Did You Know…
That RAM Elements allows you to specify steel, wood, and concrete design code parameters, including special seismic parameters for steel?
Today’s sophisticated software programs allow the engineer to perform complex analyses and designs quickly and accurately. However, to ensure an accurate output, the design code parameters must be specified correctly by the user.
I’ve discovered that one of the most-overlooked features in RAM Elements is the specification of beam and column design code parameters.
The design parameters are viewed by going to the Spreadsheet ribbon, the Members tab, and the appropriate steel, wood, or concrete icon.
Helpful Hint: Hover over the right edge of the spreadsheet pane to drag and enlarge the view.
STEEL
For steel members, the categories that can be defined are General, Forces Amplification, Bending (including continuous lateral torsional restraint and unbraced length), Compression (including effective length), Shear, and Combined. In order to see all these categories, you will once again need to enlarge the pane or use the scroll bar at the bottom.
Helpful Hint: The numbers 2 and 3 that you see in many categories refer to strong and weak axis directions. Toggle on the Local Axes view to determine which is which.
In the last screen capture above, the seismic provisions are visible. RAM Elements allows the user to designate a frame as SMF or OMF and to assign RBS (reduced beam section) coefficients.
WOOD
For wood members, in addition to effective length, unbraced length, and continuous lateral torsional restraint, parameters may be specified for wet service conditions, repetitive members, and notches.
CONCRETE
For concrete members, the majority of the design checks are performed in the concrete design modules. However, some design parameters, such as unbraced length and sway, may be specified in the 2D/3D model.
I don’t have space in this blog to go into detail about what each of these parameters means or what values should be input. Of course, within RAM Elements, detailed explanations are given in the help manual. Just press F1 from any of these design parameters screens and the associated help section will open.
As design professionals using engineering software, the old adage is true: garbage in = garbage out. Be sure to familiarize yourself with the design code parameters in RAM Elements so that quality in = quality out.