the objects so you can visualise them easily. 8.4.10.1 Viewing design objects Normally the main view shows the analysis model, which consists mainly of members, joints, supports and loads. In order to visualise the design objects there is a ‘Design Objects and Result’ toggle button on the Display toolbar. This changes the main view so that it shows design objects rather than the analysis objects. The main differences are that joints within joined members are suppressed unless another member is connected to them. If labels are shown then only the first member of the design object is labelled with the name of the design object.
Figure 8. Analysis Model display Design Model display 12 In the above illustration, both the column and rafter members are ‘joined’ creating four design objects. 8.4.10.2 Design Status display When the Design Objects toggle is on they are coloured according to their design status. You are advised to clear any selection (by double clicking the main view background) so that the selection highlighting colour does not confuse the display.
Figure 8.1 3
In the illustration, the green columns (design objects 1 & 2) have both ‘Passed’. The red rafter (3) has ‘Failed’ and the grey rafter (4) has ‘N/A’ status indicating that it has not been designed or checked yet. This is another very quick visual check on the state of the model.
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9.0 Window Menu
Figure 9.1
You can open multiple windows on a job, which may be useful, if you are working on a large structure. You may have partial views in some if you require. Any selected members will be shown as selected in all views if they are visible. The window with the current focus can be regarded as the Main View as far as the operation of the program is concerned. Changes in one window should be reflected in them all but you might find the use of the Refresh option from the Pop Up menu useful on occasion. 9.1
9.2 Cascade
9.3 Tile
9.4
New window This opens a new window, which defaults to a full isometric view. You can close the Windows at any time except that there must be at least one window left open.
This is a standard windows feature that arranges the windows in staggered, overlapping style.
This is a standard Windows feature that arranges the windows to fit horizontally.
Arrange icons This is a standard Windows feature that arranges the windows icons neatly when they are minimised.
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10.0 Help Menu
Figure 10.1
The help menu aids the user in working with the program. There are various help resources available as described below. Quick Guide to A3D MAX – opens A3D MAX help file for the application.
About CADS A3D MAX – opens the about box which gives version details of the application and how to contact us. Please always quote this version information when raising any queries concerning the application.
Contents – opens the standard windows help browser for CADS A3D MAX help. Using Windows Help – opens the standard browser describing the use of the windows help system.
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Appendix A – Analysis Methods
A.1 Elastic Analysis
This appendix contains brief technical descriptions of the various analysis methods offered by the program.
The program will carry out an elastic analysis of 2D frames, grillages and 3D structures using the stiffness method of calculation. It is not necessary to have any knowledge of this method, although there are a number of standard textbooks available. A.1.1 Overview of the stiffness method Briefly, the program assembles a set of simultaneous equations, which may be represented in the simplified notation [K] [d] = [P]
where :-
[K] is the stiffness matrix, which represents the behaviour of the frame and is derived from the joint and member data.
[P] is the set of forces acting at the joints. Loads and moments applied to members are translated to joint effects during the calculations.
[d] is the set of displacements. These are, with the exception of the supported joints, unknown and are found by solving the simultaneous equations.
Each load combination has a corresponding set of these simultaneous equations, although the stiffness matrix is constant for all cases. Solving these equations gives the joint displacement and rotations from which the effects on individual members can be calculated, knowing the loads applied for each combination. A.1.2 Bandwidth Because of the inherent symmetry of the stiffness matrix, economies in computation can be made as the relevant data exists within a band about the leading diagonal of the matrix. This bandwidth is dependent on how well ordered the joint numbering at the ends of the members is. The greatest difference in joint number at the end of any member determines the bandwidth. The smaller this is, the fewer calculation loops are required and the faster the solution. This can be significant when there are many members. A.1.3 Assumptions The method of solution adopted makes some assumptions similar to those implicit in the traditional hand calculation methods.
The first assumption is that the structure can be represented, with sufficient accuracy, by one or more perfectly straight members of negligible depth that are joined to each other by means of connections at their intersections. These connections may be either rigid
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Date: 01/08/03 (Fixed option), have total rotational freedom in all axes (Ball option) or rotational freedom with torsional restraint (Pinned option). There is also a Partial restraint option that allows a degree of stiffness to be specified. The next assumption is the customary one for beams, namely that plane sections before bending remain plane after bending (sections being taken perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the member). The behaviour of both the structure as a whole and of each of its constituent members is assumed to be linear elastic. Finally, the only deformations considered in the solution are the changes of member curvature due to bending moments and shortening or lengthening of individual members due to axial forces. Thus the deformations due to shear are not included, nor are the so called P-Delta effects (the secondary incremental effects that would be produced by re-applying the loads at the displaced positions of the members in successive solutions). Within the limits of these assumptions, Analyse 3D will produce results of very high ‘accuracy‘, in fact almost an exact solution. However, the experienced engineer will be well aware that no results, no matter how accurate they appear, are any better than the assumptions, including the loading conditions that are made. A.1.4 Operation No special action is required as an elastic analysis is carried out in all cases.
In 2D frame analysis and traditional hand calculations, no torsion moments are calculated in normal framed structures but they appear in 3D analysis due to stiffness effects. The design or checking of members for torsional effects is usually complex and the results are often uneconomic. Software may not be available. Most design codes permit torsion effects to be ignored if the loads can be carried by other means, e.g. BS 8110 part 2 clause 2.4.1.
Torsionless analysis is advisable for 3D structures in reinforced concrete in which the beams are to be designed using CADS RC Beam Designer or by hand calculation.
A.2 Torsionless Analysis Torsionless analysis is simply an option by which the user may elect to neglect or ignore the torsional stiffness of the members. This is similar to methods commonly adopted when carrying out hand calculations. A.2.1 Torsionless method The response of the software is to reduce the torsional stiffness of all the members in the structural model to a very small value so that calculated torsion moments are too small to register in the output. Zero stiffness is not used because in some cases this would cause calculation problems. The neglect of torsion resistance results in higher flexural moments. In a typical floor grid the span moments in secondary beams are increased and outer support moments become zero with no torsion in edge beams and primary beams.
A.2.2 Recommendations
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Date: 01/08/03 Torsionless analysis may be used in conjunction with any of the other additional analysis features. Torsionless analysis should not be used for structures in which any principal load path is torsional. Any such misapplication will be revealed by excessive deflections of the affected members. A.2.3 Operation Torsionless analysis can be invoked by setting its option in the Analysis Options dialog. A.3 P-Delta Analysis This option allows the effects displacements of the frame relative to the line of action of the loads to be taken into account. This effect is ignored in normal elastic analysis. A.3.1 Overview When a frame deflects under the action of applied loads, any axial loads become eccentric to the member axis and secondary bending moments and deflections are thereby induced in the members. In simple linear elastic analysis the effect is neglected and this is quite safe for many structures. However, when high axial compression forces and slender members combine, the resultant magnification of moments and deflections can have a serious effect on the structure. In an extreme case the magnification or stability effects have a run away effect and the structure collapses by buckling. The axial compression forces effectively reduce the bending stiffness of members whilst tension forces have the opposite effect. The simplest example of this is the buckling of a single column. CADS A3D MAX provides the facility to include P-Delta effects in the analysis. This may be used to detect adverse magnification of moments and deflections or actual instability due perhaps to an incomplete bracing system. A.3.2 P-Delta Method The analysis is carried out in two stages for each load combination separately. The first stage is a normal linear elastic analysis to determine the axial forces in the members. These results are used to calculate the stability functions used in the second stage analysis to calculate the modified fixed end effects, the solution of the modified stiffness matrix and the subsequent calculation of the modified member internal effects. During calculation the matrix is tested to ascertain whether it is `positive definite’. If the test is negative, the frame load combination is above the elastic critical load factor and is reported as unstable. In addition to testing the matrix, the software also checks for huge deflections that may be calculated for sway frames at load levels below the theoretical `critical load’. An arbitrary limit of half the maximum frame dimension is applied and if this is exceeded the load combination is reported as collapsed irrespective of whether the matrix is positive definite.
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Date: 01/08/03 In the case of plastic collapse analysis for which P-Delta effects are specified, the two stage P-Delta analysis is carried out before the first hinge analysis. P-Delta effects are included at each hinge increment until the frame collapses either as a full hinge mechanism or due to instability resulting from deteriorating stiffness which is the result of hinge formation and increasing axial compression forces. A.3.3 Operation To carry out P-Delta analysis set up the frame data in the usual way. Open the ‘Load combinations and categories’ dialog and in the ‘Combination options’ use the ‘Elastic analysis’ options combo box to select P-Delta for the relevant combinations. This pre-selection must be confirmed in the ‘Analysis Options’ dialog by clicking in the P-Delta option if it is not already selected. The purpose of this is to allow you to do rapid with/without P-Delta analyses without having to reset all the affected load combinations. However you can be temporarily puzzled if you forget whether the switch is on or off! No additional input data is required for P-Delta analysis because the basic elastic properties are sufficient. The results are presented in the same format as for linear elastic analysis except that the tables are annotated: - Analysis type – P-Delta. If the frame is unstable no results are displayed other than the warning message on each page for the affected load combination. If you require to determine the ‘elastic critical load factor’ for your frame under a particular load combination, you can do this by progressively factoring up the partial safety factors for the load combination until the frame is reported as “unstable under this load combination”. In a forthcoming version of the program the facility will be provided to find the critical load factor automatically. Note that `elastic critical load factor’ is defined here as the factor by which the current load combination must be multiplied to cause buckling instability whilst neglecting the formation of plastic hinges or any other local failure. A.3.4 Limitations In this version P-Delta effects are ignored for non prismatic members (haunched, tapered or user defined). If you wish to analyse portal frames with haunches, you should define the haunches as separate tapered members. P-Delta effects in the uniform sub members will then be taken into account. This is also desirable for plastic analysis. In this version of A3D MAX, P-Delta effects are ignored for members with partial end fixity. However, for multi storey frames with semi rigid beam to column connections, a reasonably accurate solution can still be obtained because P-Delta effects are allowed in the critical column members. For column bases for which it is required to specify partial fixity in terms of the member stiffness it is suggested that the column member properties dialog, partial fixity page be used to obtain the absolute value of the connection stiffness equivalent to the proportional stiffness. This value can then be used as the support rotational stiffness with column member end fixity set to ‘fixed’.
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Date: 01/08/03 These restrictions will be removed in a forthcoming version.
Elastic P-Delta analysis may be selected at the same time as plastic analysis, torsionless analysis, tension/compression only members or lift-off supports in 2D or 3D structures.
Note that load combinations with P-Delta effects will be ignored by SWMD. A warning message will be displayed to this effect. It is best to set P-Delta combinations to ‘Ignore’ or switch off P-Delta in the Analysis options dialog before doing SWMD checks. A.4 Plastic Analysis CADS A3D MAX provides the first user friendly facility for the plastic analysis of general frames of ductile material properties. It is assumed that engineers using CADS A3D MAX are already familiar with plastic analysis and design or are using the program in conjunction with one of the relevant text books as part of their education and training. This Guide will therefore not take up space with the explanation of plastic theory, but concentrate on operation and application of the software. However we must first clarify some terms. A.4.1 Overview The collapse load factor is the amount by which the current load combination values must be multiplied to cause collapse by formation of a plastic hinge mechanism or instability (assuming no other failure intervenes). A value less than unity therefore indicates failure. The first hinge load factor is the amount by which the current load combination values must be multiplied to cause the formation of the first plastic hinge. In this case values less than unity merely indicate that the frame is no longer fully elastic under the design loads and requires plastic analysis to determine the correct internal moments and force effects at load factor 1.000. Before embarking on the plastic analysis of a large 3D structure, it is worth considering whether the 2D analysis of sub-frames would be adequate for design purposes and be both quicker and easier to manage. Many portal frame structures repeat the same main frame many times. Full plastic analysis of such frames can be lengthy and just produce repetitions of the same hinges in parallel frames. A.4.2 Operation First set up the frame model in the usual way. However, note that if plastic analysis (or P-Delta analysis) is likely, haunched members should be divided into sub members, i.e. with the haunch as a tapered member and the uniform part as a separate prismatic member. This is because haunched/tapered members are treated as linear elastic elements with unlimited strength for the purposes of plastic and P-Delta analysis. It is often useful to first carry out a linear elastic analysis on all load combinations. This establishes whether the serviceability deflections are acceptable and whether the ultimate load effects are of the right order of magnitude. You can use the linear stress checks, as provided by the Stress Reporting facility, to assist with the latter.
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Date: 01/08/03 This preliminary elastic analysis enables you to home in on a likely solution, changing member sizes and support conditions etc. and re-analysing quickly before getting involved in more complex analysis which inevitably takes longer and requires closer attention to the process. Preliminary elastic analysis is particularly advisable if you are using an old, slow computer because plastic analysis is iterative and incremental for each separate load combination and may take some time. A.4.2.1 Check the plastic properties of the members – This is not essential if the members of your frame are restricted to the following categories:
SW Members – i.e. Steel I – sections, box or circular hollow sections selected from the CADS library. For these, the program will calculate the plastic resistances.
SW haunch members – i.e. haunched or tapered steel members defined using CADS SW Haunch input facility. The plastic resistances of haunches will be taken to be ‘unlimited’ based on the normal assumption that you will design them to be sufficiently strong so as not to develop plastic hinges.
All hinges are assumed to form in prismatic (uniform section) members.
Other types – For other types of members select the member or group of similar members and right click the mouse. Select Properties from the menu. Select the ‘Plastic Limits’ tab. Change the plastic limit options to ‘Specified’ and edit the default values (10000 kNm) to the value you intend for the relevant sections along the member and the hogging, sagging and lateral moment directions. This option is intended not only for uniform member types for which automatic calculation of plastic properties is not currently available, but also for reinforced concrete members for which the resistance moment may vary.
If the section is uniform you can reduce the number of inputs by ticking the ‘Constant’ box. A.4.2.2 Connections – You can specify plastic resistance moments for semi rigid connections using the Plastic Limits tab as described in section 5.2.10 Member attributes – plastic limits. At any member end, the analysis reviews the member and connection resistance moments and adopts the lesser. A.4.2.3 Mark the load combinations – Open the ‘Load Combinations and Categories’ dialog. Set the Plastic Analysis option to ‘Yes’ for all the load combinations intended for first hinge or full collapse analysis. Usually these will be the ultimate limit state (ULS) combinations. Note that there is no commitment to full collapse analysis at this stage so no penalty for marking combinations that later turn out to be elastic at the design ultimate limit state. If you also require P-Delta effects to be included set the ‘Elastic analysis’ option to ‘P-Delta’ for the relevant load combinations. Note that load combinations with P-Delta effects will be ignored when carrying out design checks to BS5950 using CADS SWMD or the Design batch processing facility. P-Delta can be switched off ‘globally’ using the tick box in the ‘Analysis options’ dialog or by changing the ‘Elastic analysis’ setting for individual combinations and re-analysing. Alternatively you can set up duplicate load combinations with and without P-Delta.
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Date: 01/08/03 A.4.2.4 Calculate – Close the ‘Load Combinations’ dialog and select Calculate from the ‘Results’ menu or Toolbar icon. When the calculations are reported complete, select ‘Tabulated Results’ from the Results menu or toolbar icon. A.4.2.5 Review first hinge results – If you have selected plastic analysis for one or more load combinations, the ‘Tabulated Results’ dialog will open at the ‘First Hinge Formation’ page. This lists all the load combinations that have been marked for plastic analysis. For each combination, the load factor is reported at which the first plastic hinge would form, and the member reference and position along it.
Low first hinge load factor – If any load combination has a very low first hinge load factor (say less than 0.70), it is likely that the collapse load factor will be less than 1.00 and design changes may be required. You may wish to request a collapse analysis for that combination to ascertain which members are critical (other than the one in which the first hinge is formed.) High first hinge load factor – If all the first hinge load factors are greater than unity, full collapse analysis will not normally be required except for curiosity. Depending on circumstances, you may wish to reduce member sizes and re-analyse. However, if the design is governed by deflections this will probably not be a sensible option.
Assuming the above do not apply, you can mark the load combinations ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ for collapse analysis using the ‘Select for Collapse Analysis’ button on this dialog page. Normally combinations with first hinge load factor less than 1.0 should have collapse analysis ‘Yes’ and those greater than 1.0 ‘No’. You can of course do whatever you think fit! When you are satisfied with your selection for collapse analysis press the ‘Collapse analysis’ tab to start the analysis and display the results. The calculations for plastic collapse analysis require numerous iterations and will take a noticeable time to complete, especially for large 3D structures. The actual execution time will depend on the power of your computer. A.4.2.6 Review collapse analysis results – In the Tabular Results dialog select the Collapse Analysis tab. Each load combination has a separate page. Combinations which were marked `elastic’ in the Load Combinations and Categories dialog have no results reported. Combinations which were marked ‘plastic’ in the Load Combinations and Categories dialog but marked ‘No’ for collapse analysis in the First Hinge Formation page will also have no results reported. For those combinations marked ‘Yes’ for collapse analysis, the history of plastic hinge formation up to collapse is displayed with the following information:
�� Hinge number in sequence of formation.
�� The load factor at which the hinge forms.
�� The reference number of the member in which the hinge forms.
�� The position along the member at which the hinge forms.
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�� The local buckling status of the hinge. This is available only for SW members having the default Mpr (reduced plastic moment) option set. The program can only check local buckling for recognisable steel sections.
�� Report of any unloading (transient) hinges listed after the new hinge which
initiates the unloading. This is reported as ‘unhinge’.
�� Finally the number of hinges formed at collapse is reported.
The hinges may form a full plastic collapse mechanism or, if P-Delta effects have been included and are significant, collapse due to instability may occur with a lesser number of hinges formed.
The report does not distinguish between instability and mechanism collapses but if necessary you can run comparative plastic collapse analyses with and without P-Delta effects to see for yourself either by using the global P-Delta switch in ‘Analysis options’ dialog or running two comparative load combinations. A.4.2.7 Set the load factor for calculating internal effects [Effects load factor] – In order to carry out design code checks on the frame members, it is necessary to obtain the internal effects (moment, shear and axial forces) for the members and their distribution for each ultimate load combination. Deflections may also be required. In most cases of plastic analysis the internal effects will be processed using CADS SWMD Steelwork Member Designer. However, they may also be used for hand calculations or linked into other software. For the elastic load combinations the effects are automatically calculated at load factor = 1.000. For the plastic load combinations, the permitted range of load factor is between 0.100 and the collapse load factor if a collapse analysis has been done. If a collapse analysis has not been done, the effects are automatically calculated at load factor = 1.000 using elastic analysis. It is assumed that if the first hinge factor is less than 1.000, you will request a full collapse analysis. The ‘effects load factor’ is displayed for each plastic load combination and may be edited. The default load factor is 1.000 as long as this lies in the range. Obviously at load factors less than first hinge factor, the frame is entirely elastic and if necessary, the combination should be redefined accordingly. Load factors greater than the collapse factor are of course meaningless. For normal design purposes the default load factor = 1.000 will be used. However, you may wish to see the effects at collapse to satisfy yourself as to their validity. Also, some designers make a practice of designing for the collapse load factor so that the full strength of the members chosen is available for future changes in loading, alterations etc. A.4.2.8 Review the internal effects – Having reviewed the collapse analysis results and accepted or edited the default load factors, you can see the member effects results and the corresponding reactions, joint displacements and member deflections by selecting the relevant tab in the Tabulated Results dialog. The results for the elastic load combinations are displayed instantly but those for the plastic combinations are calculated `to order’ and take a few moments computation time depending on the power of your computer and the size of the frame.
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Date: 01/08/03 A.4.2.9 Graphical results – The internal effects and deflections for load combinations containing plastic hinges may be viewed in graphical form superimposed on the frame diagram in the same way as for elastic combinations. The number of ordinates per member may be lined for members containing hinges within their span. Enveloping – The ‘enveloping’ of effects of all load combinations is not available in this program version if plastic analysis is set for any combination. Enveloping is of use in reinforced concrete structures but of little or no relevance to steelwork – the principal application of plastic analysis. Hinge formation – For those load combinations analysed to collapse, the hinge formation may be viewed graphically. All the hinges formed up to collapse are shown on the frame diagram and numbered in sequence. Under the default graphics setting, they will be shown as simple numbers for speed. You may like to switch off member and joint numbering to avoid confusion. Alternatively you can obtain a better hinge display by selecting ‘View > Toggle high quality render’. Hinges which are active at the effects load factor, are shown as coloured circles. Hinges which have unloaded at below the collapse load factor, are shown as white circles. The high quality render also enhances the joint and member labels. A.4.2.10 Post processing using CADS SWMD – You can export the data for a frame with plastic load combinations to CADS SWMD for checking against the requirements of BS 5950 pt 1. You can use the simple ‘Export to designer’ facility for individual members or you can use the ‘Design’ dialog facility for efficient batch processing of multiple members. Both are described elsewhere. The current selection of elastic and plastic load combinations data will be used. The data for combinations with plastic hinges will produce more favourable results than the original elastic analyses for these combinations because the moment peaks typically at supports will be reduced to the values sustainable as reduced plastic moments. Export of the original elastic analysis data would result in local capacity failures being reported at these positions. Note that load combinations with P-Delta effects will be ignored by SWMD. A warning message will be displayed to this effect. It is best to set P-Delta combinations to ‘Ignore’ or switch off P-Delta in the Analysis options dialog before doing SWMD checks. A.4.3 Limitations CADS A3D MAX plastic analysis is intended for structures in which the principal effect is the major axis bending of the sections. Biaxial bending about the member X and Y axes is accommodated by simple linear interaction formula which can give conservative results. Note that under the default (Auto Mpr) option for steel members, the program reduces the design strength for flange thickness greater than 16.0mm in accordance with BS5950, Part 1 for steel grades 43, 50 and 55. Other steel grades are not recognised in this version. Note that plastic analysis is not meaningful for structures which consist primarily of triangulated assemblies of members. For structures which operate principally in bending but have braced bays to provide stability it is recommended that the diagonal bracings should have pinned ends and assigned ‘Unlimited’ plastic limits.
