Hello,
I have an ordinary frame which has some cross bracings in it. The unit is actually to support small HVAC equipment. I have created a basic model to see if my angles will be able to take that load or not. However, I am designing cross bracings in staad for the first time and instead of designing them as tension only members, I went with releasing My, Mz approach as I want to design them for compression too. Can someone please look at the code and tell me if anything is wrong in it. I am not sure I am getting such less unity ratios. I was expecting less but not to this extent.
Also, the reason to use cross bracings in this frame is to reduce the effective length of angles in both local y and z-direction. Can I just use single diagonal brace with My and Mz releases at the start and end to effectively use the angle capacities and have effective length more then recommended in codes in one direction only?
Thanks
Code -
STAAD SPACESTART JOB INFORMATIONENGINEER DATE 17-Apr-19END JOB INFORMATIONINPUT WIDTH 79UNIT FEET KIPJOINT COORDINATES1 0 0 0; 2 0 16 0; 3 2 0 0; 4 2 16 0; 5 0 0 3; 6 0 16 3; 7 2 0 3; 8 2 16 3;9 2 15 3; 10 0 15 3; 11 0 15 0; 12 2 15 0; 13 0 8 3; 14 2 8 3; 15 0 8 0;16 2 8 0;MEMBER INCIDENCES1 1 15; 2 3 16; 3 5 13; 4 7 14; 5 2 6; 6 4 8; 7 10 9; 8 9 8; 9 10 6; 10 11 2;11 12 4; 12 11 12; 13 13 10; 14 14 9; 15 15 11; 16 16 12; 17 13 11; 18 15 12;19 16 9; 20 14 10; 21 16 11; 22 15 10; 23 13 9; 24 14 12;DEFINE MATERIAL STARTISOTROPIC STEELE 4.176e+006POISSON 0.3DENSITY 0.489024ALPHA 6e-006DAMP 0.03TYPE STEELSTRENGTH FY 5184 FU 8352 RY 1.5 RT 1.2END DEFINE MATERIALMEMBER PROPERTY AMERICAN1 TO 24 TABLE ST L35358CONSTANTSBETA 45 MEMB 3 5 7 9 13BETA 135 MEMB 4 8 14BETA 225 MEMB 2 11 16BETA 315 MEMB 1 6 10 12 15MATERIAL STEEL ALLSUPPORTS1 3 5 7 PINNEDMEMBER RELEASE5 TO 7 12 17 TO 24 START MY MZ5 TO 7 12 17 TO 24 END MY MZLOAD 1 LOADTYPE Dead TITLE LOAD CASE 1MEMBER LOAD5 6 CON GY -0.15 0.15 6 CON GY -0.15 2.87 12 CON GY -0.3 1PERFORM ANALYSISPARAMETER 1CODE AISC UNIFIED 2010LY 8 MEMB 1 TO 4 8 TO 11 13 TO 16LZ 8 MEMB 1 TO 4 8 TO 11 13 TO 16METHOD LRFDRATIO 0.8 ALLFU 7200 ALLFYLD 5184 ALLCHECK CODE ALLFINISH
I did not see an issue with the model. The braces are receiving less force as the applied loads are vertical and are being picked up by the columns mostly. If you have lateral loads, then braces are going to see more forces.