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RAM Connection: Dowswell Reference

KB
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I frequently see the reference in RAM Connection Calcs to: 

Dowswell, B., 2003, Connection Design for Steel Structures, Structural Design Solutions, LLC

I have not been able to find this document anywhere which presents a rather large issue when interpreting the RAM Connection Results.  Could you please provide a location to buy/access this reference?  If it is no longer available for purchase, I would recommend finding a new reference for these calculations, if possible, or providing additional background on the calculations using this reference.  

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    I asked Bo Dowswell that question back in 2014, as RAM Connection appeared to be referencing a chapter 9 for weak-axis moment connections from the 2003 reference you cited. I couldn't ever find a book like that, even on his own site. He emailed me back the following reply: "I attached Chapter 9 of the notes from my 2003 ASCE Seminar, Connection Design for Steel Structures. I don't have the remaining chapters compiled into book form yet, but hopefully it will be ready soon." He was readily willing to share the referenced section when asked, and his book has not come to fruition yet, but the 29 page pdf he sent me was copyrighted, so I'll refrain from sharing the whole chapter without his permission, but I don't think he'd mind me sharing this screenshot of the section that the program uses for a limit state. I'm assuming this is the condition you're trying to justify. I know this has been difficult for me to justify to others as it tends to invalidate many "typical details" that seem very conservative. If your issue was with other portions of Bo's material, perhaps Seth or somebody at Bentley could confirm with Bo and arrange a more official posting of the full Chapter 9 pdf resource.

  • 0 Offline in reply to Jason McCool
    Thank you so much for your detailed reply. Yes, I've run into that specific issue before, and I ended up fighting through it on my own. However, this time I did that same as you and contacted Dr. Dowswell directly. He send me a full link to the book chapters for future reference. It is a bit difficult when the program references un-published items!

    For reference, my issue this time was a 'shear yielding due to welds' check for a moment flange plate at an HSS section.
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    Has this reference since been published? I still cannot seem to find it, and am not sure how to Bo Dowswell directly... any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

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    Bentley,

    Do you have a resolution to this issue yet? Jason's answer is informative, but appears to be a check on the moment capacity of the plates, not the limit state reported in your output: "Shear yielding due to welds". Currently, I'm designing the flange plates on the connection of a W24x76 beam plugging into the web of a W12x72 column with a moment of about 500 k-ft. KB is encountering the same issue with an HSS connection.

  • 0 Offline in reply to Mike Majer

    Here's the email address that I reached Mr. Dowswell at: bo@sdsresources.com  or maybe dowswell@uab.edu  He eventually ended up sending me a dropbox link to his whole presentation/unpublished book.  I think it's ridiculous that Bentley/RAM continues to used unpublished information as a reference.  

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