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Date: 01/08/03 It is the responsibility of the user to ensure that the members/sections adopted are suitable for plastic analysis. A.5 Elastic Critical Load Analysis In normal analysis, the applied loads are defined, grouped into categories and applied to the frame in various load combinations. In each ultimate load combination the load categories are multiplied by appropriate partial safety factors to represent the `design ultimate load condition’. In plastic analysis, the collapse load factor is defined as the factor by which the current design ultimate load combination would have to be multiplied to cause a plastic collapse to occur. Each load combination will have a different collapse load factor. Similarly, the elastic critical load factor is the factor l by which the current design ultimate load combination would have to be multiplied to cause frame instability. I.e. collapse by elastic buckling or loss of stiffness as distinct from formation of a plastic collapse mechanism. In most frames (especially portal frames and unbraced multi storey building frames) there is an interaction between the progressive formation of plastic hinges and instability effects so that the simple plastic collapse load factor is reduced by the P-Delta buckling effects. This is modelled by switching on P-Delta and Plastic analysis in A3D MAX. [Second order elastic-plastic analysis]. The elastic critical load can never be achieved for these common types of structure and it could be said to be only of theoretical interest. Nevertheless the elastic critical load factor is used in BS 5950 as a useful index of frame stability. Frames with lcr > 10 are considered to be insensitive to P-Delta effects (usually because of bracing). Frames with lcr < 4.0 are required to have full second order elastic-plastic analysis. Frames with lcr > 4.0 but < 10 can be checked either by second order elastic-plastic analysis or by various approximate methods involving hand calculations and/or modifications of simple linear elastic analysis utilising lcr . BS 5950 provides hand methods of estimating lcr from linear elastic deflections. Obviously a better estimate (true value) can be obtained by iterative P-Delta analysis. A.6 Rigid Constraints in Analysis In multi-storied buildings, slab stiffness in lateral direction is very large compared to beam and column stiffness. Structures designed using simple design techniques proposed in BS5950 depend on the floor slab rigidity to transfer the loads. This in-plane rigidity is essential to accurately model the structural behavior for lateral loads. Because of the high rigidity of the slab in its own plane, it is accurate to consider that all the members and joints in that slab act as a rigid plane. A.6.1 Rigid plane A rigid plane is a plane where there are no in-plane deformations, but only out of plane deformations, i.e. the degrees of freedom associated with joints in that plane are condensed to one point.
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Date: 01/08/03 For example, slabs are usually considered as rigid planes. A slab is very rigid in its own plane and deformations are very small for in-plane forces. They are usually ignored and the slab is considered behaving as a rigid plane. But, a slab has considerably larger deformations for out-of-plane forces. For out-of-plane deformations, we calculate strains and forces associated with strains.
Figure A.1
Shown above is an example of a rigid plane with four members. At each corner node there are six degrees of freedom. But because of the rigid plane behavior, all the deflection degrees of freedom that are within the plane and all rotational degrees of freedom that are out of the plane will behave in a rigid plane manner. In the program, all the forces and deflections that are shown in red will be carried to the degrees of freedom that are shown in blue. Thus the effect of applying rigid plane constraint to panels is to lock the joints of those panels such that they cannot move relative to each other in that plane. The joints in the panel can however deform normal to its plane. The panel can also be displaced and rotated bodily in respect of the whole structure. A.6.2 Limitations Rigid panel analysis has the following limitations:- 1. A joint cannot form part of two rigid panel groups. 2. A support joint cannot form part of a rigid panel. A.7 Panel Local Coordinate System
A3D MAX uses a global coordinate system as shown above. This is different from the conventional system where the Z-axis in A3D MAX goes inside whereas in the regular Cartesian co-ordinate system the Z-axis comes out. All the user-interface activities – input, display of results are performed in this coordinate system. With the introduction of panels, a new co-ordinate system has been defined. The Panel co-ordinate system is based on the co-ordinate system of the plane in which it lies. The co-ordinate system for the plane originates at the global coordinate system and is defined as follows:-
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Date: 01/08/03 The normal to the plane is taken as the Y-axis of PCS (YpL). It is selected in such a way that YpL is in the +ve in the Yg axes. If the plane is vertical then (i) YpL is chosen in the +ve Xg-axis direction for the Yg-Zg plane (ii) YpL is chosen in the -ve Zg-axis direction for the Xg-Yg plane Then the X-axis of PCS is defined. It is the intersection line between the plane and the Zg-Xg plane and is in the +ve Xg direction. If the XpL is along global Z, then the X-axis is taken in the –ve Zg direction. Finally the Z-axis is defined perpendicular to the X-axis and Y-axis following the right-hand thumb rule. (Cross product of XpL and YpL )
Figure A.1
The ‘Plane co-ordinate system’ for a few panel orientations is shown above. The Panel’s local co-ordinate system is the same as the plane’s co-ordinate system with the origin shifted to the minimum X and minimum Z of the panel vertices. All operations related to individual panels follow the panel local co-ordinate system. The Panel co-ordinate system can be viewed for all panels created by turning the ‘panel co-ordinate axes’ toggle ON from ‘View > Toggle Objects > Panel loads’ or from the Display toolbar, fly-out under ‘Panel’ in Stick Model mode. A.8 Panel Loads Distribution There are two possible methods of panel load distribution. They are the bisection method and the grid method. Panel point, line, patch loads are always distributed through the grid method whereas area loads may be distributed by either the bisection or grid method.
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Date: 01/08/03 A.8.1 Bisection method for area loads The bisection method is used when ‘Consider Edge fixity’ is not selected in the ‘Analysis options’ dialog. The program bisects the angle between each edge of a panel to create the area to be allocated for the edge. The load on the area is then applied to members on that edge as distributed loads. If an edge is free, the load is distributed between other edges and no load goes to the free edge. The free edge also includes edges partially populated with members. This option considers panel edges to be ‘simply supported’, regardless of the edge fixity settings in the panel. This is the default setting. The following are few samples of area load distribution patterns:-
A.8.2 Grid method This method is used when the ‘Consider Edge fixity’ is selected. Panel point, line, patch and normal components of area loads are distributed through this method. The loads are distributed by an approximate method where each panel is analysed as a separate
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Date: 01/08/03 structure by meshing it with the grid of members. The analysis results are then transferred as loads on to the panel edge members. One set of loads is generated for each panel load category. A.8.2.1 Salient features of model generated are as follows: (i) For each edge the first member on that boundary is used to model the edge of the panel. (ii) Member properties of internal grid members are based on the spacing of the grid and the panel thickness. The spacing of the grid is in turn based on the configuration setting for the number of divisions. (iii) End fixity of all members joining the edge is set based on the edge fixity of the panel. If the edge is ‘simply supported’, all members have a pinned end condition at that end joining the edge. (iv) Material for internal members is taken as panel material. (v) All vertex joints of a panel are assigned pinned support. (vi) The load on the panel is transferred to the grid members as follows:- Point load – transferred to the nearest grid member as point load based on the least perpendicular distance. Line load – transferred to the grid member as uniform loads so that the center of gravity of the load is preserved. Patch load – transferred to the grid member as uniform loads so that the center of gravity of the load is preserved. In this case the effect of the restrained edges in the distribution of loads is taken into account. This method is more intensive in terms of processing time and hence the performance of the program may be slowed noticeably when used on large frames. Supporting edge members to be stiff – When this option is selected in the ‘Analysis options’ dialog, ‘Member properties’ of edge members are set to have high major moment of inertia value. This option is ON by default. The above model is an approximation erring on the safer side. The results improve on increasing the number of grids, by changing the configuration setting – ‘No. of divisions for panel load distribution’. A.8.3 Distributed member load All member loads generated from the panel load have their reference set to "auto". They can be viewed in the main view or ‘Member’ page of the Load editor dialog and are non editable. They disappear once the calculations are reset by model changes. Generated loads are always applied in the global X, Y and Z direction as horizontal, vertical and transverse loads on effective member lengths. There may be few exceptions in the case of in-plane loads where generated loads may be applied along member axis as axial loads.
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Date: 01/08/03 The direction of the load depends on the panel’s orientation in the global co-ordinate system. For example if a panel is inclined to all three global axes then for a single panel load three global loads will be generated for each member of the panel.
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Appendix B – Design Grouping This appendix describes the Design Grouping methods available in the program and aspects of the use of CADS SW Member Designer which may be useful. B.1 Design Process This section outlines a typical procedure for analysing and designing a frame. The process is essentially circular following an Analysis, Check, Design, Update loop. The following commentary will guide you round this loop. This should be familiar as it is essentially the normal design process. Breaking it into these steps allows you maximum control.
Figure B.1
B.1.1 Analysis The first step is to create the model. Bearing in mind the evolution of the model it is worth setting up the model so that changes can be controlled easily. The principle methods to assist in this are the appropriate use of Member types and Design groups. B.1.1.1 Member types – It is useful to create a member type for each set of members that are related and likely to be required to remain the same size. For instance all roof beams may be of one size and all corner columns another. Using member types allows all members of that type to be modified by making just one change. Although the assignment of member types may be made at any time, it is better to do it as the model is being set up when one is concentrating on the creation of the model rather than its design. B.1.1.2 Design Groups – These help to break down the model into design elements. They are particularly useful for applying particular design constraints, such as restraints, which do not affect the analysis. They also enable you to specify which analysis members are to be treated as one for design purposes. It is also possible to use more than one group in parallel to examine alternative conditions. This has the benefit that if changes are made the whole model can be re-
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Date: 01/08/03 checked in one go and the effects observed. It does mean, however, that greater care is needed in viewing the results and updating the model. B.1.2 Check You might wonder why the check comes before the design. The reason is that the check is used to validate the last analysis. Even after the first analysis, and before any sizing is done, it can be useful to get a feel for the closeness of the trail sections. Of course if you know the sections chosen are not likely to be satisfactory you can skip to the Design stage to obtain a better set of trial sections. The Check will report how well the design objects have performed. For SW Members the basis is the utilisation factors. If some fail then you will almost certainly want to carry out a Design as discussed in the next section. If they all pass then you have a solution, whether it is the best one is for you to judge. Some Design objects may be ‘over designed’ so that carrying out a Design will help to optimise them. B.1.3 Design By this stage you will probably have a set of Check results so you can see how satisfactory your model is and clearly you have decided it needs to be modified either to work, or be more efficient. It is worth considering what needs to be changed and the implications. The members all interact with each other. In a structure, changing anything changes the forces so trying to optimise individual objects to the nth degree is likely to result in failures in other members. Some structures are more sensitive than others in this regard. You need to be particularly careful when dealing with portal frames. If some objects have reasonable utilisation factors then it is often worth leaving these alone and just changing those that are totally unsatisfactory. If you need to refine the design very tightly it is better to make a few changes at a time and go round the design process loop several times. Having decided what to change there are a number of possible methods. B.1.3.1 Change the model geometry – This is fairly radical and is only likely to be required if the results are so unsatisfactory as to require a re-appraisal of the structural form. In this case you would normally return to the main modelling environment, make appropriate changes, and start the design process afresh with a new analysis. B.1.3.2 Estimate a new size – In this case you might look at the results and judge which Design objects are failed and hence member types need modifying. You may also then estimate the new section to try which is done as part of the Update model step. B.1.3.3 Use the Design option – This option is one of the powerful features of the Design Results in that it enables you to optimise the size of the Design Objects. Select the Design Object you wish to optimise and pick ‘Design’. Each object will then be calculated to obtain a satisfactory result. This calculation loops through a series of
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Date: 01/08/03 sections of the same type as the analysis section until it finds one that passes all the utilisation checks and offers that in the Design Section column of the results. If it cannot find a satisfactory section it returns an error, the content of which can be read by picking ‘Show > All objects’. Where the design object contains haunched sections the same search is applied and the haunch length kept constant but the haunch is based on the main section and its depth is the default for that section. B.1.3.4 Use the Details option – The prime purpose of this option is to enable you to interrogate the results in detail, hence its name. However, you can make modifications to Design objects on an individual basis so it is good for fine tuning a design. Using this option gives you access to most of the facilities within the Steelwork Member Designer. This includes setting up restraints, but you can also change the section. The merit of using Details is that you can easily change the section, run the internal calculation to obtain new utilisation factors and repeat this until you have an acceptable answer. The model will still need to be updated and re-checked but you might be able to find a good trial section for problematic design objects more quickly. Another advantage is that the Auto Design facility in SWMD is available and this offers a range of possible sections from which to choose. This can be useful if you deliberately wish to over design slightly so that when the model is updated and re-checked the design objects have enough latitude not to fail. When you have made your choice then Close SWMD and the results will be passed back to the Design Results table and the appropriate section will appear in the Design Section column of the results. The corresponding utilisation factors will also be shown. An important point to remember is that the details file thus created will now be used as the template for subsequent designs and checks. Thus additional restraints you may have added will be preserved. Note, however, that holes data is not automatically taken into account in the Check and Design. B.1.3.5 Generally – Normally following a total ‘Design’ all the design objects should have passed. However these results are only an indication based on the last analysis. The model is yet to be updated and re-analysed and checked. A tip when reviewing the Design Results is that if a section is shown in the Design Section column of the results then the job may not have been updated and re-checked. B.1.4 ‘Details’ option and ‘Aspects’ Some commentary on the ‘Aspect’ of a section as interpreted by SWMD may be useful. In SWMD non-symmetrical sections may have an attribute called aspect set. The aspect is a combination of orientation and ‘handing’ of a section. Channels may be set web near or far which is equivalent to the ‘handing’ in A3D MAX and angles may be set leg near or far, up or down which is dependant on the orientation. In A3D MAX the ‘aspect’ is set indirectly using the orientation and the ‘handing’. To avoid inconsistency, when in Details mode, SWMD does not allow you to change the aspect in the Member Properties dialog. Any change must be made in A3D MAX.
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Date: 01/08/03 When A3D MAX passes information about members to SWMD it passes the information with respect to the member’s local axes. Thus a member with an orientation of 180° will be shown the opposite way round to one of 0° orientation. This does not matter much until you come to view the graphs in SWMD which are always shown horizontally, even for columns. The consequence of this is that members of 180° orientation may appear to show their moment and shear diagrams inverted. This is not an error but a consequence of the interpretation of local effects on such members. B.1.5 Update model Having completed the design stage you will either have in mind some changes or will have some Design section changes obtained from the Design or Details options. If you have decided the changes yourself then you will need to update the model directly. However, the model can be updated automatically for any design sections that exist. This is done by the update Analysis model option. These methods are described below. B.1.5.1 Update directly – This usually means modifying the member types to sections you estimate will be more suitable. The Design Results explorer can help you find the member type, or types used by a design object. Alternatively if you select the design object you wish to consider, open the Member Editor and pick ‘Highlight’, then the member type or types will be highlighted in the editor. You can then make the necessary changes. Any changes require the model to be re-analysed so the Design Results status for all the design objects will be set to ‘n/a’. However, the utilisation factors remain for your guidance so you can continue to modify the other objects as required. B.1.5.2 Update Analysis Model option – This option automatically updates the Member types used by the design objects where a new Design Section is present. You can choose to update all objects or only those selected, and you can choose to create new member types or update the existing ones. Before updating it is useful to consider the effect on the model. To some extent what update options you choose will depend on how much you considered the effect of change when you created the model. B.1.5.3 Updating existing member types – Take an example where the trial model is created using just one section, say the default. You will have obtained some design results so you know, much better, what sizes to try. If you select all and try to ‘update existing’ it will attempt to update the existing section with the Design section for each design object. If it finds that the original member type has already been updated by another design object but the current design section is different, then it creates a new member type and assigns the design object to that. This ensures that while the member types are updated, wherever possible, new member types are also created if necessary. This can be a very effective way of carrying out a design without worrying about trial sizes at all. Just let the program do the work. You may need an extra pass round the Design process loop but this only takes a few moments usually so it can lead to very rapid design solutions.
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Date: 01/08/03 An important point to remember when updating existing types is that any other member using an updated type will also be modified. The only exception is the other member if it is also going to be updated anyway, as described above. B.1.5.4 Creating new member types – If you do not wish to affect other members which use a member type being updated, then choose the Create new member type option. For each Design object with a design section the program creates a corresponding type, having first checked that it has not just created such a type already. This prevents too many identical types from being created. B.1.6 Re-analysis Having updated the model the analysis now needs to be re-calculated to obtain the correct forces. To warn you, the Design Results overall status message below the results panel will show “Re-analysis required” in bold text. Pick the Calculate button from the toolbar. You can view the graphical and tabular results if you wish. The message will change to the new analysis run number. B.1.7 Re-check Once the re-analysis is done normally you should make sure all the design objects are selected and pick ‘Check’. This will check the current model and produce a set of valid results. If you are investigating just a few objects to optimise then you may decide to only check those you are interested in. The checking operation is pretty fast, but with large jobs you may prefer to limit the scope of the checking. When you think you have a solution you are strongly recommended to check all the objects. Hopefully they will all pass, but some may fail. This is because the member forces will now be distributed differently due to the new relative stiffness following the last design section changes. However, the results should be quite close. You can judge whether the results are close enough but strictly you should go round the Design Process loop again. Experience has shown that once or twice is usually sufficient to provide a satisfactory solution unless you have a particularly sensitive structure. In this case increasing the size of critical members directly should overcome any inadequacies. If you choose to override the sizes suggested by the Design option then exclude these Design Objects when you do any further re-design. B.1.8 Solution Finally you should have arrived at a set of results where all the Design Objects pass the final Check with reasonable utilisation factors. This is your solution. B.1.8.1 Printout – If you want to Printout these results there are two data tables you can choose. One is the ‘Design Results Summary’ the other is the ‘Steelwork Results’. B.1.8.2 Design Results Summary – This shows a summary of all the Design objects giving their type, status and any other messages that may be relevant. If you want more
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Date: 01/08/03 detailed information choose the table for the particular type of Design Object required. In this version only SW members are supported. Design Results Summary Group Design Object Comments Design
Reference Reference Type Status Frame 1 cY1 SW Design Passed
cY2 SW Design Passed
cY3 SW Design Passed
cY4 SW Design Passed
bX1 SW Design Failed
bX2 SW Design Failed
bZ1 SW Design Passed
bZ2 SW Design Passed
B.1.8.3 Steelwork Result – This shows the Design Results for SW Member types of Design Objects. It includes the status and utilisation factors for the Design object. Steelwork Design Results Design Membe
rTemplate Analysis Design Utilisation Factors
Object Ref. Ref. Section Section Local Lateral Torsion Deflection Status
Reference capacity buckling buckling
Group Reference - Frame 1
cY1 1 Defaults 356x171 UB57 0.222 0.752 n / a n / a Passed
cY2 2 defaults 356x171 UB57 0.222 0.752 n / a n / a Passed
cY3 3 defaults 356x171 UB57 0.222 0.752 n / a n / a Passed
cY4 4 defaults 356x171 UB57 0.222 0.752 n / a n / a Passed
bX1 5 defaults 406x178 UB74 0.287 1.163 n / a n / a Failed
bX2 6 defaults 406x178 UB74 0.287 1.162 n / a n / a Failed
bZ1 7 defaults 127x76 UB13 0.000 0.000 n / a n / a Passed
bZ2 8 defaults 127x76 UB13 0.000 0.000 n / a n / a Passed
B.1.9 Optimising – points to watch In trying to optimise the model it is tempting to select all the design objects, update, re-analyse and check. With sensitive structures like portal frames, whilst the design has minimised each section, the changed distribution of forces often results in the new sizes not being satisfactory. Continuing to optimise in this way may not reach a satisfactory solution. The way to deal with it is to only optimise one set of members at a time. For instance just optimise the rafters update and re-check to see the new situation. Then maybe optimise the columns. Doing this progressively should focus quickly on a satisfactory solution. It is for this reason that a fully automated optimiser is unlikely to find satisfactory solutions in many cases. An alternative strategy which often works well, particularly if a lot of slightly differing sections are being offered by the design, is to choose those design objects which
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Date: 01/08/03 represent the best choice and update existing member types using only those. The other Design Objects using the same member types will be modified accordingly. B.2 How SWMD handles A3D MAX members
This appendix gives a brief discussion of the use of the CADS Steelwork Member Designer SWMD. When carrying out ‘Checks’ and ‘Designs’ its operation is totally transparent. However, if you use the ‘Details’ options to review the detailed results, the application is opened and its full facilities become available. B.2.1 Overview Any member which uses a standard SW Library section I or box section and SW Haunch member types can be designed by SWMD. The member size and steel grade specified by the user and the member effects (moments and shears etc.) determined by the analysis are passed to SWMD which substitutes them for its own internal effects calculations. It uses the ‘Limit State’ setting to determine whether a particular load combination is ULS or SLS. The principal results are the local capacity, lateral buckling, torsional buckling and deflection utilisation factors, as these essentially determine whether the member gives a satisfactory design result. This data is passed back to A3D MAX to allow it to show as a result summary in the Design Results dialog. Whether or not all the above results are appropriate, and therefore shown, will depend on the load combinations and the restraints applied to the member. Note: The current version of SWMD does not check deflections in members imported from A3D MAX. Consequently, these results are always marked 'N/A'. By default, SWMD assumes that a member is only restrained at its ends and this is the setting used in the defaults.smd job, as supplied by CADS, which is loaded whenever SWMD is started. This is a safe assumption (for braced structures) but can result in a number of inappropriate failures where restraints available for the stability of the member are ignored. If you have modified the defaults.smd job in some way, then the restraint settings may be different. A3D MAX at present does not recognise restraints but SWMD does. You can set up any number of SWMD template files reflecting the various patterns of restraints you need to apply. The setting up of template files is described in Appendix B.3, ‘Creating SWMD Templates’.
In addition to restraints, template files can allow modifications to effective lengths and deflection criteria. The SWMD User Guide gives more details regarding these options. Because members exported to SWMD are already analysed, some of the internal calculations for the member effects (such as shear, moments and axial force) are bypassed. This means that support conditions and any loads specified in SWMD are ignored in favour of the imported data. The following table shows the data in the templates that is either used or ignored and the imported data that is used or ignored.
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Data items Response Member Properties Member Geometry Imported * (see note below) Steel Properties Imported Haunch/Taper Properties Imported (SW Haunch types) Bolt holes and positions Section details Template used Affected lengths Template used Restraints and supports Lateral restraints Template used Support conditions Template ignored Effective lengths Effective lengths Template used Deflection Governing span/length Template used ** (see below) Span/deflection criteria Template used ** Load details All cases Template ignored Load combinations All cases Template ignored Notes:
* The member length is significant in template files as this may affect the positioning of internal restraints and holes etc. The actual length passed by A3D MAX is, however, substituted when the member is checked.
** Deflection not checked for imported members in the current version of SWMD.
SWMD treats ‘joined’ members as one member. If members are part of a group marked for common design then all the members in that group will be designed to use the same size section. If you change a member so marked in Details mode to a different size it will return that new size to A3D MAX. However, if you wish to retain it you will need to clear the Common Design setting or else it may be changed next time a Check or Design is carried out. When you Use the Details option SWMD creates a file based on the job name and the object identifier. You can open this job directly using SWMD as a standalone application if you wish for reviewing the results. Note that any changes made under these circumstances will NOT be passed back to A3D MAX. B.2.2 Making alterations While in SWMD you can modify the restraints to include holes and make a number of alterations to member parameters. You may even change the section. These changes are saved with the SWMD Details files and are used, except for hole data, for subsequent Designs or Checks on that member. If you no longer wish to use these modifications you may revert to any templates by making the appropriate setting in ‘Design Results > Properties’ for the member and Deleting the Details file from that dialog also. You should not delete the details file directly from its folder using the normal windows file tools as this might cause A3D MAX to become confused. B.2.3 Reviewing the Results. SWMD has two main display results options, and a wide range of printed output.
