I am new to RAMSS but have used many other design software to design composite beams. RAMSS seems to be giving me design errors and also not following my design conditions for the composite beam design (please see the screenshot below).
The high level question is, "Why does the program not design the composite beams per my limitations on DCR and stud count?" See below for more detail.
1. The beams in white are labeled as failing my design criteria set. My maximum DCR for strength and deflection is set to 0.95 and instead of designing the beams to meet this criteria, the program is just saying all these beams are failing the criteria. Is there a way to just have the program design the beams (resize, change studs, etc) for my set criteria?
2. I have limited the maximum rows of studs to (2); however, as you can see in my screenshot, where I provide lengths of members for reference, it is exceeding the 2 row maximum for almost every girder.
As a note, I have not added any size restrictions on my beams or girders, so the program should be free to select the most optimal size.
Please refer to this posts for details:
If you are using version 17.03.00 I would caution against the use of a deflection limit ratio of 0.95. It's more clear IMO to change the deflection limits to be 95% of your ultimate goal and then design to a 1.0 ratio. We are looking to revise this implementation.
Regarding stud rows on girders parallel to the deck, the studs do not need to be 1 foot apart along the length, so it's the reduced spacing, not the increased number of rows that allows for more studs.