I'm currently designing combined footings for moment frames. One of the columns on the footing is fixed in both directions, so there are moments and shears applied in both the major and minor footing direction. RAM SS only designs for the Major direction, as it uses a FEA. RAM Elements, on the other hand, uses a rigid member assumption for design, however I can find anything in the documentation saying whether the minor direction forces are taken into account.
Does anyone have any input/advice on this front, aside from performing major direction analysis with software, and minor direction by hand?
Thanks
Biaxial bending moments (column reactions) are considered in the combined footing design of RAM Elements. These moments affect the soil stresses and overturning checks and are also therefore considered in the concrete design.
If you ever had a case were the rigid member assumption was not valid you could also analyze that in the main RAM elements module using an array of shell elements supporting the frame with compression only springs at each corner node.