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Date: 01/08/03 B.2.3.1 Tabular results – allows you to view the checks made to arrive at the utilisation ratios in great detail. Highlight the particular aspect you wish to examine and pick Details to open a further dialog giving more detailed information. B.2.3.2 Graphical Results – shows the moment and shear effects etc. as they are applied to the members. This can be particularly useful when examining joined members. B.2.3.3 Output –A3D MAX offers a summary of Design Results but if you require more information then there is a wide range of options. This Output can be directed to a printer or various files formats, in a similar manner to the operation in A3D MAX. B.3 Creating SWMD templates Templates, which are essentially blank job files with the restraints set up, are used to apply various parameters to a member design that cannot otherwise be set up in the A3D MAX model. They allow access to all the SWMD facilities. B.3.1 Overview Templates can be created from within SWMD, although there is a button in the Design Results > Properties dialog that will launch SWMD directly for you ready to create a template. The member section and material can be ignored because that is read from the data passed by A3D MAX. The only other important item of data to be set up is the member length in the Member Properties dialog. This is important because internal restraints, holes and other positions may depend on it. Templates can be saved anywhere but a sensible place is a special Templates directory created inside the SWMD parent directory, i.e. in parallel with the Data directory. SWMD creates this directory for you when it is installed. B.3.2 Restraints SWMD has some restraint options that are specifically intended to work with A3D MAX so that constant distributed restraints or regular point restraints can be set up regardless of the member length. Thus if these are adequate to define the member restraints you no longer have to set a template with a specific member length. You now only need to do this if you wish to specify restraints at irregular positions. If you do need to set the member length then pick the Member Properties button (shown above) and enter the length of the member that the template is for. If the member is ‘joined’, then enter the total length of the member. You can ignore the remaining items in the dialog, as these will be overwritten by the data from A3D MAX. Close the dialog. If you wish to specify the restraints, then pick the Restraints button and set up your required restraints at the desired positions. Wherever possible use the ‘Open’ restraint options (see below). If you need to use the other restraint types then ensure that the member lengths correspond. Otherwise the restraints may either be short of the member or run off the end, in which case an error will be generated when the member data from A3D MAX is read.
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Date: 01/08/03 Full details of the A3D MAX specific restraint options can be found in the SWMD manual and help but the following is a brief outline. B.3.2.1 Open Point 1 – is used to specify an `open ended’ range of equally spaced point restraints with start dimension and spacing run from end 1 towards end 2 fitting in as many spaces as the member length permits. The length of the range is determined automatically. B.3.2.2 Open Point 2 – is the same as Open Point 1 except that the start dimension and spacing are run from end 2 towards end 1. This type is particularly useful for portal frame rafters with lateral restraints provided by purlins. B.3.2.3 Open Dist.1 – is used to specify a distributed or continuous lateral restraint with start dimension specified from end 1 and extending to end 2 of the member. B.3.2.4 Open Dist.2 – is the same as Open Dist.1 except that the start dimension is from end 2 and the restraint extends to end 1. Note that the Restraints dialog currently only deals with lateral restraints against buckling about the minor axis. If you are dealing with a joined member, there may also be major axis restraints. You can make a crude allowance for these by reducing the major axis effective length factor in the Effective Lengths dialog. Note also that the default effective length factors calculated in SWMD all assume that the member is restrained in position at the ends and, possibly, by any specified intermediate restraints. If the member or structure is un-braced (i.e. a sway structure), the effective length factors should be increased. Refer to BS5950 appendix E and relevant textbooks for guidance. B.3.3 Saving template files Save the file to wherever you keep your template files. If you are not sure how to do this, carry out the following operations: a Pick the ‘File > Save As Template’ menu option. This will open the template directory.
If you wish, you can use the file viewer to create a new template directory in another location.
b Give the file a suitable name possibly reflecting the restraint type (e.g. distrib) and
save it in the templates directory. Any data entered into the loads and load combinations dialogs will be ignored when reading A3D MAX members. You may create as many templates for restraints etc. as you require. Whilst templates are primarily designed to work with A3D MAX imported members, they can also be used to set up different default job files for ordinary standalone SWMD designs. In this case, all the input dialog settings are used but you are advised to review them before calculating the job.
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Date: 01/08/03 B.4 ‘Old’ Grouping Method This appendix describes the original Grouping method first introduced in Analyse 3D version 1.70 and carried over to early versions of A3D MAX. It is still available for compatibility with ‘old’ jobs which may use it. Note this is reproduced from the original text and does take account of the new features. You are advised to use the ‘New’ method described above on all jobs which have not already had design grouping applied. Note that although you can operate the two side by side in the same job this is not recommended. B.4.1 Introduction CADS Steelwork Member Designer (SWMD) is an application for checking the design of steel members to BS5950. It includes comprehensive code checking algorithms and produces detailed reports of the member behaviour together with code references where appropriate. Used directly, it can also design (i.e. find members of appropriate size). Full details of how to use this program and its facilities are given in the User Guide which accompanies the SWMD application. However, for your convenience, an outline is given here to assist in using it in conjunction with A3D MAX. The A3D MAX link to SWMD allows many steel members to be checked in one operation with a summary of the results displayed in A3D MAX so that the progress of the design can be ascertained readily at any time. The link relies on the grouping facility within A3D MAX to instruct SWMD if it is to check the member. It can also tell SWMD what template file to use. Their use is outlined in Appendix B.3, ‘Creating SWMD Templates’. B.4.2 Member Grouping This feature is primarily intended to improve the link to the CADS Steelwork Member Designer (SWMD) application. However, grouping can also be useful in conjunction with many A3D MAX operations. The program offers three types of grouping: B.4.2.1 Viewonly – This enables you to create a named set of members which can then be selected from the grouping dialog whenever required. For instance, you may make a part of a structure a set so that it can be repeatedly selected for inclusion in a partial view without having to select the members each time. Another use would be to group a frame so that it could be used as a template for copying to other parts of the model. B.4.2.2 SWMDjoin – This group is specifically for joining Analyse members together to form one member for design purposes. However it can be used in the same way as a ‘Viewonly’ group within A3D MAX. B.4.2.3 SWMDset – This is another group specifically for use with the Steelwork Member Designer. In this case the selected members are given identical group attributes but are listed separately. This allows design results applicable to them to be shown against each individually.
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Date: 01/08/03 B.4.3 The Grouping dialog The grouping dialog consists of a list of defined sets and a number of buttons that show information relating to the groups or processes that can be carried out on them.
Figure B.2 The grouped member list headings have the following meanings: Set No. - This shows the number allocated to the set by the program when the set was created. Group Reference - This is the Set reference you entered when it was created. It may be changed at any time. Member Type - This shows the member type in the set to aid identification. Section reference – This shows the section used by the member type in the set to aid identification. Length (m) - This gives the total length of the members included in the set. It is most useful for SWMDjoin types but it may also be relevant to Viewonly types if they represent members in a line. SWMDset types are expanded into individual items bearing the same set name and thus the length represents that of each member. Load Capacity, Lateral Buckling, Torsional Buckling, Deflection - These are the four utilisation factors for various design checks returned by the Steelwork Member Designer. A more complete explanation of these is given below. If no design has been carried out, then the message 'No results available' is shown. Design Status - This is an 'at a glance' result showing whether the member has 'Passed' or 'Failed' its design checks. More details of this are given below. The member list allows a group or groups to be highlighted for use in conjunction with the buttons which carry out the following operations: New - This creates a new group using the selected members. Set - This allows the 'Recalculate in SWMD' option and the template to be set for one or more highlighted sets in the list.
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Date: 01/08/03 Properties - This opens the Set Information dialog so that the group data may be reviewed or edited. Double clicking on a set in the list also opens this dialog. Note that the set type cannot be changed once it is specified. If you need to change it, then you should delete the set and create a new one of the required type. It also allows the SWMD Template to be set. Select template - This is the path to the template file to be used by the set. The standard file is defaults.smd which is the default job file. This item is marked n/a for Viewonly types, as templates are not relevant to them. The use of templates is described in section 13.3 Creating SWMD Templates. This dialog also allows you to modify the A3D MAX member types following changes that may have been made in SWMD. Both the current A3D MAX member type and the one offered by SWMD are shown and you have two methods of updating. Update – this changes the member types definition and will consequently affect all members of the same type. This is useful if you know that you wish to keep all the members the same size. Create – this creates a new member type and then assigns the members in the set to it. This means that other members which shared the same original member type are not affected. Delete - This deletes the sets highlighted in the list after a confirmatory warning. Note it does NOT delete any members, only the set referring to them. Select - This makes a selection in the main view of any individual set highlighted in the list. Highlight - This highlights sets in the list which contain any selected members in the main view, thus making it easy to identify members in the model with sets in the list. Show status - This enables you to show in the main view all members which belong to SWMD groups, with an option to show which have passed or failed the design checks. Details - This opens the Steelwork Member Designer data file for the particular set highlighted in the list. It is for reviewing the current results details and it does not re-calculate the member for any subsequent changes made in A3D MAX. To do that, you must use the 'Export to SW Member Designer' option. Once the data file has been opened, it enables the full results to be examined and allows other modifications to be made to judge the effect on the design. Note that such changes are passed back to A3D MAX automatically but it is not updated. This allows a quick examination of alternatives before modifying the analysis model, if deemed necessary. This gives the designer maximum scope but also imposes the responsibility of ensuring that the analysis and design models are reasonable representations of the structure being designed. You have the option of updating any changes in SWMD by using the picking the Properties button. Export – exports all or selected sets to SWMD for re-design. This useful shortcut is the equivalent of picking Export to SW Member Designer from the Export to Designer button.
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Date: 01/08/03 B.4.4 Creating a group To create a group, select the required member in the main view. Pick Grouping from the Tools menu to open the Grouping dialog.
Figure B.3 Pick New and the Set Information dialog appears. This dialog allows you to specify the group type and it lists the selected members. Set Reference – This is the in field in which you name the set. By default, Set1 is offered but you are recommended to give them more meaningful names so that they are easily identified. Set Type – Choose from Viewonly, SWMDjoin and SWMDset types. Recalculate in SWMD – ThisYes/No choice is only enabled when a SWMD type of set is chosen. Selecting 'Yes' indicates that you wish to have those members calculated by SWMD when that operation is invoked. It is mainly of use in turning off members that you know to be nominal, thus eliminating unnecessary calculation. Selected Members – This field shows a list of members selected for the set. Select Template – This is another item which is only enabled if a SWMD type of set is chosen. It enables you to specify which SWMD template is to be used for designing the members of that group. It has a browse button ‘…’ which opens a file browser window to assist in locating the required template file. A SWMD template is a job file that allows you to set the restraint parameters and positions to be taken into account in the design. A more complete description of the use of templates can be found in section 13.3 Creating SWMD Templates. The options in the bottom panel are greyed out as these are used to update the A3D MAX model if the members are changed in SWMD. Cancel – This ignores any data you may have entered and does not create a new set.
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Date: 01/08/03 OK – This creates a new set from the data you have entered and adds it to the list in the Group dialog. B.4.5 Calculating member checks To check the member, pick the Export to Designer button (shown above) or select ‘File > Export to Designer’ and then pick ‘SW Member Designer’ from the menu. A3D MAX then automatically starts SWMD which takes a few moments to initialise itself. Once the initialisation is complete, A3D MAX exports the member sets one by one to SWMD.
SWMD reads in the template file assigned to the set and receives the member type and member effects data from A3D MAX and applies any restraint settings. During this process, SWMD creates a job file composed of the A3D MAX job name and set number and shows this name in the title of the main view. The member is then checked and once that is completed the utilisation factors are passed back to A3D MAX which updates its Grouping dialog, if that is open. These last steps are repeated until all the member sets to be checked have been calculated and then SWMD closes automatically. Note that SWMD differentiates between ULS and SLS load combinations by detecting when the greatest partial safety factor is less than or equal to 1.0 for the SLS cases. All others are regarded as ULS. However, if all the combinations have partial safety factors of 1.0 or less then the assumption is made that the factors have been taken into account in the loading and they are treated as ULS. B.4.6 Reviewing design Results. In A3D MAX, the Grouping dialog shows a summary of the results by reporting various utilisation factors for each SWMD member. A design status which may be either 'Pass' or 'Fail' is shown next to this data. This is included so that the design success of a member can be seen at a glance. This is particularly helpful with a long list. A check passes if all appropriate utilisation factors are less than or equal to 1.0, otherwise it fails.
Figure B.4 It is also possible to show all the members which pass or fail in the main view by picking the Show button in the Grouping dialog. This opens the Show Members Status dialog, where you can choose whether to show all SWMD members, all which pass or all which fail. These are highlighted as a selection in the main view.
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Date: 01/08/03 If you wish to examine the results in more depth, then highlight the set required in the Grouping dialog list and pick the Details button. This starts SWMD, loads the appropriate job file and calculates the results (SWMD does not store the calculated results). Pick the Results button in SWMD to see the principal results. The various other results available can be accessed as described in the SWMD Manual. Note: Picking the Details button only opens the current job file in SWMD for the member chosen. Consequently, if any changes have been made in A3D MAX, they will not be registered in SWMD unless the job has been re-exported using the 'Export to SW Member Designer' facility. B.4.7 Making changes When looking at the detailed results in SWMD, you may make any changes to the member you wish. Caution should be exercised to prevent the changes significantly affecting the model. Typically, you might wish to adjust the restraints if the design fails by a small amount. Alternatively, you might wish to investigate the effect of holes on the member. In this way, you can refine the design of each member to whatever level you choose. You can also change the member itself. Minor changes, such as increasing the weight, will probably have little effect on the analysis and you may judge that re-analysing the model is not required. Note that changes to members made in SWMD and subsequently ‘Calculated’ are passed back to A3D MAX but it is not updated automatically. If you make significant changes, then you have to update the analysis model yourself, re-analyse the job and re-design. This approach allows you full control to investigate changes step by step. You are reminded that the only way to pass new data from A3D MAX to SWMD is by exporting using the Export to SW Member Designer facility. By default, all of the SWMD members are re-calculated but if you make a selection in the A3D MAX main view, only those selected will be re-calculated. This speeds up reviewing the design if only significant members are re-checked each time a re-analysis is made. In most cases, judicious use of the re-analysis and re-design generally, and on individual members, will produce practical solutions without need to ensure every member matches in every analysis and design run. However, if in doubt, it is recommended that you ensure that the analysis members are exactly the size you require and that the templates correctly represent the restraints before undertaking a final re-analysis and re-design of the job.
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Date: 01/08/03 Appendix C – Using DXF C.1 Importing DXF files Having created the DXF files the method of importing into the drafting application will depend on its methods. However, AutoCAD LT for instance allows you to import from the Open file browser if you set the file type to .dxf or you can simply type DXFIN at the command line to open the browser. In this case the DXF file will be imported into a new drawing but it can be copied to any other drawing if you want to build up a composite from several DXF files. You may find that you will need to select ‘ZOOM EXTENTS’ to see the whole drawing. The DXF file created consists of elementary objects so they can be recognised and manipulated by most drafting applications as you choose. C.2 Printing the DXF file You could print the layout directly and the easiest method is to pick your printer type and set the Plot scale to ‘Scale to fit’. This ensures it fits the page but the scale could be anything. What you probably need to do is set up the drawing. C.3 Creating a drawing
This drawing would normally have the border, a title block, and company logo etc. drawn in paper space on Layout 1.
This looks at a simple procedure for setting up a drawing, importing DXF files, arranging them on the page and printing. It is aimed at users unfamiliar with AutoCAD. Experienced users will already have drawings set up and know about using paper space, scaling etc. and can skip this commentary. In AutoCAD there are a variety of methods for doing most things so the one described is not necessarily the only one or the best in all cases. However, it is simple to follow and should allow you to get some work done fairly easily. You can then explore the various possibilities as you gain experience. C.4 Setting up the drawing In a manual drawing office there are sets of standard drawing sheets to a given size with printed borders and title blocks, and you draw your model on those. You pick the appropriate size paper for the extent of the model you intend to show and the scale you want to draw it at. You can do this electronically using Paper space as the drawing sheet with the borders, and Model space as the working area to draw in. When you start a new drawing, AutoCAD offers you a number of options. It is outside the scope of this note to discuss the relative merits and methods but what you normally would do is choose a sheet size and shape suitable for the drawing. You might either create a new one using the wizard, create one from scratch, or most likely once you have done this a couple of times, choose a template you created earlier.
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Date: 01/08/03 You can regard the Layout as a film over your model which is opaque to start with. In order to see your model you need to provide a Viewport. A viewport is a window on the model and you can move and scale the model about behind the window so that you can see just what you want. In its simplest form you place a single viewport the size of the working area on the paper space representation of the drawing sheet In Layout 1. See the Viewport command for the methods of doing this. If you double click in the viewport it becomes active which is indicated by its border being shown heavy. In this state you can pan and zoom the model behind. If you do this in a new drawing you won’t see anything as there will be no model.
You can now add any suitable annotation and the drawing is ready to print.
You can set up whatever viewports you require, for instance you may choose to have one viewport to show the plan and another to show the elevation. The advantage is that you can apply different scales to the viewports which you cannot do in the model. We will assume that you have set up your drawing with two viewports side by side using a plot scale of 1:1. C.5 Getting The DXF files Import the DXF file as described above. You will find that it will import into a new file so the easiest thing to do is select all the objects and Copy them to the clipboard.
Select the existing drawing window, change to model space and Paste the objects into the drawing. It does not matter much where you put them. If you have another DXF file (say for another view) to import then repeat the procedure. Leave plenty of room between the views as this will make setting up the viewports easier and you have effectively no limitation on paper size in model space. Save your newly created drawing under a suitable name and close the temporary ones, opened to get the DXF files, without saving them. This is not essential but it saves accidentally working on the wrong drawing!
Pick the ‘Layout 1’ tab and activate one of the viewports. Using the zoom and pan tools manoeuvre the model in the view port to give the required view. Set the zoom factor to the required scale using "Zoom 1/100XP" where 1/100 is the required scale and XP signifies relative to paper space.
When this view is positioned correctly, activate the other viewport and align the required view of the model in that. Note that this may be at a different zoom scale. To prevent accidental changes you can lock the Viewports. Click on paper space to close any open viewports and then pick their borders. Pick Properties and under Misc set the Display locked property to ‘Yes’.
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Date: 01/08/03 C.6 Hints and tips The description above is a brief outline of using DXF files particularly in AutoCAD. It is quite likely that the output you get the first time is not exactly what you want. AutoCAD is a powerful drafting program with a very wide range of configuration options and thus there are many settings which control the output. Some of these can be set up in the A3D MAX LIF files but most will depend on your setting in AutoCAD. A few words of explanation may help. C.6.1 Label sizing
The grids and members are labelled in model space. This means the plotted height of the text is the size in drawing units divided by the scale of the model.
When cutting and pasting DXF files the dimensions can sometimes seem to disappear. This is controlled by the DIM variables that may need to be reset. Typically dimension text size and arrow size may need adjusting. Pick the dimensions and use the Properties dialog to alter the settings as required.
The A3D MAX LIF files allow you to specify the height of the text in the various labels. This value is in mm and the size in drawing units will be this value x the scale thus giving the correct plotted text height. Consequently it is important that you create the DXF output with the scale set appropriately to the final drawing. If you need to change the text height once it is in AutoCAD then pick the text and use the Properties command and you can alter the height directly. Remember the height is in drawing units. C.6.2 Line types Chained lines such as Centre lines are drawn according to the LTSCALE setting in AutoCAD. You may find the line appears to be continuous, and this is usually due to the setting being too small. I find something like 4 gives a good effect. If you set TILEMODE to 0 and PSLTSCALE to 1 then the line type scale will be made uniform across all the viewports. You may have to REGENALL to see the effect. C.6.3 Line thickness In conventional GA drawings the member lines are usually drawn thicker than the centre lines. This can be set using the Weightage setting in the LIF file which sets the Lineweight property. Generally this value is used by plotters so you might find that it makes no difference when used with a printer. In AutoCAD line thickness is a Z direction property and LINES do not have a width property but POLYLINES do. You can change all the members to POLYLINES and specify a width. The width is in drawing units and a value equal to the scale setting will produce a 1mm line. C.6.4 Dimensions
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A3D MAX –UpgradeThe main improvements to A3D MAX for version v3.00 are detailed as follows. This upgrade note should beread in conjunction with the revised Function Guide.
New FeaturesThese facilities are described in the updated function guide but this document provides a summary andconvenient description of their use.
• Panel objects to support surface loading• Uniform area loads over planes• Local point, line and patch panel loads• Rigid plane option to emulate slab diaphragms• Job file preview• Pinned base support type
Panels and panel loadsThis version of A3D MAX has a number of major new features related to the modelling of slabs and walls.In essence it introduces a new panel object and loads that can be applied to it. These panels whentaken together can constitute a slab or a wall.
A panel object type is intended to represent surfaces carrying load. Panels may be triangular orquadrilateral, but mostly will be rectangular. A panel is defined by its corner joints but must also havesupporting members along some edges and must be plane.
Panels have properties such as thickness and material but also have a number of other propertiesconcerning their behaviour within the model. This makes them a very powerful element when modelling astructure.
A further benefit is that applying loads to panels makes it much easier to set up the loads on a typicalbuilding as the need to calculate the distribution onto individual beams is avoided.
There are two forms of panel load, area loads which are uniform over the whole panel and which can beapplied simultaneously over as many panels in a plane as required and local panels loads which areapplied to individual panels. There is also a choice of ways the uniform area loads can be distributedonto their supporting members.
The properties of Panels and their use within the model together with the application of panel loads isdescribed in the following sections.
Creating panelsPanels can be applied to an area of the frame bounded by three or four edges. Generally panels aredefined by their corner joints but must be supported by members along some edges.
Triangular panels must be supported on at least two edges and quadrilateral panels must be supportedon at least three adjacent or two opposite edges. The edges may comprise more than one memberprovided they are in line.
There are three tools for the creation of panels. Some require a selection to be made and they report if asuitable selection is not available.
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Create panel toolThis tool creates an individual panel and requires three or four joints to be selected. The joints mustlie in a plane. The tool opens the Create Panels dialog in which you can set the principle attributes
of the panel.
These properties are described in more detail under the Panelproperties heading later but briefly:Thickness –is the thickness of the panel.
Rigidity –panels can affect the structural behaviour of the frame byimposing constraints on the joints. Non-rigid panels do not constrainthe joints.
Material –is the material of the panel.
Alignment –determines the position of the panel in relation to theplane of its joints. It can be Centre, Top, Bottom or aligned to Useroffset values.
Load distributionThe way in which loads applied to a panel are distributed onto the supporting members can bespecified. This is effectively the span direction of the panel. It can be set separately for normal loads andloads in the plane of the panel. The latter is particularly relevant to walls.
In-plane loads –allows two-way and one-way distribution similar to normal loads above. They also havetwo additional distributions, Bearing and Hanging, where all the in-plane load is transferred to one edge.
Normal loads –allows two-way or one-way distribution. If one-way is chosen then there is a choice of solidor ribbed panels and a direction of ‘span’.
The direction is dependant on the alignment of the first edge (called edge 1) clockwise from the jointclosest to the top left of an imaginary box enclosing the panel. More details on how the rotation andplane of the panels affects load direction and distribution is given under the headings Panel Axes andPanel load distribution.
Picking OK will create the panel.Panel displayA panel is shown differently according to the current render mode in use.
