Beam Section Design Table - Grouping Tab

Beam Section Design Table - Grouping Tab

General

Beam Section Design Table allows user to review or design all the beams in table.

To access  Beam Section Design Table, user can only go to "Design, then click on "Section Design" under  Design tab.


Beam Section Design Table consists of two tabs: 
  1. "Design” tab
  2. "Grouping” tab

Grouping Tab

In grouping tab, user may decide to utilize beam axis grouping in order to rationalize your design and reduce the number of details produced. 

In this tab, we have 2 sections:
  1. Toolbars : 
    1. Create Group : To create beam group. In order to create a new group, more than one similar axes have not be selected by pressing "Ctrl" or Shift" buttons. When group is created, group number will be assigned at the "Group" column in the table.
    2. Remove Axis : To remove beam(s) from a beam group. 
    3. Create Group of All Similars : To instantly group all similar beams into a group.
    4. Break Group : To remove/break a beam group. User can delete a group by selecting single beam in that particular group to break the group.
    5. Change Group Master : To change the main/master beam in a group. This can be only performed within a beam group. Select a non group master beam and click this command to change group master.
      Detail drawings and calculations are only output for the group master -other beams in the group are noted as ‘similar’.
      The beam will be designed based on critical beam regardless of which beam is selected to be master beam.
    6. Verify Groups : To check the validity of all existing beam groups. Invalid beam group such as says "Axis A = 1B1-1B2-1B19-1B17-1B14" and "Axis 3 = 1B3 - 1B15 - 1B13" are not symmetrical in term of total number of beam span in continuous beam, arrangement and dimension, will be broken/removed when "Verify Groups" is clicked.
    7. Automatic Grouping : To instantly group all similar beams into a group with more conditions/options.
      1. Group All Similar Axes : - Group all similar axes beams in the project.
      2. Group Beam Axes Vertically : - Group all similar axes beams which created in different floors but with same member coordinate only.
      3. Group Beam Axes Within Floor : - Group all similar axes within the same floor only.
    8. Break All Groups : To remove/break all created beam groups.
    9. Storey Filter : This is a selection filter to limit the grouping command to apply on certain storey.
  2. Beam Table : Beam with basic details in tabulated format. 

Grouping Symbol

    = Similar axes (Similar beam/continuous beam). When any beam is selected, if there is similar beam, this symbol can be found at the right hand side of "Group" column and same row as the similar beam in the table.  
   = Grouped beam.  This symbol can be found at the left hand side of "Group" column   when the beam is already in a group.
  = Master beam in its beam group.  This symbol can be found at the left hand side of "Group" column   when the beam is already in a group.

Beam axes can either be grouped automatically, or manually.
The advantages of grouped beam design do not come for free – the beam design process will be slower & the total quantity of rebars will be higher. However, there will be detailing efficiency gained as there are less variation in rebar size and cut length on site.

Steps of Grouping Method

Manual Grouping

Groups are created manually as follows:
To Manually Defined a Group
  1. Click on a row in the table to select the ‘master’ of the group.
    1. In the table an arrow appears next to the axis label and the row becomes highlighted. Beams on the chosen axis are simultaneously highlighted in the plan view.
    2. An equals sign   appears adjacent to all similar axes (i.e. with matching geometry) that can potentially be added to the group. 
  2. Hold down the CTRL key and click on those additional rows in the table which are also to be part of the group and then click the “Add Axis” button. A new group is created consisting of all the axes selected.
To Create Group of All Similars
  1. Click on a row in the table to select one of the axes which is to be part of the group.
    1. In the table an arrow appears next to the axis label and the row becomes highlighted. Beams on the chosen axis are simultaneously highlighted in the plan view.
    2. An equals sign    appears adjacent to all similar axes (i.e. with matching geometry) that can potentially be added to the group.
  2. Click the “Add All Similars” button. A new group is created consisting of all the similar axes and same amount of beams.
To manually remove an axis from a group:
  1. Click on the row in the table containing the axis to be removed.
  2. Click the “Remove Axis” button. The selected axis is removed.
To break an individual group:
  1. Click on the any row in the table containing an axis in the group.
  2. Click the “Break Group” button.
  3. Click ‘Yes’ to confirm. The selected group is removed.

Automatic Grouping

Three different options exist for creating groups automatically:
To Automatically Group All Similar Axes:
  1. Click the “Automatic Grouping” button and from the drop down menu select “Group All Similar Axes”. A prompt appears indicating that all ungrouped axes will be grouped automatically. Note that any existing groups will be maintained.
  2. Click ‘Yes’ to proceed. Previously ungrouped similar axes at all storeys are placed in new groups automatically.
To Automatically Group Beam Axes Vertically:
  1. Click the “Automatic Grouping” button and from the drop down menu select “Group Beam Axes Vertically”. A prompt appears indicating that all ungrouped axes will be grouped automatically. Note that any existing groups will be maintained.
  2. Click ‘Yes’ to proceed. Previously ungrouped similar axes at all storeys are placed in new groups automatically.
To Automatically Group Beam Axes Within A Floor:
  1. Click the “Automatic Grouping” button and from the drop down menu select “Group Beam Axes Within Floor”. A prompt appears indicating that all ungrouped axes will be grouped automatically. Note that any existing groups will be maintained.
  2. Click ‘Yes’ to proceed. Previously ungrouped similar axes within a floor are grouped automatically for all storeys.
Please  "Break All Groups"  every time before defining new grouping.
Users are advised to sort all the beams according to their group in order to have a full view of beam list sorted by their groups.

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