Beam Section Design Overview
Beam design will be discussed here. Before that, please take note that Building Analysis must always be performed and completed without error (some warnings that create in purpose and do not affect the result can be ignored) and building behaviour must be checked and evaluated before proceeding to beam member design (Similarly to other member design).
Beams section design are explained in detail in the following sections.
General
- Beam Design Settings can be preset in “Building Setout” tab > Settings Center.
- Concrete and steel grades can be preset in Material which can be found in “Building Setout” tab.
Beam Types
Below are the type of beams in Design tab :
- Storey Beams : To access storey beam section design summary table. All beams above storey 0 will be tabulated here.
- Rib Beams : To access rib beam section design summary table. All rib beams above storey 0 will be tabulated here.
- Foundation Beams : To access foundation beam section design summary table. All beams at storey 0 will be tabulated here.
After completing "FE Raft Foundation Analysis", "Transfer Foundation Beam Results" must be selected to ensure analyzed force is transferred into "Beam Section Design" module.
If strip footings are used in the building, the “Strip Footing Calculations” should be completed first.
How The Beam Design Forces are Generated
The "Storey Beam Section Design and Detailing" module requires six “Design Moments” and two “Design Shear Forces” for each beam to calculate the reinforcement.
These bending moments moments are creating the most critical tension values at:
- Left support top
- Right support top
- Span top of the beam
- Left support bottom
- Right support bottom
- Span bottom of the beam.
Bending moment is checked for the top edge in three regions:
- Left (worst case forces in end region ‐ 25% clear span)
- Middle (worst case forces in mid region ‐ 50% clear span)
- Right (worst case forces in end region ‐ 25% clear span)
Similarly, bending moment is checked for the bottom edge in three regions:
4. Left (worst case forces in end region ‐ 15% clear span)
5. Middle (worst case forces in mid region ‐ 70% clear span)
6. Right (worst case forces in end region ‐ 15% clear span))