Stick mode –shows the panels as feint lines just inside the bounding members.
Full render mode –shows the panel with semi transparent shading. The thickness is also shown althoughyou may have to turn the members off to see it. Ribs are indicated with slightly darker shading.
Wire frame mode –shows the edges of the slab and thickness in feint line.
Hidden line mode –is similar to wire frame but hidden edges are removed and the outline tends to befainter.
The load distribution of normal and inplane loads are also marked with symbols to indicate their direction.
The panels display can be controlled by various display toggles described later.
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Auto panel toolThis tool allows a complete region of panels to be created. It requires a suitable arrangement ofmembers to be selected and the program will attempt to populate the region with quadrilateral or
triangular panels. Members not included in the selection will be ignored. This way bracing and othersubsidiary members can be ignored by not selecting them. All the members must lie in a plane, and thetool will only populate regions enclosed by members. It cannot automatically create a rectangular panelwith members on just three sides for instance.
The tool will open the create panels dialog as described above but in this case the settings will apply toall the panels to be created by the selection. Any areas which are not valid will not have panels appliedbut no warning will be given. Full render mode is particularly recommended to show the coverage. In allother respects each panel acts as an individual.
This tool is likely to be the most frequently used to create panels. The selection of planes is most easilyaccomplished by setting an appropriate view and using a box selection. The partial view tool can alsobe useful with complex structures.
Quick panel toolThis is the third way of creating an individual panel and works like the quick member tool which existingusers will be familiar with.
Pick the Quick Panel button and the Panel properties dialog will open as described above. Havingset the properties required pick OK and then pick the first joint forming the corner of the panel to be
created. Continue to pick the next joints in a consistent order around the panel. On the forth joint thepanel will be created. You can then continue to draw the next panel or right click to move to a new startjoint.
If you only want a triangular panel then at the third joint right click and pick Triangular panel from themenu. You can then continue creating panels as before.
When you have created the panels double click over the background to exit Quick Panel mode.
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Panel Element PropertiesThe properties of panels are described below with discussions on their use in the model later. The Panelelement properties dialog can be opened by right clicking on a panel, its boundary or symbol can beused, and then picking Properties from the menu.
The properties are shown in a tabbeddialog as follows.Panel viewThe upper area is a general view of thepanel which can be hidden if desired.
The diagram shows an outline of thepanel and the local origin used. This islocated in the top, left corner of animaginary box enclosing the panel. Thecoordinates are positive to the right anddown relative to this origin.
The edges of the panel are numberedclockwise from this origin and these arereferred to for the load directions andedge conditions such as fixity andoverhangs. More of which later.
The corners show their joint numbers andcoordinates relative to the local system.The coordinates are useful when placingloads.
The edge fixities of a panel are shown:Restrained –greenSimply supported –cyanFree –dotted
The view also shows any local panel loads and dead and imposed area loads when the Loads tab isselected.Properties tabsBelow the view are various tabs giving access to the properties of the panels and loading applied to it.
GeneralContains the basic properties of the panel.
Panel reference –This is a name given to each panel to identify it.
Panel thickness –as the name suggests is the thickness of the panel. A panel has a constant thickness.
Alignment –a panel may be aligned relative to its top or bottom surfaces, its mid thickness, or offset by aspecified amount. This alignment is relative to a plane through the defining joints.
If the ‘User defined’option is set then the Offset field is enabled so it may be specified. Note that the topand bottom faces are +ve and –ve offsets of half the panel thickness respectively. Further offsets such asto finishes would be additional to these.
At present this feature is only used visually but it will be used to determine relative positions of the panelsand members in future versions.
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Rigidity –panels can be ascribed a rigidity which affects how the joints displace relative to each other.The main use for this is to allow a panel to act as a rigid diaphragm which is how many slabs do inpractice. There are two states:
Non-rigid –in this condition the panel’s joints are free to move (unless they are supportsthemselves) under the influence of the loading so the panel can deform in any way. This is thedefault setting.
Rigid plane –in this condition the panel joints cannot displace relative to each other in the planeof the panel. This means the panel always maintains its original shape. The panel can howeverdeform normal to its plane. The panel can also be displaced and rotated bodily in respect of thewhole structure.
There are some limitations in the use of rigid panels to avoid conflicts within the mathematical model.
1. A rigid panel cannot have a supported joint.
2. Rigid panels in a different plane cannot share a common joint. For instance, you can havelayers of rigid slabs but you cannot intersect them with a rigid wall.
Material type –panels may be constructed of any material as specified in the materials library.
Edge fixity –The edges of a panel may be regarded as Simply supported, Restrained or Free.
Simply supported –Available where there is a supporting member and assumes the edge of thepanel free to rotate.
Restrained –Available where there is a supporting member and assumes the edge of the panelis prevented from rotating.
Free –The condition for edges which are not supported. This is not settable and only appears ifan edge member is not present in the model.
The edge fixity is used to in the determination of load distribution for area loads and local panel loadssuch as patch, line and point depending on the configuration. This is dealt with more fully in the sectionon loads. The edge is automatically set to restrained by default if an adjoining panel is detectedalthough this behaviour can be turned off by un-ticking the ‘File > Configure > Preferences > Options >Auto Edge Fixity Update’option. Note that a restrained edge does NOT transfer moments to thesupporting beamLoad distribution –allows you to specifyhow loads applied to the panel aredistributed to its supports. In effect itdictates the ‘span’of the panel.
There are a number of aspects to this:In-plane –in-plane distributiondeals with loads in the plane of thepanel e.g. bearing loads on a wall.The options are:
Two way –where the load is assumed to distribute in two perpendicular directionstowards all edges of the panel.
One-way –where the load is distributed in a specified direction to opposite edges ofthe panel.
One way distribution to –If one way distribution is set then this option isenabled. There are two choices between edges 1 & 3 and edges 2 & 4.
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Edge 1 is determined according to local coordinates for the selection ofpanels being created. Generally edge 1 is parallel to the X axis. If panels arenot parallel to the X axis then edge 1 is parallel to the first edge clockwise fromthe joint closest to the top left of an imaginary box enclosing the panel. Moredetails on how the rotation and plane of the panels affects load direction anddistribution is given under the headings Panel Axes and Panel load distribution.
Bearing –where the load is assumed to distribute in compression to an edge accordingto the load direction set and plane of the panel. For the most common case such asthe self weight of a wall use a Vertical area load which will bear on the lowest edge.
Hanging –where the load is assumed to distribute in tension to an edge according tothe load direction set. The logic for various planes is similar to Bearing above.
Normal –normal distribution deals with loads normal to the panel e.g. most surface loads. Theoptions are:
Two way –where the load is assumed to distribute in two perpendicular directionstowards all edges of the panel.
One-way Solid –where the load is distributed in a specified direction to opposite edgesof the panel.
One way distribution to –If One-way Solid distribution is set then this option isenabled. There are two choices between edges 1 & 3 and edges 2 & 4.
Edge 1 is determined according to local coordinates for the selection ofpanels being created. Generally edge 1 is parallel to the X axis. If panels arenot parallel to the X axis then edge 1 is parallel to the first edge clockwise fromthe joint closest to the top left of an imaginary box enclosing the panel. Moredetails on how the rotation and plane of the panels affects load direction anddistribution is given under the headings Panel Axes and Panel load distribution.
The distribution emulates a solid slab acting predominately in the specifieddirection.
One-way Ribbed –where the load is distributed in a specified direction to oppositeedges of the panel.
Ribs perpendicular to –If One-way Ribbed distribution is set then this option isenabled. There are four choices of edge to set the ribs perpendicular to. Thedistribution emulates a ribbed or joisted floor with little lateral dispersion. Theedges are labelled clockwise from edge 1 which is determined as shownabove.
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Loads –This reports the loads applied tothe panel. A more complete description ofthe various ways of applying loads topanels is given in the next section. This partsummarises the options available from theProperties dialog.
Area loads are not editable from here butfrom the main Load Editor. Existing Patch,Line and Point panel loads can be editedby highlighting the load and picking theEdit button.
New Patch, Line and Point panels loads can be added by picking the corresponding button at the footof the dialog. These are described in detail under Panel Loads. You can also create a new uniform areaload for an individual panel from here, but it data is edited form the main Load Editor.
Overhangs –panels may extend beyondtheir notional edge lines. The extent andshape of this is defined as an overhang.Overhangs are applied to the boundingmembers of a panel.
There are three forms of overhangavailable:
Rectangular –this overhangextends parallel to the notionalpanel edge by a constantspecified width.
Trapezoidal –this overhang has a straight edge extending differing widths from the start and endof the notional panel edge.
Circular –this overhang is a circular arc extending a maximum specified width from the notionalpanel edge.
Note that these overhangs extend the full length of an edge so may extend over several members.Overhangs cannot be applied to members which have panels in the same plane either side. If panels inmore than one plane meet at the member then you will be asked to select which panel the overhangextends from.Overhang loads –uniform area loads may be applied to overhangs in a similar manner to panels.Overhangs and panels may be selected together when applying loads. The loads on an overhang aretransferred directly to the supporting member. Note that overhangs do not transfer torsional moments totheir members.
Show/Hide –this button extends or shrinks the dialog to show a diagram of the panel with its edgesmarked including edge fixity conditions. It also shows the panel corner joint numbers and relativecoordinates.
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Panel loadsThere are two basic types of load that can be applied to panels.
Area loads –are uniform loads applied to one or more panels in a plane simultaneously. Theyare normally defined in the Load Editor. These can be distributed onto their supporting membersin two ways as controlled by the ‘Analysis Options > Consider Edge Continuity’setting.
Bisection distribution –in which the area loads are distributed onto the supportingmembers in proportion to the areas formed by bisection of the panel corners for two-way or panel edges for one-way panels and are always assumed to be simplysupported around their edges, regardless of the edge fixity settings in the panel. For thiscase the ‘Consider Edge Continuity’setting is OFF which is the default setting.
Finite grillage distribution –in which normal or vertical area loads are distributed via atemporary grillage of configurable pitch and corresponding to the stiffness of the panelonto the supporting members. This method is adopted if the ‘Consider Edge Continuity’setting ON.
In this case the effect of the restrained edges in the distribution of load will be taken intoaccount. If this is not required for some panels then set all their edges to ‘simplysupported’.
This method is more intensive in terms of processing time so the performance of theprogram may be slowed noticeably when used on large frames.
Local panel loads –are point, line or patch loads which are applied to panels individually andare defined via the Panel Properties dialog. These are distributed on to the supporting membersby using the finite grillage distribution described above. If used in conjunction with area loadsdistributed via the bisection method then for compatibility all edges will be regarded as simplysupported regardless of the panel settings.
The following sections explain each load type in more detail.Area (AP) –is a constant load applied to the whole surface of thepanel or panels. Only the direction and intensity is specified.
Area loads can be applied in different directions.
Normal –perpendicular to the plane of the panel andpositive towards the panel.
Inplane X –parallel to local x axis of the panels which is generally parallel to edge 1.
Inplane Z –parallel to the local z axis of the panel which is generally perpendicular to edge 1.
Vertical –vertical downward load on the panel.
Horizontal –horizontal load positive in global X direction.
Transverse –horizontal load positive in the global Z direction.
A normal area load can also be applied to an overhang which then transfers the load to the supportingmember. Note that overhangs do not transfer torsional moments to the supporting members.
Area loads can be applied to a selection of panels simultaneously making it easy to define the generalloading on a slab or wall.
Unlike the other panel loads they are usually defined in the main load editor, although there is a facility todefine them in the Panel Properties dialog for convenience. This is to retain compatibility with the existing
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area loads and to make them easier to apply over multiple panels simultaneously. This is explained inmore detail later.
Note that area loads in existing jobs will automatically be applied to a default panel supported by theoriginally specified members. If imported with the Bisection distribution method set it should not affect theresults significantly, although they will need to be re-analysed.Local panel loadsThe Point, Line and Patch panel loads are applied generallyto single panels via the Panel Properties dialog. The details ofeach load will be shown later but all are applied in a similarfashion. The fourth option allows an Area load to be appliedquickly to an individual panel.
A new panel load can be created from the mainview by selecting the panel the load is to be applied
to and then one of the panel load buttons on the Loadstoolbar. The Create load button opens the propertiesdialog from which you can choose the load type or thearrow alongside opens a drop down toolbar from whichyou can select the load type directly.
This opens the Panel properties dialog showing the selectedpanel and the required load input page.
If the Properties panel is already open then a new load canbe created by picking the appropriate button from the Loadspage which open the corresponding load input page.
The Panel view diagram shows the panel to be loaded and a load input page which varies according tothe type of load but each of which work in a similar way.Panel viewThe main contents are described under the Panel properties above. Of most interest for applying loads isthe local origin and corner coordinates as the will help you locate the load position.
The view can also be used to assist in placing loads graphically as explained below.Input pageThis page has a number of common inputs plus someload specific ones. To deal with the common ones first.
Panel load reference –This is generatedautomatically by the program but may beedited if desired.
Type –this shows the type of panel loadchosen. It cannot be changed here. If youmade a mistake Close the Panel Load Editorand choose another type.
Load direction –This is set to Normal for thisversion. You cannot apply inplane local panel loads at present.
Category –This allows you to choose the load category which is used to assign the appropriatepartial safety factor in the load combinations. If you need a new load category this must bedefined in the Load Combination editor first.
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Coordinate positions and values –These panels vary according to the type of panel loadchosen and are described below.Create –This creates the load. It is drawn in the Panel view and is added to the panel loadspreadsheet. The inputs refresh with the default settings ready for a new load should you wish todefine it. Close returns to the load spreadsheet without creating a further load. When editing anexisting load this button is disabled.
Close –This closes the Panel load editor without creating a new load. When editing an existingload this button will update the load data to the current inputs.
Pick graphically –This option allows you to place the load graphically using the Panel view. Pick thebutton and you will be prompted (below the Panel view) for the first point. Move the cross hair over thepanel, the current local coordinates are shown to assist, an pick a suitable position.
Depending on the load type you will be asked for further points or when the last point required is pickedprompted to Click on Create. The coordinates will have been entered into the input fields but you willneed to specify the load value/s before you pick the Create button.
Snap toggle –The Snap button below the Panel view can be used to turn the span facility On orOff. When On it constrains the coordinates to the snap spacing.
Snap spacing –this can be set by right clicking over the Snap toggle button and picking snapspacing from the menu. It opens a dialog were the spacing can be set. By default it is 100mm.
Point (PP) –is a concentrated load applied at a particular position in the panel.
A point load requires one location and a load value. Theposition is in m from the local origin and the load value is in kN.
Line (LP) –is a linear load applied along the panel.
A line load requires start and end locations and load values. Thepositions are in m from the local origin and the load values are
in kN/m.
Different end load values are treated as a linearly varying load fromone end to the other.Patch (TP) –is a uniform load applied to a specified triangular or quadrilateral area of the panel.
A patch load requires three or four vertices to be located. Thepositions are in m from the local origin. A single load value is
required in kN/m2.
Area (AL) –is a convenient way to create a standarduniform area load covering the whole of an individualpanel.
Only the load direction and intensity in kN/m2need to be entered. When created the load will
automatically be added to the Load Editor and can beapplied to other panels in the same way as other arealoads if required.
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Analysis OptionsTwo new options have been added to controlthe distribution of load prior to the analysiscalculations.
Consider Edge ContinuityThis determines whether panel edge continuitywill be considered when distributing area loadsapplied to the surface of the panel, it does notapply to inplane loads.
OFF –If the option is OFF (the default) thenregardless of the panel properties the paneledges will be considered simply supported.
In this case uniform area loads will be distributedto the supporting members using a bisection ofcorner angles or supporting side depending onthe distribution direction setting. This gives thetraditional uniform, triangular or trapezoidaldistribution on members and is fast to calculate.
Patch, line and local loads are distributed via atemporary grillage but with its ends, at thesupporting members, taken as pinned.ON –If the option is OFF then a grillage is used for uniform area loads as well as Patch, Line and Pointloads which has its ends at the supporting members fixed or pinned according to the continuity set in thePanel Properties.
This results in the loads being distributed onto the supporting members as a series of point loads at thefrequency of the grillage. This can result in a slowing of the calculations particularly any steel design.Supporting edge members to be stiffWhen loads are distributed via the temporary grillage each panel is treated an a sub-frame consisting ofa grillage of members bounded by the supporting members. The relative stiffnesses of these elementsaffects the distribution of point loads on the supporting members.
The panel grillage is based on the panel material, its thickness and the pitch of the grillage.
The stiffness of the bounding member is taken to be that of the first member along edge 1 of the panel.This then relates the stiffness of the panel to a reasonable approximation of the stiffness of the boundingmembers. When considering 2-way slabs on steel beams then there is often a tendency for the pointloads to be concentrated towards the corners of the panel, as the slab contributes a significant stiffness.
Turning the ‘Supporting Edge Member to be Stiff’option ON, forces a high value of stiffness to be used forthe supporting members while the load distribution is being calculated. This tends to result in loaddistributions closer to that obtained by the bisection method for uniform loads. Thus for 2-way slabs thepoint loads tend to concentrated towards the middle of the edge in a triangular or trapezoidal pattern.
These edge member stiffness assumptions are only made for the purposes of calculating the distributedloads. The actual member stiffnesses are used for the analysis calculations. Changing this setting clearsthe existing analysis result so a re-analysis will be necessary.
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Displaying panelsA number of tools are provided to control the display of panels. These are essential aspanels can easily obscure other parts of the model so often need to be suppressed.
Toggle panel elements –this turns the display of the panels on or off. The arrow alongside controlswhat load distribution and axis symbols will be displayed by means of a drop down toolbar.
Toggle normal load distribution symbol –turns the normal distribution symbol on or off.Toggle inplane load distribution symbol –turns the load distribution pattern indicator on or off.Toggle panel load distribution pattern –turns the area load distribution display on or off.Toggle panel coordinate axes –turns the local panel axis triad on or off.
Toggle overhangs –this turns the display of panel overhangs on or off.
Toggle panel loads –this turns the display of panel loads on or off. The arrow alongside controlswhat aspect of the loads will be displayed by means of a drop down toolbar.
Toggle panel point loads –turns the display of panel point loads on or off.Toggle panels line loads –turns the display of panel line loads on or off.Toggle panel patch loads –turns the display of panel patch loads on or off.Toggle panel area loads –turns the display of panel area loads on or off.
Using panelsWhilst this version of A3D MAX mainly deals with the analysis and design of members, panels will be ofconsiderable use for two aspects of frame analysis, namely loading and frame rigidity.
Quick loadingMost structures have loads applied to them via slabs and walls. The panel loads allow you to specifythese loads directly rather than having to convert them into member loads first. This should facilitate theloading of the structure very considerably.
Uniform area loadsSlab and lateral wall area loads can be applied over several panels as follows.
1. In the main view select the panels to be loaded. You can include member and joints as wellalthough these will be ignored.
2. Open the Load Editor and define an Area load.
3. With the focus on the load just defined pick Apply.
4. The load will be applied to all the panels selected. Note that you can specify a number of arealoads highlighted in the editor and apply them all in one go to the selection in a similar manner tomember loads if you wish.
When the frame is calculated the area loads are first distributed onto the supporting member accordingto the load distribution settings. These member loads are then used in the frame analysis. The distributedloads are displayed in the main view like any other member load.
Depending on the distribution they will be uniform, triangular, trapezoidal or a series of point loads. If youwant detailed information on these loads then choosing the Load editor > Members tab allows you tosee what the distributed values are.
These loads cannot be edited as they are based on the specified area load and frame geometry at thetime of the analysis. If the geometry or load changes and the analysis is invalidated then these distributedloads will be re-calculated when the analysis is next calculated.
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Point, line and patch panel loadsThese can be applied to multiple panels but because they are related to local panel coordinates careneeds to be exercised to ensure all the panels selected use the same relative origins. If not the loads maynot be placed where you expect. The Panel axis triads are useful to determine this. Note the Panel view isnot available for multiple panel selections.
If you are not sure of the geometry it is better to apply these loads to panels individually.
To create local panel loads select the panel you wishto apply the load to and then pick the ‘Create panel
loads’tool. This will open the Panel Elements properties dialogfrom which you can choose the load to create.
Alternatively you can choose the load directly picking theadjacent arrow and from the drop down menu.
Point load –opens the point panel loads input.Line load –opens the line panel load input.Patch load –opens the patch panel load input.Area load –opens the local area load input.
See Panel loads for details of each load type.
Frame rigidityMany jobs have slabs which in practise provide bracing to the structure. The panel properties can be setso that they can provide this rigidity. This means it is no longer necessary to add pseudo bracing in orderto model the action of rigid floors. There are two panel rigidity settings.
Non-rigid –this is the default condition where there is no constraint on the relative positions of the paneljoints. This is used where only loading is required or the panels do not contribute significantly to anydiaphragm or bracing action.
Rigid plane –this maintains the panel’s joints in the same relative position in the plane of the panel. Thismeans that a square panel will remain square although it may be displaced or rotated by the forcesapplied to it. When applied to a floor it means that the floor will keep its plan shape but may bedisplaced by sway forces.Modelling floors.Rigid panels are ideally suited to modelling floors and this is intended as their main use. In this case all thepanels in a plane are set to have the rigidity required and this will lock the joints in that plane thusmodelling a typical rigid floor such as an RC slab.
Rigid panels are less suited to modelling walls such as shear walls as their mode of action is different andthese are better dealt with by using pseudo bracing or stiffened members.LimitationsThere are a couple of limitations with the use of rigid panels due to the mathematical model used.
1. None of the joints in a rigid panel can be supported.
2. There cannot be two adjacent rigid panels in different planes. This means that if rigid panels share anedge then they must be in the same plane.
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Generally these are not severe restrictions and you can have stacks of rigid panels with no limit. If verticaldiaphragms are modelled using bracing techniques as recommended above then such a conflict shouldnot arise.
Updating existing jobsThis version of A3D MAX only supports area loads when applied to panels. Previous versions had a simplearea load type which was applied to members and inherited its load direction according to the memberselection when it was applied.
When these jobs are opened in this version it will automatically create a panel between the membersand apply the existing area load to it. The panel will have the default panel properties and be of a non-rigid type, and the appropriate normal load direction will be set. Thus the results will be unaffectedalthough the job will need to be re-calculated.
These panels can then be treated like any other panel and edited as required.LimitationThere is one possible circumstance in which a conflict could arise. In previous versions of A3D MAX it ispossible to apply one way loads to two sets of perpendicularly opposite members (i.e. like a two-wayarrangement but using independent one-way loads to give uniform linear loads on all sides). It is difficultto see how this form of load action can arise in practise but it is a possible model condition.
The panels cannot have two normal one-way load distributions so only one load direction can beaccommodated. When the job is first loaded a warning will be issued if this condition is detected and thesecond load not applied. If you need to model this case then you will need to add equivalent linearloads to some members.
Panel axesWe have tried as much as possible to avoid the need to understand local coordinate systems and axesbut It is necessary to know some basic rules to predict how the panels and loads will act in particularcircumstances.
