I have some steel Intermediate Moment Frames (IMF) that I'm designing the moment connection for. I've run a Smart DW connection in both version 13.4 and 13.5. Version 13.4 appears to correctly calculate the panel zone shear in accordance with AISC 341-16 Section E2.6e. Version 13.5 appears to incorrectly include the plastic moment strength of the attached beams for both IMF and SMF where it should only consider Mp for SMFs. Has this been corrected in 13.6 or 13.7 (I didn't see it listed in the resolved issues).
The issue is that IMF connections do not require the plastic moment capacity of the beam applied for panel zone calculations while SMF connections do. The program apparently applies the plastic moment to both types of connections.
Yep, same issue I reported in 2020. Although at the time, it was actually using the input design moments for determining the beam flange forces and the need for column stiffener plates, while using the beam capacity for determining column PZS, so it was saying web doublers were needed when they weren't, but also saying no stiffeners were needed or smaller ones than what were needed - exactly the opposite of what was needed. Mine were WUF-W connections, which also had the wrong Cpr factor hard-coded into the program. By the time Bentley got it fixed, I'd developed my own Mathcad-style calc since I had a project with 32 multistory IMF frames and at least a hundred individual joints that couldn't wait. Don't see IMF's much, but I'm glad I did that if the error came back in RAM Connection.
Confirmed, we were considering Mp for IMF and SMF. The problem was fixed internally and now only SMF seismic frame use Mp. The IMF now use proper demands based on load combinations not including amplification. This is fixed and will be released in a patch in a month.
Answer Verified By: Gumpmaster