Connecting Beams

Hi henrikjon, The Merge command is generally used when you have a string of beam segments that could just as easily be represented by a single beam. Naturally, we would prefer to simplify the output as much as possible. So if a string of beams could be merged into one beam (and the intermediate nodes can safely be deleted), then it makes sense to merge those beams. On the other hand, if there are other members or plates framing into those intermediate nodes, or if the intermediate nodes have nodal loads applied, or if the intermediate nodes have been placed specifically to observe displacements in strategic locations, then those are all reasons why you would NOT want to merge several members into one. The results will still be accurate, regardless of whether you merge the members or not. You just may have more results data to sift through if you have unnecessary members in the model. Cheers, Chris