Loads and properties of panels such as alignment are relativeto the local coordinate system of the panel element. The originof this system is located in the one corner of an imaginary boxenclosing the panel but is always aligned to the principle axes.The local x and z axes are in the planes of the panel and the yaxis is normal to it. If multiple panels are being created then alocal coordinate system for the whole group is used.
The panel edges are labelled clockwise from the joint closestto this origin. For one way panels x direction is always betweenedges 2 and 4 and z direction between edges 1 and 3.
The above definition is a simplified form of the mathematical definition used by the program and thefollowing sections explain how you can specify your panel and particularly its load distribution directionfrom that.Horizontal panelsGenerally the main concern about axes when placing the panel is the direction of span, or moreaccurately the direction of load distribution.
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Rectangular and other quadrilateral panels –The normal load distributiondirection assumes spanning to opposite edges of the panel.
The illustration shows panel distribution set between edges 1 & 3, edge one beingthe upper edge viewed in plan. The triad shows the local x (red) and z (green)coordinates for the panel.
For irregular quadrilateral panels this distribution is betweenthe mid point of opposite edges.
Triangular panels –One-way distribution is definedperpendicular to one edge. In the illustration thedistribution is perpendicular to edge 1 as defined above.
Vertical panelsPanels placed vertically have their local origin placed towards the near, left, topcorner of an imaginary bounding box if its plane is from 0° to <90° from the XYplane, or in the far, left, bottom corner for planes from 90° to <180°.
This needs to be taken into account when applying inplane and local normalloads but not global loads. The selected panel shown is parallel to the global Xdirection. This main point to be aware of the that panels parallel to the Z axis (at90° form X), and up to 180°, are effectively inverted. See the illustration on the right.
Most analysis software exhibits similar behaviour.
Panel load distributionThe area loads and point, line and patch panel loads are distributed according to the load distributionsetting for the panel. However the method used to distribute these loads onto the supporting memberscan differ between the area and the other panel loads.
Area load distributionThe area load is distributed onto the supporting members according to the type of distribution set.
Bisection distributionIf bisection distribution is set then this works on the basis of bisecting corner angles or sides. The distributionpattern can be seen if its display is turned ON.
Two Way distributions –typically look as illustratedon the right.
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One Way distributions – both solid andribbed distributions typically look like thoseadjacent, except triangular one-way ribbedpanels which use the grillage method so aresimilar to patch loads below.
The loads are defined as uniform, triangular,trapezoidal or distributed loads on the edge members. They can be viewed, but not edited, in the LoadEditor members page.Normal distributionsNormal loads are distributed onto the supporting members according to the distribution patterns aboveand result in uniform, triangular, trapezoidal or distributed vertical and or horizontal load types on thesupporting members.
In-plane distributionsIn-plane loads are distributed according to the load distribution (in-planespan) set for the panel and the direction of the load. This results in uniform,triangular, trapezoidal or distributed load types on the supporting members.The resulting loads may be global vertical, horizontal, or transverse where thedirection are the parallel and axial where they are not.
Load type directionIn-plane load distribution to
members alongEdge 1 & 3
In-plane load distribution tomembers along
Edge 2 & 4
INPLANEZ Vertical, horizontal, transverse Axial
INPLANEX Axial Vertical, horizontal, transverse
Global distributionsGlobal direction loads on one-way panels are distributed according to their relationship to the plane ofthe panel. For instance a Vertical loads on a horizontal panel is similar to a normal load on the panel. Avertical load on a vertical panel acts in the plane of that panel. If you wish to model a wall bearing on abeam then applying a vertical load to the panel set to ‘In-plane > bearing’will do this.
Sloping panels will have global loads resolved into normal and inplane components.Finite grillage distributionOnly Normal and Vertical area loads may be distributed by this method by setting ‘Analysis Options >Consider Edge Continuity’to ON . It uses a temporary grillage and distributes the load as described underthe Point line and patch panel loads below.
Point, line, and patch panel load distributionThese local panel loads are distributed using a temporary grillage within each panel that has such aload. This grillage is generated automatically by the program when the analysis calculations are run sothey can be updated to take account of any geometric changes.
The grillage consists a members running in both directions regardless of the load distribution setting. Thefineness of the grillage is set in ‘File>Configure>Preferences>Sizes>No. of divisions for panel loaddistribution’which defaults to 10. This value gives reasonably accurate results without unduly slowing thecalculations as each of these panels is a mini structure that has to be analysed before the main analysis.
The local panel loads are approximated by the program as distributed loads on this grillage of members.Because these loads cannot be applied directly to the boundary members only to the grillage, if thelocal loads extend to the edge then that small amount of load which would be placed on the edgemember is transferred to the first grillage line inside. This preserves the total load on the structure but maycause slightly different results to those anticipated.
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The shear forces from the grillage at the edges are then applied as point loads on the panel edgemembers to simulate the local load effect. These loads can be viewed but not edited in the Load EditorMembers page.
Two Way distribution –the grillage members are based on the panel thickness and material in bothdirections and the panel structure uses the specified edge member as the boundary to the grillage. If theedge consists of several members then the section of the first one is used.
One Way Solid distribution –uses a similar grillage to the two way is used but in this case the unloadededge members are given a minimal section so have little stiffness. This simulates the behaviour of solid RCslabs and the like where there is some lateral dispersion of load through the slab.
One Way Ribbed distribution –uses a grillage but the only the grillage members in the direction of spanare set to the panel thickness and material whereas the lateral grillage members are given a minimalsection. This reduces the lateral dispersion of load and more accurately simulates a ribbed or joistedpanel.
Edge fixity –in all cases the grillage members are given Pinned end fixity to simply supported edges andFixed end fixity to Restrained edges. This then draws more shear force towards the fixed edge. Note thatthis effect is only within each panel, the program does not perform a continuous analysis on a series ofadjacent panel grillages.
Copying panelsPanels and panel loads can be copied. What is copied will depend on what is displayed when theselection is made. A panel to be copied must include a valid arrangement of bounding members orjoints, and you cannot copy panels loads alone.
To copy panels first ensure the panels and any loads required are displayed then select the objects to becopied using the normal selection methods.
Pick the Copy button and then Paste them to the required location.
If a panel of the same size already exists then the copied panel will replace its properties but copiedloads will be added to any existing loads.
If you try to copy over an existing panel of a different size then the panel and any loads will not becopied.
Copying the panel preserves the load distributiondirection relative to the rotation and the local originremain at the same relative joint.
The illustrations show the effect of copying the selectedpanel in plan and elevation.
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Stretching panelsThe members bounding panels may be stretched and providing the resulting geometry still allows a validpanel they will be adjusted otherwise they are removed.
Panels may be stretched in the plane of the panel or itsslope or orientation changed provided it remains plane.
Uniform area loads will be applied to the whole panelbut local panel loads will retain their original positionrelative to the local origin. You will need to edit themseparately if the stretch requires a change in theirgeometry.
Stretching to a slope maintains the plan position of the loads but as theyare normal to the panels their actual direction will change.
Quite complex arrangements can be stretched and this may beuseful to consider as creating the panels in plan and thenstretching may be a quicker and easier way when modellingstructures such as roofs.
Panel area load coloursThe panel area loads are coloured according to the intensity of load. You can specify the limiting coloursby setting the default in the configuration and change them within each job.
Setting default colours –This is done by picking ‘File > Configure > Preferences > Colours’and choosingthe colours for ‘Area load start intensity’and ‘Area load end intensity’. This will affect subsequent jobs butdoes not affect the current one.
Setting the job colours – Pick ‘Model > Panel loads > Area loads shading scheme’which opens a dialogin which the colours can be set. The button to the right of the colour swatch open the standard colourpicker.
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ExampleThe following is a example of using the panel facilities in asimple job. The example can be found in the Examples folderas Ex3-Panels.a3m
This is similar to Ex1-SWframe except that the panels have beenused to load the frame and some rigidity added. Note theloads from the panels are not intended to match the simplifiedloading applied to the members in that example.
Whilst panels can be provided for both floors and walls oftenonly floors will be specified so this example will look at that firstand then add wall panels.
1.0 Consider the problemStart by considering how best to model the structure.
1.1 The structural formThis is a simple frame consisting of UB beams and columns. The first floor will be a solid RC slab spanningtwo ways onto the beams. The roof will be a lightweight one way roof using some form of proprietary joistsystem, possibly of open web type.
The frame will be supported on isolated pin bases.1.2 Modelling methodThis is an obvious candidate for the 3D building frame generator which can set up the basic structure.Surplus columns can then be deleted. Initially only the floor panels will be specified as the roof framing willbe altered. The walls can also be added later.
2.0 Start a new jobBefore any modelling can commence you should start a new job.
2.1 Run A3D MAXRun A3D MAX from the Start Menu picking the CADS > A3DMAX item, or if you have the CADS SmartDesigner desktop shortcut pick that and pick A3D MAX. Alternatively if you have A3D MAX runningalready then pick New from the toolbar or File>New from the menu.
2.2 Main viewThis opens A3D MAXshowing its main view asa blank workspacesurrounded by tools andan empty explorer panelon the left.
Existing users will familiarwith most of the toolsbut a number of panelrelated ones have beenadded.
Some items are disabled(greyed) but may beenabled as the jobprogresses.
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3.0 Creating the main frameThe are a number of ways of working but probably the easiest to follow is to start by creating thegeometry.
3.1 Open the 3D building frame generator.Pick the Frame generator tool button to open the FrameGenerator options dialog.
Pick the 3D building frame generator button.This opens the 3D Building Frame dialog.
3.2 Entering the geometryEnter the following data into the dialog.
No. Length Member type Total length
Width (x) 3 6.000 Accept default 18.000
Height (y) 2 4.000 Accept default 8.000
Depth (z) 2 5.000 Accept default 10.000
This sets up the basic frame geometry.
The frame generator also gives the opportunity to includefloor roof and wall panels. We will need all of theseeventually but as the modifications to be made to thisframe include the walls and roof in this instance only thefloor will be set in the frame generator. The other panelscan be added later.
Tick the Floors option and pick the ‘Floor panel properties’button alongside.3.3 Set the panel propertiesFor this floor the thickness will be 200 (mm) and because it will beassumed to restrain the relative movement of the columns set therigidity to Rigid plane. The material can be left as concrete grade 35and the alignment at Centre. In this version the alignment only affectsthe slab visually in render modes.
The inplane load distribution applies to loads in the plane of the slab.This is usually more relevant to walls but could be important if wind ornotional loads were to be applied directly to the slab. It won’t beconsidered in this job and can be left at the default.
The normal load distribution scheme is effectively how the slab spans.In this case with nearly square panels a Two-way distribution isappropriate.
Pick OK to return to the frame generator.
The last thing is to check that the Apply grouping option is off as we will apply design grouping later.
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3.4 Create the framePick Create Frame. The main view now shows the framespecified with the floor slab as 6 panels with their directionsymbols. This may differ if your display toggles are setdifferently.
4.0 Modifying the modelIn this job there is no centre row of columns or centre row ofroof beams. So we will delete these next. They can beselected for deletion by picking each one individually but theselection box is a better method in this case.4.1 Deleting centre columnsChange to a left view and use a crossing box to enclose the lower columnsand bottom joints. With CTRL pressed use another crossing box to select theupper columns. Press the Delete key.
4.2 Deleting roof beamsTo remove the centre roof members it is probably best to set an isometric viewand pick them directly. Press the CTRL key to add members after the firstselection. Press delete.
The frame should now resemble that on the right.4.3 Possible modificationsThe frame generator creates the frame with rigid joints and the columnsorientated in the X plane. In reality this job would probably consist of portalmain frames in the Z direction with pinned beams plus bracing along the frontand back. As this is a exercise in using panels these refinements will beomitted.
5.0 Adding supportsThis is a good point at which to add supports. In this case simple pin supports will be used.With the front view still use an enclosing box to select all the lowest joints.
Pick the Quick Support tool button and then Pinned from the Quick Support palette.
Close the palette.
6.0 Roof panelsThe roof is assumed to be some open web joist system spanning between the main frame. Unlike the slabthis roof will offer no resistance to deformation of the structure and the main reason for using panels is theeasy application of load to the main members.
As the roof is in one plane we can create all the panels in one go. With thefront view set use a crossing box to select all the roof members. Change to anisometric view so you can confirm the selection and better view the panelswhen they are created.
Pick the Automatic panels button to open the Panel properties dialogwhich is similar to that under the frame generator.
In this case the thickness is not very relevant but one might assume 250 but what is important is the rigidityis set to ‘non-rigid’.
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The inplane load distribution can be left as the default setting, as we willchange this later, but the normal load distribution should be changed to‘One-way ribbed’. You now need to set the direction which should be‘Perpendicular to edge 2’for orthogonal panels edge 1 is parallel to X andedge 2 perpendicular.
Pick OK and the panels will be create as shown on the right.
7.0 Applying loadsWe will deal with the structure under the influence of floor and roof loading fist as this is often the initialstep in any design.
7.1 Floor loadingThe first thing to do is define the basic floor loading to be used. The assumption is that the dead load ofslab and finishes etc. is 6.0 kN/m2. The imposed load will be assumed to be 4.0 kN/m2.
Pick the Load Editor button and enter the following data.No. Load reference Type Direction Category Positioning End 1
sizeEnd 1
positionEnd 2size
Loadedlength Usage
1 Floor dead AL NORMAL Dead Fixed 6.000 0
2 Floor imposed AL NORMAL Imposed Fixed 4.000 0
Select the floor plane by set a front view and using an enclosing box around the floor level objects andchange back to an isometric view the floor panels should all be selected. We don’t need to selectbeams and joints but their selection does no harm and it is easier to select all objects than trying to avoidsome.
Open the Load editor an highlight both loads and pick Apply. The loads areshown applied to the panels with the pattern of distribution also. No loads areactually created on the members until the analysis calculation are run.7.2 Roof loadingA similar operation is carried out for the roof loading which will be 2.1 kN/m2for the dead and 0.7 kN/m2 for the imposed.
Open the Load editor and add the loads as shown.No. Load reference Type Direction Category Positioning End 1
sizeEnd 1
positionEnd 2size
Loadedlength Usage
1 Floor dead AL NORMAL Dead Fixed 6.000 6
2 Floor imposed AL NORMAL Imposed Fixed 4.000 6
3 Roof dead AL NORMAL Dead Fixed 2.100 0
4 Roof imposed AL NORMAL Imposed Fixed 0.700 0
Highlight the two new loads and in the main view use an enclosing box to select the roof panels etc.
Pick Apply and the loads will be added, again the distribution pattern can beseen.
Before proceed any further lets us take a quick look at the forces in thestructure now the basic loading is set up. However, we still have to set up theload combinations.
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8.0 Load combinationsWe have only a very simple loading model so we will just set up typical ULS and SLS combinations.
Pick the Load combination editor button and set up the following combinations and categories.Load combinations
Combination options 1 2
Combination reference uls sls
Limit state ULS SLS
Elastic analysis Linear Linear
Plastic analysis No No
Load categoriesReference Type uls sls
Dead Dead R ¢ 1.400 1.000
Imposed Imposed R ¢ 1.600 1.000
Other Other R ¢ 0.000 0.000
9.0 Analysis calculationsPick the Analysis Options button to check thesettings of the load distribution options.
Consider edge continuity –allows the effects ofcontinuity to be considered for the loaddistribution. Generally this is small and turning it on slows the calculations so accept the default of it OFF.
Supporting edge members to be stiff –has an effect when local loads are applied or continuity isconsidered and allows you to consider the supporting members as being very stiff when distributing loadswhich makes distributions from the grillage method more closely correspond those typically obtainedfrom the bisection method and traditional load distribution. Leave this set ON although it has no effect inthis example.
We are now ready to run the calculations.
Pick the Calculate button. If the job has not already been saved you will be asked for a file name.The tabular results opens showing the Displacements page.
You can review the results or to get a clearer picture Close the result dialog and pick Graphical Results.Choose the deflection option to see how the frame behaves.
You may find the panels obscure the view of the frame particularly if the loads are showing and you canturn the panels off using the panel and panel loads display toggles. There are a number of toggles tocontrol what is displayed. You will probably see loads shown on the members and these are thosecalculated by the program from the panel loads.
The nature of the loads can be seen byselecting a member and opening theload editor and viewing the memberspage. You can select more than onemember to view and you can scrollbetween them in the editor. You cannotedit these loads.
10.0 Initial ResultsFrom the graphical results you can see that the deflection in the main beams is excessive. This is notsurprising as no attempt has been made to size them other than using the default section. However, theseresults are instructive in confirming that the frame is behaving as one would expect.
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11.0 Next stepsThere are now a number of actions you might take depending on the purpose of you analysis. You mightchoose to size the members either by trying specific sizes or using the design facilities to offer sizes for you.Alternatively having confirmed the basis behaviour you might now add wind loads before finalising yourdesign.
We will do the latter and apply a simple wind pattern to the building. Traditionally wind loads arecommonly applied just to the frame joints where the effect on the members is regarded as small.However using panels makes the application of wind loads relatively easy and we don’t need to imposethat simplification, but this can mean that the panels will impose lateral loads on the supporting beams.Where the beams are otherwise constrained from lateral deflection, perhaps by a slab, then it might bebetter to revert to the application of loads on joints. In this example we will assume the beam take lateralloading from wind.
In this model the front and back walls will be assumed to be metal sheeting on horizontal rails. The leftand right walls will be assumed to be masonry without substantial openings.
The left and right walls will need some form of support along the bottom so an RC beam will be definedto serve as a ground beam. This will also be placed along the front an back walls as it will enable theautomatic panel tool to generate the bottom storey. At present it can only automatically include panelsif it finds an enclosed system of members.
12.0 Adding a ground beamOpen the member type editor and on the second line pick RC member from the Type list. Thedefault Rectangular beam is what we want and enter Ground beam into the Reference field.
Concrete Grade 35 will be satisfactory.
Change the width to 750 and in the Profile page change the depth to 500 leaving the type as Prismatic.Pick OK and Close the Member Type editor.
Pick Quick member button and choose Ground beam and pick OK. Now pick one of the supports(lowest joints) in isometric view and work around the frame picking the supports, the beam is added
as you go, until you are back at the first. Then double click over the background to terminate the beamrun and again to exit Quick member mode.
13.0 Adding wall panelsWe are now ready to add the wall panels.
13.1 Front wallSet a left view and use an enclosing box to select the front plane.
Pick Automatic panels, and leave the thickness, rigidity, material andalignment as they are. The wall is not concrete but we won’t be using thematerial properties of the panel so this can be disregarded.
We can model the self weight of the wall panel by specifying a one wayinplane load distribution between edges 2 & 4. Set the normal loaddistribution to one-way ribbed, perpendicular to edge 2.
Pick OK13.2 Rear wallFollow the same procedure as above but this time select the back wall plane.The panel data is also the same as above.
13.3 Left wallThis is a brick wall and the assumption is that it bears on the ground beam and the first floor edge beambut is supported laterally by the surrounding members.
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Pick the Automatic panels button this time setting the inplane load distribution to bearing and normaldistribution to two way.
Pick OK13.4 Right wallDo the same as above for the right wall.
All the walls have now been defined and the main view should look similar tothe illustration.
14.0 Modifying a panel directionBefore leaving the panel creation we cantake this opportunity to look at how tochange a panel distribution direction. Youare likely to want to do this quite often untilyou are accustomed to setting thedirection.
Using the roof panel as an example selectone of the roof panels by right clicking overits rectangle or it direction symbol andpicking Properties from the menu.
This opens the panel element dialog and choose the Load distribution scheme tab. The in-planedistribution is set to two-way and we want a one-way distribution onto long edges 2 & 4. Repeat this forthe other two panels.
15.0 Wind load combinationsBefore we define and apply the wind loads we need to create a couple of additional load categories forwind directions. In a real job you may wish to consider several directions but in this example to keep itsimple we will just consider X and Z directions, and wind blowing one way. We will also only create oneset each of wind load combinations for all loads but again a real job might have wind and dead onlycombinations.
Pick the load combination editor and in the Load categories panel change the reference ‘Other’to“Wind X”and add a reference “Wind Z”to the line below and set its type to Other also.We now have a basic set of categories to work with.
Now Add the two new combinations and set their partial safety factors as shown below.
Load combinationsCombination options 1 2 3 4
Combination reference uls sls Wind x Wind z
Limit state ULS SLS ULS ULS
Elastic analysis Linear Linear Linear Linear
Plastic analysis No No No No
Load categoriesReference Type uls sls Wind x Wind z
Dead Dead R ¢ 1.400 1.000 1.200 1.200
Imposed Imposed R ¢ 1.600 1.000 1.200 1.200
Wind X Other R ¢ 0.000 0.000 1.200 0.000
Wind Z Other R ¢ 0.000 0.000 0.000 1.200
Pick Close
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16.0 Self weight of wallsBefore adding the wind loads we will make allowance for the self weight of walls. There is no provision atpresent for the automatic self weight of panels so they have to be added as a load.
16.1 Defining the wall self weightThe front and back sheeting will be assumed to be 0.18 kN/m2 and the brick left and right walls to bebrick and block of combined weight of 3.8 kN/m2 both loads acting in the VERTICAL direction.
No. Load reference Type Direction Category Positioning End 1size
End 1position
End 2size
Loadedlength Usage
1 Floor dead AL NORMAL Dead Fixed 6.000 6
2 Floor imposed AL NORMAL Imposed Fixed 4.000 6
3 Roof dead AL NORMAL Dead Fixed 2.100 3
4 Roof imposed AL NORMAL Imposed Fixed 0.700 3
5 Side cladding AL VERTICAL Dead Fixed 0.180 0
6 Brick wall AL VERTICAL Dead Fixed 3.800 0
16.2 Applying the wall self weightsSetting a left view use two enclosing boxes to select the frontand rear walls and with the focus on the ‘Side cladding’loadpick Apply.
Change to a Front view and using two enclosing boxes selectthe left and right end walls and with the focus on ‘Brick wall’load pick Apply.
This should shade the wall panels as shown. The shades forexisting loads may change as they are chosen according tothe relative intensity from a palette derived from the‘File>Configure>Preferences>Colours>Area load fill’settings.
17.0 Wind loadsIt is assumed that a general face wind load for direction X has been determined to be 0.63 kN/m2 anddirection Z 0.51 kN/m 2. A general drag load for the roof of 0.15 kN/m2 is assumed. This is ignoring uplift andother similar effects which are omitted to prevent the example becoming unnecessarily long winded.
17.1 Defining the wind loadsWe now need to add these loads to the load editor. As the frame is orthogonal to the global axes it iseasiest to apply the wind in the global directions. If the frame had other orientation then Normal orInplane directions might be more appropriate but care would need to be exercised over the local axes.
Pick the load editor and add the data shown below the existing loads.
