I am using RAM Connection Standalone Release 7.0.1 and was wondering if there was any documentation on load input and sign convention. The very short 3 chapter user manual doesn't even address this area that seems like it would be pretty important.
Also, is there any way to renumber joints?
Is there any way to position the top of beam above top of girder on the BG type connections? This would be good for modeling the reduced connection at beams that are offset vertically upwards to match joist seat depths. I've only been able to offset vertically downward.
Anybody know if there are any plans to include a direct weld option for BG type connections to model the moment connection shown in figure 12-15(a) of AISC 13th ed?
Thanks.
The best place to see the sign convention is while editing a connection. If you click in the loads property, the help context shows the sign convention.
Unfortunately, there isn't a way to renumber joints.
While editing the connection there is a beam to girder alignment parameter. However, this only allows you to move the beam down. Typically, I just move the connection element down and manually enter a large cope depth.
We have discussed implementing this. The problem is that a direct weld is only permitted in conjunction with a moment connection or you don't have the necessary rotational ductility for a simple shear connection. Therefore, we would need to implement some type of parameter to make sure this isn’t used for simple shear connections.
Ah, ok. I was looking in the Loads entry spreadsheet and the help file for load info. I never tried clicking on the loads property name in connection editor. I thought that was just a red icon to indicate that it was info imported from another tab. Thanks, that answers a lot of that question, although I don't see any reference in that help context to what the MMax and MLT columns in the loads entry are used for.
When I click on the Connection ID property right below that, it mentions being able to modify the connection ID's via a spreadsheet tool "Reassign numbers to selected elements" and shows an icon for that tool, but this is the only mention I've found of it anywhere. What is that?
Ok, that's what I've done too. Just wondering if there was a better way that I was missing.
Is that differentiation in moment and shear connections not already present? When I add, edit, or delete a connection, it labels it as either a shear, moment, or shear and moment connection.