Good Afternoon,
My computer updated RAM to the latest software version 17.03.00 285 SES overnight, and my model went from no beam design errors to 1500 deflection errors. Upon investigation I discovered that this is happening because RAM seems to have a coding issue with how it is applying the demand/capacity Limit.
In the beam design module, under result, I can see that the deflection limit L/D is being multiplied by the limit defined by the user.
I think alone this would be fine, and checking the beam for DCR of 1 would be appropriate, but additionally RAM is still checking for a DCR to be below 0.95. I think RAM is coded in a way that it is applying the 0.95 check twice, which is causing hundreds of beams to get an error.
I hope I explained the problem I am experiencing well, please let me know if I am making a mistake or if you need more information.
We'll correct it so that nothing is double counted, and revise the reporting to be based on the actual L/D ratio, but still provide a warning when that exceeds the reduced limit.
Thanks Seth, can you clarify if RAM is planning on correcting the issue or just removing the feature completely
I confirmed that a defect was logged for this and changes will be coming. (Reference issue 804893 L/D Reporting)
Check this: https://communities.bentley.com/products/ram-staad/w/structural_analysis_and_design__wiki/2053/ram-steel-beams-faq
We are considering going back to the prior way of reporting.