No. Load reference Type Direction Category Positioning End 1size
End 1position
End 2size
Loadedlength Usage
1 Floor dead AL NORMAL Dead Fixed 6.000 6
2 Floor imposed AL NORMAL Imposed Fixed 4.000 6
3 Roof dead AL NORMAL Dead Fixed 2.100 3
4 Roof imposed AL NORMAL Imposed Fixed 0.700 3
5 Side cladding AL VERTICAL Dead Fixed 0.180 12
6 Brick wall AL VERTICAL Dead Fixed 3.800 4
7 Wind X AL HORIZONTAL Wind X Fixed 0.630 0
8 Wind Z AL TRANSVERSE Wind Z Fixed 0.510 0
9 Drag X AL HORIZONTAL Wind X Fixed 0.150 0
10 Drag Z AL TRANSVERSE Wind Z Fixed 0.150 0
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17.2 Applying wind loadsUse an enclosing box to select the left panels and Apply the Wind X load to them.
Select the front panels and Apply the Wind Z load to those.
Finally select the roof panels and Apply both the Drag X and Drag Z loads to those.
18.0 Analysis Calculations and resultsWe are now ready to re-run the calculations with the additional loads.
Pick the Calculate button and the tabular results opens showing the Displacements page.
Inspection of the displacements reveals excessive deflections which is not surprising as we have still nottried to find suitable sections. We will do that now.
19.0 Grouping for SW designWe will now set up some design groups so that workable section sizes can be obtained. For the purposesof this exercise it is assumed that all columns will be of the same section and the beams will consist ofthree different sizes for edge beams (front and back), first floor main and roof main.
19.1 ColumnsSelect all the columns and pick the Create Group button. This starts the Design grouping wizard.
Grouping wizard (page 1) –Enter Columns for the group reference. Leave the notes field blank. Pick Next.
Design information (page 2) –Enter SW member for the groupcontents, BS5950:2000 for the design code and leave the templateand file path to the default setting. The default template only setsrestraints at the ends of the members. Pick Next.
Member joining (page 3) –The columns will not be considered asjoined as we want to treat them as distinct lifts between floor evenif they might actually be one length. Leave this set to No. Pick Next.
Common design (page 4) –we want the columns to be the samesize so a common design is required. Leave this set and the optionas Least depth/size. Pick Next
Finished (page 5) –this reports how the group will be defined andpick Finish to complete.
The group is now created and themake up can be seen in the Design
results dialog.
All results are marked N/A as no design hasbeen carried out yet. We will do that later.
Close the Design results.
19.2 Edge beamsSelect the edge beams. Do not include the ground beams or the spine beam in the first floor. Pick theCreate group button enter the following, leaving any other inputs as the default.
Group reference –“Edge beams”.
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Design information –Although the first floor beams are likely to be retrained by the slab the roof beamsare not so the worst case will be considered here. Leave the template set to defaults.smd.Member joining –No.Common design –set to Least depth/size.Finished –pick Finish.19.3 Main floor beamsSelect the main floor beams at first floor level. Pick the Create group button and enter:
Group reference –“Floor beams”Design information –change the template to “Fullrest.smd”either by substituting that for the‘defaults.smd’part of the template name or picking that file from the browser via the button.Member joining –set Yes as the two analysis members should be regarded as one member from columnto column for design purposes. The members are straight and of the same orientation so the tolerancesettings can be ignored. The spine members strictly should be designed between the main cross beamsbut for simplicity they are included in this set and will be joined.Common design –being joined they will be common automatically so this can be left as set.Finished –Pick Finish.19.4 Roof beamsThis is similar to the floor beams.
Group reference –“Roof beams”Design information –change the template to “Fullrest.smd”either by substituting that for the‘defaults.smd’part of the template name or picking that file from the browser via the button.Member joining –set Yes as the two analysis members should be regarded as one member from columnto column for design purposes. The tolerance settings can be ignored.Common design –being joined they will be common automatically so this can be left as set.Finished –Pick Finish.
The compacted Design results should lookas illustrated.
20.0 Designing the membersIt is recommended that you carry out an analysis first to get the scale of the job and then run the Designoption before updating and re-analysing and checking the job.
20.1 Initial checkOpen the design results and right click overone of the groups and pick Select all. PickCheck.
The results should look similar to the illustration.
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20.2 DesignThe sections need to be re-sized so with all stillselected pick Design.
Some sizes have been suggested which lookreasonable. Note that the deflection is notdetermined as part of the Auto design.20.3 Update modelPick update analysis model and set select all and create new types.
We will set the latter as so far there is only one default member type and we needto create a complete set of new ones for each group.
20.4 Updated modelWe can see that the design section is nowshown as the analysis section and the status ismarked N/A as the model now needs re-analysing and checking. The previousutilisation ratios remain shown for your .20.5 Re-analyse and re-checkPick Calculation to re-run the analysis andthen Check in the Design Results.
All the groups pass satisfactorily so we have asolution.
This concludes the example.
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Job file previewThis feature allows you to view athumbnail of a selected job. This isparticularly useful in identifying thenature of the job if it has not beenviewed for some while.
Pick the Open tool button andselect a job to show the
thumbnail in the adjoining viewer.The required job can then beopened in the usual way.
The Preview button toggles theviewer open or closed.
Pinned Base support typeA new type of support has been added called the Pinned Base. Essentially it is a
pinned support with the Y axis rotation fixed, so that it models a typical pinned basecondition.
It is particularly useful for column supports in largely pinned structures where if a simplepinned support is used the column may spin on its axis causing a ‘Mechanism’error in thecalculations. This option fixes that rotation.
In order to accommodate the new button on the support palette the ‘Delete’support button hasbeen removed but picking the ‘Free’support option shown has exactly the same effect.
EnhancementsThe following minor enhancements have been made to the application.
Print Layout dialogThe Print Layout dialog no longer automatically closes following a Preview or Print. This makes it easier toset up different print runs or use Preview as a way of reviewing the results
Bug fixesThe following corrections have been made.
RTF printout –In RTF printout, if you altered the list of things to print and then do another SaveRTF, theprogram did not use your new list. It remembered the original list. This is corrected.
Large differences in displacements warning –Under certain circumstances a warning about there beinga large difference in displacements detected may appear in the graphical results or when viewing somemember tabular results.
It can arise when a member is subject to a comparatively large axial deflection and the effect is nottaken fully into account in the calculations. This results in the end locations of the member failing thevalidation checks on the results, hence the warning. It often manifests as a break up of the deflectiondiagram where the end of the errant member does not deflect to the correct displaced joint position.The problem is often exacerbated under p-delta analysis.
The warning could be ignored for analysis, but it could also lead to ‘end 2 effects’errors if an attemptwas made to design the member which would terminate the design. This is corrected.Printing bitmap images –a modification has been made to avoid poor rendering of graphics results andother fills when printing diagrams in Bitmap mode under some circumstances.
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A3D MAX - UpgradeThe main improvements to A3D MAX for version v3.02 are detailed as follows. This upgrade note should beread in conjunction with the Function Guide.
This version requires CADS Application Supplement (AppSupp.exe) version 1.45 to be installed. Users ofthe steelwork design facility need CADS Steelwork Member Designer (SWMD) version 3.42 installed.
New FeatureThis new facility is not yet included in the function guide but this document provides a summary andconvenient description of its use.
• Improved graphics results control
Improved Graphical Results controlThere have been a number of improvements to the Graphical Results to make them easier to navigateand view.
Results scale factorsThe Graphical Results dialog Scale factor setting now has aslider to easily set the display scale between factors of 1.0 and1000, although you can still enter scale factors outside thatrange. In addition it now acts on each results typeindependently.
For instance you can set Deflection to 200, Moments to 20, etc.according to whatever gives the clearest diagrams. Togglingbetween the results will set the appropriate scale. The lastsettings are saved with the job.
If you turn the results toggle off and show multiple results thenthe current settings are used and the slider is disabled.
Saving a Pre-set view saves the current settings so that the printout can have separate diagrams printedat an appropriate scale.
Load combination pagingTo ease the viewing of each load combination two paging buttons, ‘<<Comb’and ‘Comb>>’, havebeen added which page through the load combinations in the same way as the Tabular Results. Resultsfor a particular load combination can still be displayed using the list.
Labelling selections onlyIf Graphical results labels are turned on then it is now possible to have only selected members labelled.This reduces the clutter of labels and reduces the need to use partial views, although these can still beused if desired.
Deflection tooltipIf the deflections are displayed then pausing the pointer over a member will report its deflection in atooltip. These are shown as the maximum Axial, Normal and Lateral global displacements similar to thosereported in the Tabular Results.
This compliments the existing node displacement tooltip which shows the global X, Y and Z axisdisplacement.
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EnhancementsThe following minor enhancements have been made to the application.
Panels and panel loadsA few enhancements have been made to panel handling.
Panel properties pickingPanels which had uniform area loads applied could be difficult to right click and show properties. This hasbeen improved as simply right clicking on the area load will open the menu from which Properties can bechosen.
Panel loads propertiesRight clicking on any panel load type and choosing Properties from the menu opens the Panel propertiesdialog at the loads page where the loads can be viewed or edited.
Area load tooltipArea loads now show a tooltip giving the load reference and value if the pointer is paused over the loadpatch or symbol. You may need to be careful in placing the pointer as it can pick up members etc.behind the panel.
CorrectionsThe following problems have been corrected.
Plastic analysis‘Too many load divisions’error in the plastic analysis has been resolved.
The warning that ‘P-delta calculations are not done for partially fixed members’now only appears onceinstead of for every partially fixed member.Graphical results dialogReducing the number of intervals shown did not always allow previous settings to be restored.
If the last load combination was set to ignored and envelope results were set in the Graphical or Tabularresults then not all the interval results were shown.SW haunch member typesCertain combinations of haunch depth and length were being prevented in the SW Haunch membertype editor. The limitations have been eased.
SW design'Nums Div Not Consistent' error in SW check and design. This arose occasionally due to an inconsistencybetween the distribution of loads and the steelwork design tolerances.
Certain members could give rise to a ‘wrong no. of effects’error in the Design Results check.Design groupingMember joining criteria regarding section was allowing members to be joined which were later rejectedby the steelwork design.
Very large jobs could crash in Design Grouping.PrintoutThe joints table outputs the data in three sets of columns in the data table and the last line was not beingprinted if less the three sets needed to be printed.
DXF importUsing this feature could cause the program to crash.
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A3D MAX - UpgradeThe main improvements to A3D MAX for version v3.10 are detailed as follows. This upgrade note should beread in conjunction with the Function Guide.
This version requires CADS Application Supplement (AppSupp.exe) version 1.47 to be installed. Users ofthe steelwork design facility need CADS Steelwork Member Designer (SWMD) version 3.43 installed.
ChangesFrom this version the Portal Wizard becomes a separate application called CADS SMART Portal 2D. This willallow further development of the application. Existing users of the Portal Wizard will be upgraded to thenew application which has the same functionality as the Portal Wizard plus a SMART section estimatefacility whereby the program selects optimum weight sections which satisfy both analysis and membercheck criteria. SMART Portal 2D can read existing Portal Wizard jobs directly.
The Portal Wizard option is therefore removed from A3DMAX, but SMART Portal 2D has an export toA3DMAX option which allows it to Create a frame in A3DMAX in the same way as the Portal Wizard.
CorrectionsThe following minor problems have been corrected.
New SW design templatesWhen a new steelwork design template is created from Design Results > Properties it appeared in theProperties dialog but did not immediately get assigned to its design object. If you failed to tab off thefield before closing the dialog it failed to update the design object. A new template is now assignedimmediately and the design object updated.Apparent hanging of SWMDIf, when creating a new SW design template, the operation is closed before the template is created thenSWMD opens a Save As dialog which may be hidden. This gives the appearance of SWMD having hung.This has been corrected.
Change of job nameIf a job has its name changed, perhaps as a result of a Save As for the purposes of trying alternativesolutions, any Design Results > Details paths were re-set to the default path. This meant the originalassignments were lost. The original file name is now maintained. Care needs to be taken if file remainsshared with the original job, particularly as any change made to the details file will be applied to all jobssharing it.Pinned Support settingOccasionally the ‘Joint Properties > Support > Restraint list’could become corrupted so it was impossibleto choose a ‘Pinned’support type from the list. Fixed.
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A3D MAX - Upgrade The main improvements to A3D MAX for version v3.20 are detailed as follows. This upgrade note should be read in conjunction with the Function Guide. This version requires CADS Application Supplement (AppSupp.exe) version 1.49 to be installed. Users of the steelwork design facility need CADS Steelwork Member Designer (SWMD) version 3.45 installed. New Feature A new product is available called SMART Portal 3D. This allows the design of single or multi-span portal buildings. This product allows its main frames to be exported to A3DMAX in a similar manner to Portal 2D. This export launches A3DMAX directly with the selected frame. Enhancements The following enhancements have been made. Improved performance A number of improvements have been made to increase performance particularly for large jobs. Member Editor When the member editor is closed the data is validated (for instance duplicate members are checked for) and this used to take a long time on large jobs. The method of handling this has been improved so it now only takes a few seconds. Analysis calculations Considerable improvement has been made to the solver so that it now completes the stiffness solution very much more quickly. This is particularly beneficial to large jobs with many members. For instance a job which took 15 mins 12 sec now takes 1 min 24 sec. Displaying results In the Tabular Results the effects used to be calculated every time a member or combination was changed. Now this only occurs the first time the data is viewed in an editing session and the information stored for fast retrieval if the same data is reviewed again. Printing results The calculations that take place prior to Previewing or Printing the job are now faster. Split member This feature now allows you to choose what member end fixity is applied when splitting members. As parent – this maps the end fixities for ends 1 and 2 of the original member to the sub members created by splitting, which is the current behaviour. Fixed/fixed – the end fixities either side of the new joints are both Fixed which preserves the rigidity of the member. Pinned/pinned – the end fixities either side of the new joints are both pinned. This is useful for triangulated frames but could be a cause of ‘Frame may be a mechanism’ errors if the split member is not otherwise supported at the internal joints. The end fixities can be modified as before using the Member Attributes dialog accessed by choosing Properties from the menu having right clicked over the member in question.
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DXF Export The facility to create Layout groups and subsequently create DXF files is now available from the Files > Export > DXF menu using the ‘Create Layout Group’s’ and ‘Layout Group Editor’ options which are identical to those provided by the Tools menu. This groups this facility with other Export facilities to make it easier to find. Printed output Multiple copies – Multiple copies can also be printed using the setting in the Print Manager dialog which appears after ‘Print Layout > Print’ from the toolbar or ‘File > Print’ from the menu is chosen. Large paper sizes – some users have requested output to large paper sizes so this is now allowed using the ‘old’ printout method if the Print Engine is turned off. The Print Engine can be turned off by un-ticking ‘File > Configure > Preferences > Options > Print Engine enabled’. This allows printing to any size set by the printer/plotter as it simply scales the output. Note that of the diagrams only the Current View is printed. If other views need to be printed make them the current view. Corrections The following minor problems have been corrected. Filing In some cases on Windows 98 and Windows NT systems the program could crash when accessing the File menu. Opening jobs created in A3D version 2.xx converted all joints to supports. Crash while saving due to memory violation problem. Loading Occasionally if area load data became corrupted on a panel the load could be duplicated each time the analysis calculations were run. Spurious duplicate member error message reported during distribution of Panel loads. Automatic Self weight was being applied to a Non Dead Load category if it was the first in the Load categories list. It is now applied to the first dead load category in the list. Splitting members Occasional crash when splitting members. Shortest length now shown to 3 decimal places. Split member function now defaults to ‘fixed-fixed’ setting. SW section library Certain section sizes issued ‘Invalid Ks values’ warnings. Panels Crash during initialising calculations which could arise under certain arrangements of panels. DXF import ‘Sharing violation error’ message appearing while importing DXF file kept open in AutoCAD. CSV import This was not recognising some sections and occasionally failing to import any at all.
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P-Delta analysis Occasional crash when members with pinned and partially fixed ends under uniform loads were calculated for P-delta analysis. Zero deflections were incorrectly reported for linear load combinations when p-delta load combinations were present which were correctly reported unstable due to huge deflections. Graphical results Repeated error messages ‘Shear at pos. wrong’ etc. on opening graphical results dialog under certain rare circumstances. SW Design groups An error was introduced in a previous version which prevented SW library members being ‘joined’ to SW haunch members with the same main section size. Similarly, members could fail to join if the end fixity remote from the joint was pinned. Crash on closing the design object properties dialog if unknown SW template paths found. In the printout of Design Results summary, long error messages were appearing truncated. Reset dialog The ‘Reset dialog’ command which restores the default positioning of dialogs (used if they sometimes get placed off screen) did not work in all cases.
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A3D MAX - UpgradeThe main improvements to A3D MAX for version v3.21 are detailed as follows. This upgrade note should beread in conjunction with the Function Guide.
This version requires CADS Application Supplement (AppSupp.exe) version 1.50 to be installed. Users ofthe steelwork design facility need CADS Steelwork Member Designer (SWMD) version 3.46 installed.
EnhancementsThe following enhancements have been made.
Load combination design controlA new Design tab has been added to the Load combination editor which allows improved control overthe export of load combination data to CADS Design applications. The existing load combination datanow appears on the Analysis tab and is otherwise unchanged.
Combination optionsThe main panel shows the load combinations defined. The upper portion repeats the settings for thosecombinations as defined in the Analysis tab. The lower portion lists the CADS Design applications to whichanalysis data may be exported. Alongside (under each combination) are list boxes containing options forhandling the load combination data in those applications.Typical optionsMost design applications use the following options.
Active –This means that the load combination will be taken into account by the importing application.
Ignore –This means the load combination will be ignored by the importing application. Previously allloads considered by the analysis would available to be used by the design. This is now under separatecontrol. This is particularly useful for considering cases like base design which use some combinations ofloading which are not appropriate for member design. They can be considered for one and not theother. Note that if the Analysis is marked Ignored then all design options are set likewise.
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Designer option settingsThe Design options are set by default according to the design application and limit state. The Pad BaseDesigner has different options which are described below. The versions required (or later) are also noted.
RC Beam Designer (v3.27) –Active, Ignore. Defaults: ULS = Active, SLS = Ignore
RC Column Designer (v1.65) –Active, Ignore. Defaults: ULS = Active, SLS = Ignore
RC Pad Base Designer (v1.57) –Normal, Wind uplift, Wind down, Ignore. Defaults: ULS = Normal, SLS =NormalThese options reflect those available in the application’s Load and Combinations dialog.Normal –sets the Limit state field to the appropriate setting.Ignore –this ignores the load combination so it does not appear in the list.Wind uplift –sets the Wind load option to Yes and the partial safety factors for the additional loads fromlocal Beam/wall (dead & imposed), base and soil to: 1.0, 0.0, 1.0, 1.0 respectively.Wind down – sets the Wind load option to Yes and the partial safety factors for the additional loads fromlocal Beam/wall (dead & imposed), base and soil to: 1.2 throughout.RC Pile Cap (v1.64) –Active, Ignore. Defaults: ULS = Active, SLS = Ignore
SW Member Designer (v3.64) –Active, Ignore. Defaults: ULS = Active, SLS = Active
SW Moment Connection (v1.59) –Active, Ignore. Defaults: ULS = Active, SLS = Ignore
Panel HandlingPreviously on jobs with many panels if one or more was deleted A3DMAX could take some while toupdate its data and could give the impression that the command had failed. This operation has nowbeen considerably speeded so it should now only take a few seconds.
CorrectionsThe following minor problems have been corrected.
Large differences… errorAn error where on reloading a calculated p-delta job with tension/compression analysis would “Largedifferences have been detected” has been resolved.
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A3D MAX - UpgradeThe main improvements to A3D MAX for version v3.22 are detailed as follows. This upgrade note should beread in conjunction with the Function Guide.
This version requires CADS Application Supplement (AppSupp.exe) version 1.51 to be installed. Users ofthe steelwork design facility need CADS Steelwork Member Designer (SWMD) version 3.47 installed.
New FeaturesThe following new features have been provided.
Error logDuring the course of the analysis and design calculations events may be detected which need thedesigners attention. These include limitations on the scope of the calculations, warnings if the results seemto be outside normal expectations, or errors the program cannot cope with. In previous versions thesetended to appear as they where found, sometimes repetitively, and usually interrupted the progress ofthe calculation.
This version introduces an Error log tool whichcaptures these events and displays them atthe end of the calculation. This avoids theinterruptions and has the added benefit thatthey are stored with the job and can beviewed or printed at any time.
Viewing the Error logThe error log is shown following any calculation that generates an error. It can also be viewed bychoosing the ‘File > View Error Log… ’menu item.
Any errors or warnings detected are shown under appropriate headings e.g. “Analysis Limitations”and“Design Warnings”etc.Printing the Error logThe Error log can be added to any output by selecting it from the Data panel in the Print Layout dialog.
Maintaining the error logThe error log is maintained until a new calculation is carried out whereupon it is completely refreshed. Notall errors are reported by the error log. There are two main types not handled.
Low level errors –These are errors which occur deep within the calculation and which trapping would belikely to have an adverse affect on normal performance of the calculations. These are usually rare andwill still be raised as they are detected.
Anticipated errors –These are errors which are likely to occur. They normally have other means includedin the results to alert the user. For instance p-delta instability is reported in the Tabular results as it is quitelikely to arise during the design of a structure. Similarly certain limitations in Steelwork member design arereported in the ‘Design Results > All objects’report but not in the Error log.
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Job statisticsDuring the course of improvements to performance some tools weredevised and one ‘Job statistics’may be of interest to users.
This shows the number of key objects in the job and allied information. Itcan be viewed by choosing the ‘File > Job statistics’menu item.
EnhancementsThe following enhancements have been made.
Improved performanceSome further work has been done to improve the speed of some operations. In particular the Designresults.
Design results dialogOn large jobs this could take some time to compile the data. This was mainly due to the way the designobject tree was being refreshed. This has now been optimised and the dialog now opens and refreshesmust faster.
Design results calculationsLarge jobs could also take some time to complete the check or design calculations. These have beenincreased in speed very considerably.
Panel load distributionThe speed of distribution of panels loads onto the supporting members has also been increasedsignificantly particularly where local loads or grillage options are set.
Main view tree sortAn improvement similar to the Design Results tree as been made to the Sort operation for the Main Viewtree.
CorrectionsThe following minor problems have been corrected.
End 2 effects errorsThis error can be generated by a number of situations. Improvements have been made to deal withthese cases. The following items indicate cases where the error could have arisen previously.
1. When the internal validation finds that the integration of results along a member do not agree at end 2with the results from the main matrix. These can arise due to progressive small inaccuracies in integrationalong non-prismatic members or as a consequence of the application of p-delta effects. Improvementshave been made to the algorithms to reduce the incidence of these occurring.
2. If certain joined members where not in a straight line.
3. With plastic analysis and point load at zero or full length of a member.
4. For a distributed load with zero length. A warning message is shown when a zero length load isdetected and the load will be ignored.
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5. For a few pinned/pinned members and partial fixity members in p-delta analysis.
6. For a few members with a hinge formed at the member ends in p-delta analysis.
Panel load distribution errorsError message 'Fatal Error - Member has internal joints" displayed during the panel load distribution whenthe slope of a side of a panel is very small.
While distributing panel loads like point, line and patch loads, load categories other than the first twowere ignored.
