RAM Frame - Rigid Links at Coupling Beams between Concrete Shear Walls

Nick David — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 15:19:51 GMT

Hello,

I am modeling a high-rise concrete structure with lateral force resisting systems consisting of concrete shear walls with coupling beams and slab-column moment frame interactive system (wind only, no seismic loads).

I am trying to understand the modeling feature in RAM Frame - Criteria/General/Wall Elements/ "Include Rigid Link at Fixed Beam-to-Wall Locations".

The available literature from Bentley seems to suggest that this feature is applicable for concrete coupling beams that are modeled as "beam" or "frame" objects (as opposed to coupling beams modeled as wall/shell objects). My concern is that we are modeling the effect of the slab/column frame system with "beam" objects between all columns & walls that have an effective width of ~1/4 the tributary width between column grids. When I check the box in RAM Frame for "Include Rigid Links..." I do not want to turn these slab-beam objects into having the fixed-rotation property that my intended coupling beams do.

I noticed in RAM Modeler that you can assign rigid links to beam objects individually (more appropriate for what I need to do), but for some reason the Datacheck flags all of my assigned rigid links as errors, and removes the wall support from between the two levels. Further, if I try to analyze the structure in RAM Frame, the model will not run, and cites the concern that there are un-supported transfer girders on various levels. This seems consistent with what the Datacheck is indicating.

My main question is how do I assign individual rigid links to the beam objects I have identified as coupling beams?

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RAM Frame - Rigid Links at Coupling Beams between Concrete Shear Walls