Steel Design & Composite Member Settings

Steel Design & Composite Member Settings

Steel design & composite member setting is important to preset before starting to design any steel or composite steel members. By presetting these design parameters can save a significant amount of time for user compare to user who set after designing steel & composite members. This is to ensure the steel & composite members are correctly designed based on the project criteria.

To access the Steel Design Setting, user can:
  1. Go to "Building Setout" tab > "Settings Center" > "Steel Settings"
To access the Composite Member Setting, user can:
  1. Go to "Building Setout" tab > "Settings Center" > "Composite Member"

Steel

Member Settings - Deflection Check

The parameters on this sub-page controls the deflection limit for beams and purlins/girts. When 0 is input, the check will be hidden. 



Member Settings - Member Design

The parameters on this sub-page provides option for member design. 

  1. Allow purlins to reduce beam lateral torsional buckling length : Checking this option will auto detect purlins spacing, which will reduce teh buckling length, Ly and Ltb for the design of supporting member, e.g. steel beam or truss. 
  2. Design purlins and girts for non-seismic combinations only :  Checking this option will exclude seismic load combinations in purlins and girts design. 
  3. Design Station Interval :  Station distance for design. The shorter the distance, the more design points.  However, this will be decrease the design speed. 
  4. Max Member Length : Maximum length of steel member. 

Composite Member

In the General tab consist of all the composite member settings such as default stud, default sheeting, stud layout, etc.  Ensure these settings are reviewed and set before modelling or composite beams and slabs. 

  1. Analysis Composite Degree : Also known as "Composite Action Ratio" defaults to 50%.
    1. If the individual members are not assigned any Target Composite Degree on their design window, the default value will be used for section calculation and shear stud design.
    2. You can change the default value but analysis and design must be updated to reflect the changes.
  2. Allowable Composite Degree Tolerance Between Analysis and Design :  Degree of composite action used in the analysis (Analysis Composite Degree) and the one used in the design (Target Composite Degree) are different.
    1. Degree of composite action plays an important role in the calculation of composite section properties and number of shear studs
  3. Default Stud : Set the default stud.  New stud can be manually added. 
  4. Default Sheeting : Set the default sheeting. New sheeting can be manually added. 
  5. Stud Layout : Select "Uniform" or "Segmented" 
    1. Segmented : ProtaStructure can detect different segments on the beam where there is an inflection point or point load. The change in the moment diagram is usually evident in primary composite beams, which may be moment-connected to columns and supporting other secondary composite beams. The total number of shear studs is distributed between the inflection point and the maximum moment location. A nominal stud spacing is used in negative moment regions.
    2. Uniform :  If you don’t want to use a segmented layout, you can switch to a “Uniform Stud Layout”. In this case, the number of studs will be placed evenly on the beam using the minimum calculated spacing.
  6. Stud Per Row : Select Single or Double
  7. Clearance of Stud Placement at Frame Ends (C) :  Center clearance of the last stud to column as per diagram 
  8. Percentage of Deflection for Camber :  Used to check if camber if required if exceed percentage limit. 
  9. Consider Vibration Check During Design : Check to always include vibration check. 

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