The ‘One-way solid’when multiple panels were selected caused crash when viewing panel loaddistribution pattern on triangular panels. The ‘One-way ribbed’option is now set instead if triangularpanels are selected.Load combinationsA crash occurred on opening the 'Load Combinations' page with 'Display Selection ON'.
A problem which occurred in refreshing scroll positions between Load Combinations and LoadCategories panels, in the Load Combination Editor was resolved.Print/OutputThe ‘Current view’in the view output list was replaced by preceding view in the preview if it was not thefirst in the diagram list.
In RTF output spurious cells in loads tables are now removed. In addition a line feed is introducedbetween any two tables to improve appearance.Various Editor problemsJoint editor –A crash with 'New Support' when no joints are selected. Now the 'New Support' option in theSupport page is de-activated when no joint are selected to avoid a program crash.
Member Attributes –In the Plastic Limit dialog for the Connection resistance moment option, theminimum range for 'Proportion of member resistance moment' is changed from 0.001 to 0.01 ,to avoidproblems in plastic analysis.
Panel Editor –The dialog was not refreshed after creating a panel. Also manual entry of joint numberswhile creating a panel was not accepted.Layout groupingA crash could occur when DXF file creation with layout style Plan->Projected view is selected.
The 'Complete Model' layout group could not be deleted from the Layout Group Editor.
Steelwork designA spurious ‘Restraints Error’was reported for certain steel members when running Design>Check becausethe ‘None’restraints setting was not recognised.
A ‘Restraints error’occurred for certain steel members when running Design>Details with template filescreated with 'Range' restraints and when the actual length of the member was greater than thetemplate member length.
The values of minor axis effective length factors originally specified in the Templates file were changed todefault values when applied to members having different lengths to Template.Sundry other mattersLambda critical analysis results were not invalidated for data change.
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An error could occur while using SW Haunched member with negative slope angle greater than 30degrees.
Duplicate joints and spurious members were created when importing DXF files.
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A3D MAX - Upgrade The main improvements to A3D MAX for version v3.3 are detailed as follows. This upgrade note should be read in conjunction with the Function Guide. This version requires CADS Application Supplement (AppSupp.exe) version 1.52 to be installed. Users of the steelwork design facility need CADS Steelwork Member Designer (SWMD) version 3.48 installed. Users of the new base design feature need CADS Pad Base Designer (RCPBD) version 2.02 installed. New Features The following new features and enhancements have been provided.
• Integrated pad base design • P-delta behaviour control • Perspective view • Extended Member labelling • Extended graphical results labelling • View background colour options • Enhanced design results • Output improvements • Improved access to 'readme'
Pad Base Design facility This version allows integrated design of isolated pad bases where the CADS RC Pad Base Designer application has been installed. This feature allows you to:
Specify which supports are to have pad bases. Specify different geometric and soil properties for groups of bases. Specify whether the bases in a group are to be mass or reinforced concrete. Design the bases to obtain a common size or individual sizes. Check the suitability of known bases. Import base data from Smart Portal 2D and 3D main frames.
Defining bases Bases are defined as belonging to a group. Groups allow common properties and parameters to be applied to bases and you can choose whether each base is to be treated individually or to be designed in common across the group. Common design implies bases of the same size, thickness and reinforcement where applicable. If you have a good idea of which bases will be of a similar size then create a group for each size. If not you can always design all the bases individually and break the groups up later. Conversely separate groups can be combined. Users of the steel member design grouping will find these processes familiar. To define a group of bases:
1. Select the supports to apply the group of bases to. 2. Pick ‘Design > Create Base Groups’ from the menu to start the Base grouping wizard. 3. Enter the brief data required by the wizard and pick finish. 4. The base group will be created and listed in the Design Results dialog.
A3D MAX - Upgrade The Base Grouping Wizard This works in a similar to way to the steel Member design grouping. The opening page allows you to enter the base group name. Pick Next to continue. Design information This page confirms that supports have been selected and allows the design code to be specified. In this version only BS8110:1997 is supported. Pick Next to continue. Common design This page allows you to choose whether the bases in the group are to be designed with individual sizes or a common size and reinforcements arrangement applied to all. You can turn the common design setting on or off from the Design Results dialog if you wish to examine alternative solutions. Pick Next to continue. Finished The final page shows the list of bases created within the group. Pick Finish to complete the wizard and create the base group. The group and its bases will be shown in the Design Results dialog.
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A3D MAX - Upgrade Design Result dialog Open the Design Result dialog by picking ‘Design Results’ from the toolbar or ‘Design > Design Results’ from the menu. The Design results dialog will open and change the ‘Current object type’ list to show ‘RC bases’ if necessary. This lists the bases showing the default size. At this point no design or check has been carried out so their status is N/A. Before doing so it is necessary for analysis results to be available. The current analysis run number is shown below the list or ‘Re-analysis required’ if not. For base design it is necessary to have specified at least one ULS and one SLS load combination. Designing bases There are two main options for designing bases.
Check – This uses the specified data and reports the base status. It is used when the base size is known and the impact of changes in the model need to be verified. Design – This attempts to find a suitable base size and for reinforced bases a suitable arrangement of reinforcement. If the group is marked for common design then a size suitable for the worse loading condition in the group will be offered. If it cannot find a suitable size then an Error is reported.
Selecting bases Before checking or designing bases you need to select which bases to process. This can be done by picking them individually, or as a block using normal Windows selection techniques. You can also pick the group name to select a whole group, and by right clicking over the base explorer tree choose ‘Select all’ for the whole job. This is identical to the SW design member selection methods. Checking bases Select the bases to check and pick Check. There will be a pause while the bases are calculated and the design results will be updated. If you pick a base in a common design group then all the bases in that group will be checked. The status is shown for each base together with its critical utilisation ratio, the load combination causing it and the critical mode. The status of the worst case is also shown alongside the group name so with the list collapsed it is easy to see the state of the groups at a glance.
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A3D MAX - Upgrade Designing bases Select the bases to design and pick Design. There will be a pause while the bases are calculated and the design results will be updated. If you pick a base in a common design group then all the bases in that group will be designed. If the group is marked for common design then all the bases will be of the same size. The status is shown for each base together with its critical utilisation ratio, the load combination causing it and the critical mode. For the simple mass bases illustrated the critical one has a utilisation ratio of 0.982 for bearing pressure. It can be seen that others have as little as 0.489 so some could be reduced in size. This can be done by breaking the group into smaller groups (which is described below) or by redesigning on an individual basis. With the required bases selected right click over the base explorer tree and un-tick common design. Pick Design and they will be re-calculated. The utilisation ratios now range from 0.982 to 0.848 but with quite a mix of sizes. This result can help you decide what grouping to use finally. The illustration so far assumes mass bases and also certain parameters controlling the sizing of the bases. Changing the bases to Reinforced type (as described in the next section) and picking Design gives a new set of results. The larger bases are smaller in area and are all thinner. In this case the utilisation ratios vary from 0.984 to 0.936 and the critical mode varies between the reinforcement design criteria and the bearing pressure. The Details option gives more information on these results (as described below) but this only shows an individual base. Alternatively the Print Layout Preview is a useful option to review a range of results across the bases. Changing base properties The various parameters defining a base and controlling its design may be changed. Those which can be changed for individual or groups of bases are accessed via the Properties button and apply to the bases
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A3D MAX - Upgrade currently selected. Some parameters and general Safety criteria can be changed on a job wide basis. These are discussed below. To change base properties select a single base, several, a group or groups. Pick Properties and depending on the selection different parameters become available for changing. Concrete & Reinforcement– These dialogs allow you to choose grade strength, partial safety factors and covers for the base.
Soil – This dialog allows you to set the soil properties including an allowance for depth to water and the choice of including passive resistance in the stability checks. Dimensions – This dialog allows you to change the basic size and type properties of the base. This is the part most likely to be used during the design of bases.
Construction type – When a group is selected this allows you to choose whether the bases are to be designed as Mass or Reinforced concrete. Base dimension – Allows you to change the size of the base. This is mostly used when checking a particular base size. Column/base plate dimensions – These default to the size of any RC column or steel column plus an allowance for base plate projection but can be modified if required. Column positions – By default columns are assumed to be concentric to the base but you may specify an offset from the centre or an edge in either direction. A positive value is in the same direction as the local axes of the base and this depends on the orientation of the column. For 0° orientation positive X is towards the right, for a 180° it is towards the left. You may also fix the column position relative to the edges.
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A3D MAX - Upgrade The base stick and rendered diagrams reflect any offset and orientation in the main view.
Bar arrangement – This dialog is enabled if a Reinforced base type is chosen. This defines the bar arrangement to be used for checking an existing reinforced base but may be modified if the base is designed.
Auto design controls – This allows you to set various parameters for the design of bases. It allows you to specify the maximum and minimum size of the bases and the increment by which each dimension is to be rounded. For rectangular bases you can control the length to width ratio. You can also fix one or more of the dimensions if the base is in a confined space for instance. The top and bottom bar sizes can be set or the program left to find an optimum solution. Finally you can specify a maximum percentage area of steel. Design options These allow control across the whole job and when you pick this option you are warned of this in advance. A small dialog is opened that shows the current design and detailing code settings. The latter can be modified. There are also two buttons which give access to other parameters. Design criteria This opens a dialog in which the base parameters may be set. These are the same as the parameters described above except that they are applied across the whole job, and will update all groups defined.
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A3D MAX - Upgrade Safety criteria This opens a dialog showing the safety criteria for the job. These are applied to all the groups defined in the job.
Details… This button allows access to the detailed design check results on which the design results status is based. It shows the various utilisation factors, bearing pressure and reinforcement performance where provided. Results Summary – The first page gives an overview of the results with the utilisation ratios for the principal checks. It also shows the maximum bearing pressure under the base. The summary page also lists any errors or warnings that may be relevant. The Base design results will only show one warning so it is advisable to use Details to view any others before deciding what action to take to avoid them. Pressure – Shows a 3D diagram of the bearing pressures across the base for the various load combinations. Only the serviceability load combinations are checked against maximum bearing pressure. Stability – Reports data concerning the stability for each of the serviceability limit states. Section capacities – Is only active for reinforced bases and shows the moment, shear and punching shear effects and capacities of the base for each of the ultimate load combinations. Reinforcement / unreinforced – Shows the bar arrangement in reinforced bases or the h/a ratio for mass concrete bases. Base loads If a base or selection of bases is made this allows additional loads to be applied to the bases themselves without affecting the remainder of the analysis. Presently these are added in two parts via the Base loads and combination dialog. Floor loads – Are specified for each of the load combinations. If a multiple selection of bases is made then the total factored loads N, Hx, Hy, Mx, My, will be blank but the floor load may still be entered.
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A3D MAX - Upgrade Beam, Wall & Partial loads – These are specified by picking the button so marked and choosing the appropriate tab in the dialog which appears.
Beam loads – Allows you to specify which quadrant the beam is in, it’s offset from the column and the load distance along the beam and its dead and imposed load reactions to the base.
More information can be found in the CADS RC Pad Base Designers Help and User Guide.
Wall loads – Allows you to specify which quadrant the wall is in, it’s offset from the column and the dead and imposed loads applied to the base in kN/m.
Partial floor load – Allows you to indicate whether the floor load specified in the load and combinations table is to be applied in full across the whole base or a partial area bounded by the walls.
More information can be found in the CADS Pad Base Designer Help and User Guide. Editing base groups The parameters of the bases may be edited via the Properties and Design options as described above. The content of the groups may also be changed, which is particularly appropriate if you wish to re-allocate commonly designed bases to new groups to optimise their sizes.
Merge – Allows two or more groups to be merged into one. You can then give the resulting group a new name. Move to – Allows you to move a selection of bases from one group to another. It opens a dialog from which you pick the group to move the selection to. Break – Allows you to break a selection of bases away from their group and into a new group which you can name.
Base orientation This button opens a dialog listing the bases, their orientation and the associated column orientation relative to the global axes.
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By default the base has the same orientation as its column. For bases without a column the orientation defaults to 0° and may be modified to suit the alignment of the supported members. If a base is offset care is needed with the orientation as the combination of the two determines the direction in which the base is displaced. For instance a base of 0° with a negative YY offset is moved in the positive global X direction. Whereas a base with 180° orientation and negative YY offset will move in the negative global X direction.
A3D MAX - Upgrade Base output The facilities in the Print Layout tool have been extended to allow a choice of input and result data to be output. The data is divided into three parts. Base input data – This consists of Base Properties, Base Concrete Properties, Base Reinforcement Parameters, Base Soil Parameters, Base Column Geometry and Base Dimensions. Base load data – This consists of Base Load Summary, Base Design Loads and Base Additional Loads. Base results data – This consists of the Base Results Summary. At present it does not allow fully detailed printout of individual base results but the direct Export to Pad Designer option does allow this, see Spot base design below. Spot base design Whilst the Base grouping and design is quick and easy, sometimes users just want a quick design for a particular base. This can be done using the Export To Designer menu option which is retained from earlier versions for this very reason. Its use will be familiar to seasoned users although there has been a subtle modification when used with bases.
1. Select a support or a base. 2. Pick ‘Export to designer’ from the tool bar or ‘File > Export to Designer’ from the menu and then RC Base Designer from the sub-menu. 3. This opens the RC Pad Base designer with the necessary data transferred ready for the design to be completed. If a support is selected then the export assumes the base is orientated parallel to the global axes and will warn if the column has a different orientation (as in previous versions). If a base is selected then the export assumes the base orientation is the same as the associated column. 4. Save the base design as a separate RC Base Designer (.rcb) file.
Any changes made to the base parameters using this facility will NOT be passed back to the bases or groups defined in A3DMAX. This option also allows a fully detailed set of results to be output for a particular base using the native RCPBD Print Layout facilities. Design consideration – load combination design settings. Pad base design has particular requirements regarding the behaviour under the influence of wind. The A3DMAX load combination editor has a Design page which allows you to specify how the combinations are to be treated by the Base designer.
Normal – Sets the Wind load status field in the Base design loads and combinations page to Normal i.e. not a wind load combination. Ignore – This causes the Base designer to ignore the load combination.
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Wind uplift – Sets the Wind load option to ‘Wind up’ and the partial safety factors for the additional loads from local Beam/wall (dead & imposed), base and soil to: 1.0, 0.0, 1.0, 1.0 respectively. Wind down – Sets the Wind load option to ‘Wind down’ and the partial safety factors for the additional loads from local Beam/wall (dead & imposed), base and soil to: 1.2 throughout.
The default setting for both ULS and SLS load combinations is “Normal” so if you require a load combination to be treated otherwise you must select accordingly, unless the frame has been imported from SMART Portal, in which case the settings will be defaulted to the known wind status. Importing from portal Both SMART Portal applications SP2D and SP3D (for 2D and 3D structures respectively) can export a typical main frame to A3DMAX. They have been upgraded so that any bases defined together with additional loads can be exported also. It will be necessary to re-calculate the bases in A3DMAX to obtain the results. As frames imported from SP3D now include loads applied directly to the base, transverse loads from the side wall bracing may be included automatically. If present these will cause the frame to be designed as a 3D frame whereas previously it would have been treated as a 2D frame. This means that props for the Z direction eaves level are provided automatically to maintain stability. Also, in order that unwanted p-delta effects are not considered, for both 2D and 3D frames, the members are set with the p-delta behaviour applied to the major axis only. Thus the results obtained by A3DMAX should be similar to those in SP3D. The imported loads on the bases do not include any fire collapse loads. If it is intended to create a full 3D model in A3DMAX by copying, joining and bracing a frame exported from SP3D then consideration should be given to which frame best suits the purpose. Any frame which has bracing attached will include loads due to that bracing. These may be applied to the rafter or column members depending on the bracing arrangement. If bracing is to be added to the full model then these loads will need to be removed to avoid duplication. If a frame loaded by bracing is critical then it might be easier to choose the most similar frame without bracing. Note: the position of the frame chosen to export may be significant as the loading is applied to the frame according to the bay widths and its position in the building and the loads may require modifying. P-Delta behaviour control Examining a structure’s behaviour when subject to second order (P-delta) effects is becoming increasingly important. However, care needs to be exercised in modelling such structures as there are a number of pitfalls which may report unrealistically poor stability. Where a frame is adequately stiff against sway, or well braced, problems can still arise due to apparent instability within the members themselves. A new P-Delta behaviour control has been introduced to overcome this. Modelling strategies In order to get realistic λcr results and to avoid spurious unstable load combinations for 3D building structures it will generally be necessary to model the restraint effects of secondary members, floor slabs and wall panels. This can be done in three ways:- A: Adding real or equivalent members to represent the missing restraint and bracing effects. The disadvantages of this method are the considerably increased effort in setting up the model and the implications for computation time and handling of data. Potential advantage is that the original primary steel member sections are retained and can be readily checked using the Design dialog or by simple export to CADS SWMD. B: Modifying the properties of the restrained primary members to model their lateral restraints indirectly.
A3D MAX - Upgrade Using the current software this entails changing the section type from an SW library Section to a section defined by Properties so that the relevant property (usually Iy) can be factored up. Unfortunately SWMD then fails to recognise the section and is unable to carry out the steel design checks. This means that the user has to keep two versions of the model – one with the SW Library sections and one with the modified Properties with consequent updating problems. C: Modifying the stiffness properties of the restrained primary members to model their lateral restraints indirectly.
This has the same effect as option B but instead of modifying the section properties they are left intact for steelwork design checking and instead a factor is applied to Iy (or exceptionally Ix) at calculation time. This is the purpose of the P-delta behaviour options. P-Delta behaviour control options A new control has been provided in the Member Attributes dialog reached from ‘Edit > Properties’ or ‘Right click menu > Properties’ for selected members. This control is in the tab ‘General’ under panel ‘P-Delta behaviour’ and is labelled ‘P-Delta applied to:’. It has the following options:
Both axes – This applies normal P-Delta analysis to the member and is the default state.
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Major axis only – This applies P-Delta analysis to the major axis only of the member - in effect stiffening the minor axis against buckling about the minor axis. This is a typical setting for a beam stiffened by slabs or purlins. Minor axis only – This applies P-Delta analysis to the minor axis only of the member - in effect stiffening the major axis against buckling about the major axis. This might arise with a column embedded in a wall built up to the flanges. Suppressed – This suppresses the application of P-Delta analysis to the member. This may be because the member is adequately stiffened in both axes. Alternatively you can use this option to test whether a member or group of members is controlling the frame stability, i.e. as a diagnostic aid.
Points to note:- The P-delta controls only apply to analysis. The information is not currently passed to the steel member designer module (SWMD). This is intended for a later development. Buckling of individual pin ended members (e.g. bracings) is not currently detected by Pdelta analysis or by the Elastic critical load calculator. This is because the criterion for frame instability is loss of rotational stiffness at any frame node. As pin ended members do not contribute to the rotational stiffness of nodes to which they are attached, the node stiffness is unaffected by Pdelta reductions in the stiffness of the pin ended member. Pin ended member stability should be checked using SWMD. Perspective view
This tool button and menu item ‘View > View > Perspective’ allows
you to toggle the current view to show a perspective view of the model. This can make the model easier to visualise and is particularly useful as it gives ‘depth’ to elevations. The figure shows a front view in normal and perspective view.
A3D MAX - Upgrade Member labelling
The ‘Member labels’ tool button and menu item ‘View > Toggle labels > Member’ now offers a number of data items that can be displayed in the label. They are:
Toggle Reference – which is the normal member number
Toggle Member type – which shows the member type
Toggle Orientation – which shows the member orientation
Toggle Handing – which shows the member handing
Toggle Section reference – which shows the section label
These can be combined as desired
Graphical Results – Labelling Two additional controls for labelling have been provided. Deflection labelling When Deflection results are chosen and the Labelling toggle is ON deflection values are now shown depending on which objects are visible. Members – If members are displayed then the maximum displacement along the member is shown. Typically this will tend to be near the centre of sagging beams and at the top of swaying columns. The format of the label is ‘<member ref>, δ(dx, dy, dx)mm e.g. “9, δ(0,-21,0)mm”. Joints – If joints are displayed then the displacement at the joints is shown. The format of the label is ‘<joint ref>: δ(dx, dy, dx)mm e.g. “6: δ(17,4,0)mm”. Selected results labelling When result labelling is on, the view can become very congested and nearly impossible to read. There is now an option ‘Label selected only’ which is enabled if labelling is ON. Turning this option on then only shows labels for objects that are selected. Note that selecting a member also includes its end joints if appropriate. This improves clarity without the need for a partial view. View background colour options A number of customers have requested control over the background colour for the views. We now offer two settings ‘Light’ and ‘Dark’. The settings can be found in ‘File > Configure > Preferences > Colours’. Light – Is the default setting and uses a White background by default. The object colours are chosen for clarity against this background although all can be modified as desired. Dark – Is the new option and offers a black background with a different palette of colours. Again these may be changed as desired. Note that in both cases the printout uses a white background so care is needed with the Dark colour range so that the objects still show clearly when printed. It does compensate to some degree by printing white objects and labels as black but it may not detect other pale shades.
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A3D MAX - Upgrade Enhancements The following enhancements have been made. Design results – tension only members In the design of steel members currently even tension only members are checked against the maximum slenderness ratio setting. This is normally 500 but can be raised to 5000 but still needs a suitably defined template to be applied to a design object for it to take effect. This is easily overlooked resulting in numerous instances of too onerous limits being applied. This version now automatically suppresses the lateral buckling check (which used the maximum slenderness ratio) for members marked as ‘tension only’.
Design results – selected member highlighting Previously when groups or design objects in the Design Results dialog are selected they were highlighted in the main view, but the converse was not true. Highlight – The Design Results dialog now has a button that does the converse so that if any members are selected in the main view picking this button will highlight them in the Design Results. Note that the design object containing the members will also be highlighted. Output Improvements Improvements have been made to the Print Engine module, now version 3, which drives the output for CADS Smart Designer applications. The content of the output remains the same but there are several additional features for formatting the output and a direct Export to Word option. Print Layout This dialog is essentially the same as before but with a few small changes. Print Order – This panel which shows the topics selected to output now has a ‘Restore default print order’ button which re-arranges the contents in the program’s default order. The buttons to change the order of the items remain available. Cads Page Setup – This replaces the Edit Header button and opens the Page set up dialog. This is similar to the previous header dialog but has some additional features, including a Tab to access margin settings. Header/Footer – This contains the same data as before which is included in the calculation page header block. The additional features are: Suppress page number on printouts – Which does as it says and leaves the page number field in the header blank. Footer – At the request of many customers a footer may be added to the bottom of each page. This has options for the text it contains and the location of that text. Page footer options – The following options are available:
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A3D MAX - Upgrade Filename – this is the filename of the job. Filename and path – this is the full path name for the job including the filename. Page no – this shows the page number. Page X of Y – this shows the current page number and the total number of pages in the print run. Date (DD/MM/YY) – this shows the current date in the two digit, day/month/year format. User test – this enables a further input in which the ‘Page footer user text’ may be entered. None – this suppresses the footer.
