Could someone explain a little how the Column Cap plate connection in RC standalone works? The user manual doesn't tell anything about it, and I haven't found anything on this site about it. It always shows very typical cap plate connections failing by huge amounts. I thought I was just not using it correctly, but I just put in the example problem 4.1 (Beam over HSS column connection) from AISC DG24 (HSS Connections), and Ram doesn't match up with AISC's numbers either. I've spent about half the day trying to trace through the output with the "View Formulas" feature enabled to see where the differences are. Could someone confirm for me that the program does calculate this connection strength correctly, and if so, maybe answer some questions on the input? Than you.
Jason
For a proper and thorough response, you should really contact our Tech Support department via www.bentley.com/serviceticketmanager. That way you can even send your models and have one of our engineers guide you and clarify your doubts.
Having said that, RAM Connection does not include Design Guide 24 yet. Our cap plate design is based only on the AISC 360-05 Specification chapter J and some small portions of Design Guide 4, since the cap plate could be seen as a rotated extended end plate.