Having selected trial groups for column design I have found that the output optimises the column the bottom storey but then only uses that trial group for the rest of the column line
e.g. I have trial groups of UC254x254, 305x305UC and UC356x406 as per the ramuk.col file
At Storey 1, the only section that works is in UC356x406., but at upper storeys the column selected is still from UC356x406 (235kg/m) when a UC254x254x89kg/m section would also work.
Is there a setting to change this to select from the lightest trial group at every storey?
or is the solution to use a single customised trial group containing all the sections I wish to consider
It sounds like you need to introduce splices. You can define splice levels in Modeler in the Story data, or you can override single column line splices in the Ram Steel Column module using Assign - Splicing...
No, every storey is already spliced. The Final Design size reduces as you go up the storeys, but only sections selected from the trial group of the lower-most storey are considered. I would like the top storey column to be selected from Trial Group 1 (UC254x254) but the program will only select from UC356x406 which matches the trial group used at Level 01.
I see. The way trial groups work is that the program sticks to one trial group (one nominal depth) for the whole height. It selects the lightest total column from up to 3 trial groups, so long as the design passes the code check at all stories. That's common practice since it simplifies the splice connections.
If you want to override the optimization use the Process - View/Update command to change selected stories to any desired section. Use Analyze to confirm status, Select to save each story and finally Update Database when finished. Use Process - Copy to replicate changes to other column lines.
Answer Verified By: Sam Crossley