Page footer alignments – The text is aligned by the options, Left, Centre, or Right. Margins – This allows the page size and margins to be set.
Page size – allows A4 or US letter sizes to be chosen. Top and Left – these are the principle settings as they determine how all pages are set out and set the position of the header. Bottom – determines the position of the top of the footer text. Any variable length output will stop approximately 6mm above this. Fixed page layouts ignore this setting. Right – is only used for free text and the width of the footer line. All other tables and diagrams are of fixed width. Restore defaults – allows the program default margin settings to be restored.
Export to Word – This is an improved version of the previous ‘Save rtf’ feature. The main addition is that after specifying the file location for the rtf output it then automatically opens Microsoft Word, if it is installed, with the document ready to view. The layout of the rtf (rich text format) file has been improved so that it closely resembles the native printout. Preview The Preview display now has a navigator tree which enables particular topics to be found quickly. This makes preview a useful alternative way of viewing the results. Print marked items – This facility also allows you to mark items to print so the selection made in the Print Layout dialog can be further refined. Right click on the item and pick from the menu. The marking works at page level so if an item is marked for printing the whole page on which it appears will be printed, not just the item. The marking is only active while the Preview is open. To print the marked items pick Print from the Preview tool bar and then set the Marked Pages option in the Print dialog. Note that the printing of marked pages only works from the Preview > Print button not from the Print Layout > Print button.
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A3D MAX - Upgrade View options The Preview has two view options View – Which offers a number of page arrangements some preset zooms and a thumbnail option. Split window – Which divides the view area into two horizontally and allows different pages to be shown simultaneously. This can be useful when reviewing results. Printer choice Printout can now be directed to any printer available, via the Print dialog, not just the default printer as previously. Access to ReadMe file The readme.txt file which outlines improvements and changes is displayed during the installation or upgrade of each version. Users have requested easy access to this at other times and a button has now been added to the ‘About…’ dialog opened by the Help > About CADS A3DMAX menu option. This ‘Read Me’ button opens the readme file in Notepad. Corrections The following problems have been corrected. Calculation The calculation of critical load factor was carrying out unnecessary iterations under some circumstances causing the results to take longer to appear than desirable. A message during the analysis of panels was interrupting the calculations as it was not being trapped by the error log. Crashing of a particular customers job in plastic analysis. Error message 'Fatal error' is displayed while doing the plastic analysis. Output When printing diagrams of views at full extents sometimes the labels at edges were clipped. Preset views showing results were not retaining the load combination settings current when they were saved.
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A3D MAX - Upgrade
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Deflected joints were not displayed according to joint toggle setting. Transparent label option reactivated in “File->Configuration->Option->Transparent labels on/off” with default ‘off’. Panel creation Under rare circumstance panel loads were not being distributed to the edges indicated by the load direction. The ‘Create panel’ tool was not creating some panels from the selected joints when other methods would. Panel labels were displaced from their centres when viewed perpendicular to the panel. Problem in recovering or saving a job which contains corrupt panels. Error in panel line load distribution calculation. Particular job was crashing when panel line loads were present. Modelling The load combination dialog was not retaining its Display settings during an editing session. Certain arrangements of members were not being ‘joined’ correctly in SW member grouping. Deleting the whole model followed by ‘Undo’ would crash the program. Corrupt user sections table showing wrong sections. Problem in recovering the rest of the table. Incorrect splitting of members and negative shortest and longest length. Crash due to null member type data in a particular job. Error in opening the model for a customer job. Design object toggle was not showing results for members belonging to design objects which were added to groups via the Explorer right click menu. Load combinations and categories dialog were not retaining the display selection of categories for a combination while reopening the dialog. Crash while deleting all geometry followed by undo command.
A3D MAX - Upgrade
A3D MAX - Upgrade The main improvements to A3D MAX for version v3.32 are detailed as follows. This upgrade note should be read in conjunction with the Function Guide. This version requires CADS Application Supplement (AppSupp.exe) version 1.53 to be installed. New Features The following new features and enhancements have been provided.
• Deflection limit reporting • Instability reporting
Deflection limit reporting A new feature has been added which allows you to specify particular members and/or joints that you wish to monitor for the control of deflection for all or part of the structure. Joints – You may wish to monitor the deflection of a particular joint for vertical displacement as part of a truss or for horizontal displacement to assess sway, for example. In both cases you may wish to compare this displacement against an absolute value of movement or a ratio to some distance e.g. span or height. The Joint limits tool allows you to do this. Members – The deflection of certain members may be critical in your structure and the Member limits tool helps you to monitor these deflections either in absolute terms or as a ratio to the member span or length. Setting Limits Defaults for the limits can be set up under File>Configure>Preferences (see below). Individual limits can then be applied to joints and members as required via the Properties option. Joint deflection limits The Joint deflection limits relate to the global displacement of the frame. You specify which joints to use as controls, the remainder being ignored. This avoids the reporting of irrelevant joint displacements. They can be set individually or by selection via the Joint Properties dialog. This is accessed by selecting one or more joints, clicking the right mouse button over a joint and picking Properties from the Pop Up menu. Joint - The top field shows the joint number or “multiple selection”. Joint deflection limits – The joint deflection limits allows you to set which direction to check the deflection for and the value to be checked against. By default the settings are OFF so that the joint is ignored. This avoids a lot of irrelevant tests being reported and causing confusion. Sway (X or Z direction) – This will check the horizontal displacement of the joint parallel to the global X or Z axes relative to the vertical distance of the joint above the sway reference joint. Vertical (Y direction) – This will check the vertical displacement of the joint parallel to the global Y axis relative to the horizontal distance of the joint from the vertical reference joint. Any given joint cannot be compared to more than one reference joint position. It can be used to check more than one direction compared to that reference joint. Upgrd21(v3 32).doc 25/05/06 page 1
A3D MAX - Upgrade A selection of joints can be compared to one reference joint. Note that if a selection is made and the entries are not the same for all then the input value fields should show “Multiple”. Changing the entries will set all in the selection to that setting or value. Proportion of joint distance – Allows you to set the limit as a proportion of joint distance from the reference joint. The joint distance is measured vertically from the specified reference joint for the X and Z sway or the horizontal distance for the Vertical displacement. It is expressed as integer of inverse ratio in value field e.g. H/200 would show as 200. Units field to be blank. Choosing this option disables the input for the Absolute value and enables the appropriate reference joint fields.
Absolute – Allows you to set the displacement in absolute terms relative to the original position of the joint. Units field to show “mm” or “ins” according to Unit setting. Choosing this option disables the option for the ‘Proportion of joint distance’, and reference joint fields. The fields are disabled if the Sway option is not set, and the joint ignored in respect of that check. If the settings relate to joints which share a common distance then setting one will report the equivalent value for the other, otherwise the term ‘Varies’ will be shown. Reference joint sway – This sets the joint chosen to relate the sway displacement checks to. The following choices are available.
Lowest – sets the lowest joint (least Y coordinate) in the frame as the Reference joint. This is determined at run time. The adjacent joint field is disabled. Specified – sets the joint specified in the adjacent input field as the reference joint. Origin – Uses the origin (0,0,0) as the reference joint even if no joint is located at that position. The adjacent field is disabled. This is the default setting.
Reference joint vertical – This sets the joint chosen to relate the vertical displacement check to. The following choices are available.
Specified – sets the joint specified in the adjacent input field as the reference joint. This is the default setting. Origin – Uses the origin (0,0,0) as the reference joint even if no joint is located at that position. The adjacent field is disabled.
Note that each limit check may use a different reference joint. Generally it won’t be appropriate to choose an individual joint to monitor both the sway and the vertical displacement. Normally it is most likely that different joints will be chosen. Member deflection limits The Member deflection limits relate the local bowing of the member or deformation at the ends to the specified deflection limits. They can be set individually or by selection via the Member Attributes dialog. Add a Member deflection limits panel to the Properties page, below the ‘Member ends’ panel. Member deflection limits – Members may deflect either by bowing so the maximum deflection is near the mid
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A3D MAX - Upgrade point or by bending such that one end is deflected relative to the other. Limits for these deflections may be set either as a span/deflection ratio (e.g. 1/200) or as an absolute deflection. Note that if a selection is made and the entries are not the same for all then the combo box and value field should show “Multiple”. Changing the entries will set all in the selection to that setting or value.
Ignore – This setting instructs the program to ignore the member when checking deflection limits. By default all members are set to ‘Ignore’ so the user only specifies those members of interest. This avoids a lot of irrelevant tests being reported and causing confusion.
Length/deflection ratio – This sets the limit to be based on length/deflection ratio. The ratio is inverted for this input so a recognisable number such as 200 is entered. Expressed as an integer in value field, units field blank. Default for value field is as set in the Configuration. Relative deflection – This sets the limit to be based on the actual deflection value of the bow or end deflection to 2 decimal places in mm (metric) or ins (English) units. Units field to show “mm” or “ins” according to Unit setting. Default value is as set in the Configuration.
Configuration This defines the default settings to be used when applying limits to joints and members. Add a page to the Configuration dialog titled “Limits”. Suggest a layout similar to that shown. Deflection limits – To allow the following types of limit to be configured. Joint - Proportion of joint height – Represents the global displacement and is the proportion of joint distance from a reference joint, or the lowest. Expressed as integer of inverse ratio in value field e.g. H/200 would show as 200. Units field to be blank. Default for value field is 200.
Joint - Absolute – Represents a global displacement and means the amount of displacement relative to the original position of the joint. Units field to show “mm” or “ins” according to Unit setting. Default value is 50. Member - Length/deflection ratio – This is normally referred to by a fractional ratio of the member length i.e. 1/200. The ratio is inverted for this input so a recognisable number such as 200 is entered. Expressed as an integer in value field, units field blank. Default for value field is 200.
Member - Relative deflection – Means the maximum displacement within the member. Default value is 15. The member deflection limit may be reached either by local bowing where the mid point of the member exceeds the criteria or by local sway where the deflection of one end relative to the other exceeds the criteria. Deflection results for U ratio greater than – This allows you to set the value of the utilisation ratio at which items ‘Over limit’ will be shown in the printed results. Results The results are presented in tabular or graphical form highlighting violations. The table will show a ‘utilisation ratio’ to indicate the degree of violation or compliance. The tabular results can be filtered to reduce extraneous data. Tabular Results There are two changes to the Tabular Results dialog, a new Limits page and a Relative deflection report. Upgrd21(v3 32).doc 25/05/06 page 3
A3D MAX - Upgrade New Limits page Only applies to SLS combinations. Add new page to Tabular Results dialog titled “Limits”. Deflection limits – This panel displays the results for the various limit conditions. The fields are updated according to the current limit setting in the combo box and associated ‘Limit’ buttons. Joint Deflections – This text changes depending on the current limit setting below. Joint – This shows a list of joints according to the filter settings. Joints with a limit type of ‘Ignore’ for a particular direction are not shown. If all joints for this limit are set to ‘Ignore’ then the message “No limits set – all joints are ignored” is displayed in the panel. Status – Reports “Passed” or “Failed” whether the joint complies with or exceeds the limit. Proportion of joint dist. – Shows the limiting ratio set and the actual value. This ratio is the sway/height from the reference joint for horizontal deflections and displacement/horizontal distance from reference joint for vertical displacements. Absolute – Shows the limiting and actual displacements for the joint. Member Deflections – This text changes according to the current limit setting below. Member – This shows a list of members according to the filter settings. Members with a limit type of ‘Ignore’ for a particular direction are not shown. If all members for this limit are set to ‘Ignore’ then the message “No limits set – all members are ignored” is displayed in the panel. Status – Reports “Passed” or “Failed” whether the member complies with or exceeds the limit. Length/deflection – Shows the limiting and actual value for the member. The ratio is the local deflection of the member/ its length. Relative deflection – Shows the limiting and actual relative deflection of the member. Pos’n – Shows the position of the maximum deflection, either End 1, End 2 or Mid. U ratio – Reports the utilisation ratio of the actual displacement to the limit value. If the U ratio exceeds 10 then it is reported as ‘> 10’. Combination – Reports the combination producing the most critical displacement. Shows both the combination number followed by a hyphen and the combination reference. The reference will be truncated if it exceeds the field width. The number ensures the combination can be identified even if the significant part of the reference is truncated. Control buttons
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A3D MAX - Upgrade <<Limit, Limit>> – Allows ‘paging’ through deflection directions. Should page though list in either direction. Options are as shown in deflection direction combo box below. Direction Combo box – List allowing immediate access to the deflection direction options. They are “Joints – Sway X direction”, “Joints – Sway Z direction”, “Joints – Vertical Y direction”, “Members – Normal deflection”, “Members – Lateral deflection”. Display options The following display options are proposed. Show All – Shows all joints or members in list that are not set as ‘Ignore’. Over limit – Shows only those members over the limit i.e. with a U ratio more than the value set in the configuration. List by Number – Show joints or members in reference number order, lowest first. U ratio – Show joints or members in utilisation ratio order, highest first. This has the effect of putting the worst at the top of the list. Relative deflection report The Deflection page of the Tabular Results will have an option to show the deflections relative to the member. The following changes are proposed.
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The Deflections page main panel title should be changed to ‘Member Deflections (Global)’. It should have a button marked ‘Relative’ added adjacent to the Apply button. Picking the Relative button changes the page display as shown below. Main panel is titled ‘Member Deflections (Relative)’ and new button now shows ‘Global’ for return to main display. Upper results panel shows the following data: Intervals – This is the normal member interval count and distance. Local bowing – This shows the Normal and Lateral deflections relative to an imaginary chord between end 1 and end 2 of the member. This effectively reports the deflections as if the member is a normal beam. Relative to end 1/2 – Shows the Normal and Lateral deflections relative to a line parallel to the original member position through the displaced end 1 or end 2. This effectively reports the deflections as if the member is a cantilever. Maximum deflections – This panel shows similar results to those above, but the maximum value along the member with the relevant position shown below.
Original position
Deflected shape chord
parallel thro end 1δg
δbδs1
deflection relative to local bowdeflection relative to local sway end 1
Note that Axial relative deflections are omitted as for all normal frames these are very small.
δg:δb:δs1:
global deflection
end 1 end 2
parallel thro end 2
δs2
2:deflection relative to local sway end 2δs
A3D MAX - Upgrade
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The diagram, showing a member in isolation, should clarify the values for normal deflection. Lateral deflection is similar but not shown for clarity. Graphical Results Deflection labelling When displaying the deflection results the deflected position of the joints are now shown according to the joints display toggle. Printout The printout takes the form of a summary showing those which exceed the deflection limits (as set in the configuration). The options ‘Excess Joint Deflection’ and ‘Excess Member Deflection’ produces tables for each joint/member direction showing similar data to the Tabular Results. Excess Joint Deflection (All)
Joint Deflection Criteria Control Limit Actual U ratio Combination ref limit joint Deflectn. Distance Ratio 5 Sway x Prop. of joint distance 1 200.00 22.225 4000.00 179.98 1.111 1 - Comb1 6 Sway z Absolute n/a 20.00 92.749 n/a n/a 4.637 1 - Comb1
7 Sway x Prop. of joint distance 1 200.00 22.225 4000.00 179.98 1.111 1 - Comb1
If a joint is checked in more than one direction it will appear in the list 2 or 3 times. Excess Member Deflection (All)
Member Deflection Criteria Limit Actual U ratio Combination ref limit
1 Normal L/d ratio 200.00 178.94 1.118 1 - Comb1 1 Lateral L/d ratio 200.00 43.13 4.637 1 - Comb1
2 Normal L/d ratio 200.00 169.02 1.183 1 - Comb1
The above tables show either ‘All’ or ‘Max’ results. All – shows the joint/member relative deflection results having U ratios greater than 1 for all the load combinations. Max – shows the joint/member relative deflection results having the maximum U ratio among all the load combinations. Note that where the joint/member is set to ‘Ignore’ the joint/member is not shown. Jnt. defln. above specified URatio (0.9)
Joint Deflection Criteria Control Limit Actual U ratio Combination ref limit joint Deflectn. Distance Ratio 5 Sway x Prop. of joint distance 1 200.00 22.225 4000.00 179.98 1.111 1 - Comb1 6 Sway z Absolute n/a 20.00 92.749 n/a n/a 4.637 1 - Comb1
7 Sway x Prop. of joint distance 1 200.00 22.225 4000.00 179.98 1.111 1 - Comb1
Mem. defln. above specified URatio (0.9)
Member Deflection Criteria Limit Actual U ratio Combination ref limit
1 Normal L/d ratio 200.00 178.94 1.118 1 - Comb1 1 Lateral L/d ratio 200.00 43.13 4.637 1 - Comb1
2 Normal L/d ratio 200.00 169.02 1.183 1 - Comb1
These tables display the results for joint or member deflections which exceed the configured setting (as shown in brackets in the table title).
A3D MAX - Upgrade
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Only SLS combinations are included. Relative deflection The printout offers the option to output the relative deflection values. The existing output option ‘Member deflections’ is re-named ‘Member deflections (Global)’ and the printed title changed to Member Deflections (Global) for combination Comb xxx’ A new output option has been added named ‘Member deflections (Relative)’. This will output a table similar to that shown below. Member Deflections (Relative) for combination Comb1 Analysis Type : Linear elastic
Interval Interval Relative Deflections (mm) Local bow Local sway relative to end1 Local sway relative to end2
No pos. (m) Normal Lateral Normal Lateral Normal Lateral Member 1
0 0.000 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 22.22 -92.75 1 1.000 5.68 -15.30 0.13 7.88 22.35 -84.87
2 2.000 9.60 -17.63 -1.51 28.74 20.72 -64.00
3 3.000 8.72 -11.14 -7.95 58.42 14.28 -34.33
4 4.000 0.00 0.00 -22.22 92.75 0.00 0.00
Member 2
0 0.000 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 21.01 -92.75 1 1.000 0.27 -15.30 -4.98 7.88 16.03 -84.87
2 2.000 -4.53 -17.63 -15.04 28.74 5.97 -64.00
3 3.000 -7.07 -11.14 -22.83 58.42 -1.82 -34.33
4 4.000 0.00 0.00 -21.01 92.75 0.00 0.00
Instability reporting It is not uncommon for frames to be found to be unstable either due to a mechanism forming under elastic analysis or due to excessive movement under p-delta effects. These problems can be quite tricky to resolve particularly in large complex frames. This version provides some assistance in finding the causes of instability. In both cases problems encountered and possible locations are reported in the Error Log. This can be saved with the job so you can interrupt and resume investigations with data for the last calculated state being retained. Elastic analysis – mechanism A mechanism failure occurs when one or more joints have too many degrees of freedom so that their position and rotation cannot be determined. A common problem is when too many pins are specified and a section of the frame ‘collapses’ because it is not adequately ‘triangulated’. Alternatively members may be able to ‘spin’ about their axes. Such failures were characterised in previous versions by a message:
“Analysis Warnings: Frame is a mechanism – See Results/options”
This is now replaced by a message such as:
“Analysis Warnings: Linear Analysis – suspected mechanism: Unstable joint 9 – rotation about Z direction”
This may not be the only joint which needs attention but it indicates a possible source of trouble. The following scenario illustrates one approach to a solution.
A3D MAX - Upgrade
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In this instance the problem is a pin ended member split with two joints (9 & 10) which also have a pin at the end of one connecting sub member thus forming hinges. Fixing the pin next to joint 9 and re-running the analysis might solve the problem or as in this instance give a further warning:
“Analysis Warnings: Load Combination 1 - Comb1 : Suspect instability - huge displacements Joint 9 Max Dy = -106813515752373970.00 mm
This indicates the other internal pin also needs to be fixed, and although with one fixed it no longer collapses it does deflect excessively and the program has detected that. In this case the excessive deflection may be detected in specific load combinations so the first which arises is reported. Most designer’s would have picked this situation up in the first instance but it illustrates that difficult problems can be solved by successive elimination. Member fixity is often the source of the problems and the instability direction can be helpful in determining which of several members at a joint might be worth considering first. P-delta Analysis – instability A frame becomes unstable under second order analysis when the effect of the load on the displaced frame continues to increase the displacement and no equilibrium state can be found. Only certain load combinations may be unstable. Messages are typically of the form:
“Analysis Warnings: Load combination 1 - Comb1 : Pdelta Analysis - Frame is unstable Unstable Joint 13 - Rotation about Y direction Load combination 2 - Comb2 : Pdelta Analysis - Frame is unstable Unstable Joint 13 - Rotation about Y direction”
In this instance the warning indicates a twisting about the vertical axis. Instability might arise due to inadequate stiffness of the structure as a whole but it may also be due to instability in individual members. Typical instances are floor beams and light bracing. Floor beams may be detected as unstable in their lateral direction because no account is taken of any restraining effect of the floor in the analysis. This can be dealt with by setting their P-delta behaviour to be applied to the ‘Major axis only’ via the Member Attributes > General dialog. Thus it is ignored for the minor axis resisting lateral bending. Light bracing can be disregarded by setting its P-delta behaviour to ‘Suppressed’. Thus it is ignored in both axes. Otherwise increasing the stiffness of the structure or providing some external restraint is required to improve the stability. Enhancements The following enhancements have been made. BS8500 concrete grades The Materials editor now has the concrete grades from BS8500 added. They range from C16/20 to C40/50. These will only appear in New jobs, the materials list for existing jobs is unaffected.
A3D MAX - Upgrade
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Help and demonstrations The Help menu has been extended to allow easier access to various help and documentation available from the installation CD and on-line. Manual This opens the A3DMAX Function Guide (in pdf format) which is now installed with A3DMAX. Previously this was only available on the CD. Demonstrations This opens a browser page to give access to demonstrations of various features of the program. These are installed with the application and it is not necessary to be connected to the internet to view these. CADS Online This gives you two options: Check for updates – This takes you to the CADS Online web page where updates may be available for A3DMAX. Configure – where you can set how frequently you wish to be alerted about updates. Corrections The following problems have been corrected. 1) The member results for a SW group having ‘Tension/compression only’ members were not
updated correctly and this has now been corrected.
2) The DXF output for in plane view for plan layout was shown inverted but this has now been corrected.
3) There was a crash in the base grouping wizard due to the wrong placement of the message
conveying the duplication of bases. The message has now been shown correctly.
4) Calculations were getting updated for any changes in the preset views. As the changes in the preset views should not affect the calculations it is retained.
5) The range used to check the validity of the joint coordinates was wrongly shown, now this has
been corrected.
6) The preset views were not registered correctly through the right click menu. This has now been corrected.
7) Back to back channels and angles with zero spacing were wrongly treated as single sections. This
has been corrected and these will henceforth be treated as double sections.
8) SW group name in the SW grouping wizard was not accepted unless the wizard was navigated till the end, but this has now been corrected.
9) The edge of a panel when split was not treated as a straight edge. This has now been corrected
by adjusting the tolerance set for checking the straightness.
10) Two adjacent panels on a plane were not treated as rigid. This has now been corrected.
11) Creation of panels was restricted to some sequence of selection of joints. Now panels can be created by selecting joints in any sequence.
12) Triangular panels were drawn distorted in some jobs, this has now been corrected.
A3D MAX - Upgrade
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