RAM CONNECTION_manual.pdf

________________________________________________________ _________________

RAM Connection V8i ™

Release 5.5 ________________________________________________________ _________________

2009 Edition

Manual ________________________________________________________ _________________ TRN011920-1/0001

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Microsoft, Windows, Excel and Word are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. The furnishing of the present program or documents does not give you any license to these trademarks and patents, copyrights, or other intellectual property rights implied. This program contains Adobe® Flash® Player software by Adobe Systems Incorporated, Copyright © 1996 – 2009 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe and Flash are either trademarks or registered trademarks in the United States and/or other countries.

Both United States copyright law and international treaty provisions protect this software and related documentation. Any unauthorized copy or reproduction is strictly prohibited and subject to civil and criminal penalties. Please refer to the License Agreement for authorization to make a backup copy of the software. You may not sell or give this software or any documentation to anyone without a previous written authorization. Except as expressly warranted in the License Agreement, Bentley Systems, Incorporated disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, with respect to the software, the accompanying written materials, and any accompanying hardware. All results should be verified verified to the user’s satisfaction. satisfaction. The contents of these written materials may include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors and may be revised without prior notice. TRADEMARK NOTICE

RAM Advanse and RAM Connection are registered or nonregistered trademarks of Bentley Systems, Inc. or Bentley Software, Inc. All other marks are the property of their respective owners. COPYRIGHT NOTICE

© 2009, Bentley Systems, Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Including software, file formats, and audiovisual displays; may only be used pursuant to applicable software license agreement; contains confidential an d proprietary information of Bentley Systems, Incorporated and/or third parties which is protected by copyright and trade secret law and may not be provided or otherwise made available without proper authorization.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS TRADEMARKS......................................................................................................................3 DISCLAIMER.........................................................................................................................3 INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................7 How to learn RAM Connection? .................................................................................................................... 7 New features....................................................................................................................................................7 Interface: ...................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Design: ......................................................................................................................................................................... 7

CHAPTER 1: GENERAL OVERVIEW ...................................................................................9 Design in RAM Connection............................................................................................................................9 Units available in RAM Connection ..............................................................................................................9 Customizing the interface............................................................................................................................10 RAM Connection (RA, RSS)....................................................................................................................11 Main Window ............................................................................................................................................................ 11 Zoom and rotation...................................................................................................................................................... 13 Panning ...................................................................................................................................................................... 14 Selecting members, nodes and connections ............................................................................................................... 15 Selecting and hiding elements.................................................................................................................................... 16 Other basic operations................................................................................................................................................ 17 Undo Command..................................................................................................................................................... 17 Fill the column with the value of the cursor.......................................................................................................... 17 Copy/Cut or Paste information to or from the spreadsheet................................................................................... 17 Press

(Cut the selected block to the Clipboard) or (Ctrl + X)..................................................................... 17

Press (Paste the Clipboard information to the cursor location) (Ctrl + V).................................................. 17 Reassign numbers to selected connections............................................................................................................ 17 Connections worksheet .............................................................................................................................................. 17 Connection groups (by description) ........................................................................................................................... 18 Load cases and combinations..................................................................................................................................... 20 Display of data and results ......................................................................................................................................... 22

CHAPTER 2: CONNECTIONS ............................................................................................25 What is a Connection? ................................................................................................................................. 25 How to find technical information about a specific connection?............................................................25 How to Use RAM Connection? .................................................................................................................... 26 Use of RAM Connection in RAM Advanse or RAM SS ..................................................................................... 26 Grouped Connections............................................................................................................................................ 26 Individual Connections.......................................................................................................................................... 26 Designing Connections.......................................................................................................................................... 26 Inclination angles of members (Skew and Slope) ...................................................................................................... 36 HSS Section Supports ................................................................................................................................................ 40 Design Criteria ..............................................................................................................................................41 Design criteria for RA and RAM SS .................................................................................................................... 41 Suggested steps for bracing connection design.......................................................................................................... 46 Seismic provisions for connections............................................................................................................................ 47 The Connection Database............................................................................................................................50 Database Organization ............................................................................................................................................... 50 Defining Connections ................................................................................................................................................ 54

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Databases for sections, materials, bolts and welds .....................................................................................................59 Connection Toolbar...................................................................................................................................... 60 Connection Toolbar in RAM Connection for RA and RAM SS...........................................................................61 Group1: Selection options (connections and joints)..............................................................................................61 Group2: Result display options..............................................................................................................................63 Group3: Design and Assignment settings..............................................................................................................64 Group4: Groups of Connection Assignment Buttons .............................................................................................65 Customizing the toolbar..............................................................................................................................................65 Connection Worksheet ................................................................................................................................ 68 Assigning connections to the model using the worksheet.....................................................................................68 Assign selected connection template to model .......................................................................................................68 Replace (all) the current selected connection (s)...................................................................................................70 Assign connection description ...............................................................................................................................70 Deleting model connections..................................................................................................................................70 Connection Pad ............................................................................................................................................ 70 1: Properties area ........................................................................................................................................................71 2: Drawing area ..........................................................................................................................................................72 Font Size ................................................................................................................................................................74 DXF files................................................................................................................................................................74 Print graphics ........................................................................................................................................................74 Panning..................................................................................................................................................................74 3: Help area.................................................................................................................................................................74 Connections Reports ................................................................................................................................... 75 References .................................................................................................................................................... 77

CHAPTER 3: CONNECTIONS EXAMPLE FOR RC-RA .................................................... 79 1) Retrieve the structure ..............................................................................................................................79 2) Assign basic connections to the model ................................................................................................ 80 3) Create a connection template ................................................................................................................. 88 4) Edit the templates to be used ................................................................................................................. 91 5) Create a connection database ................................................................................................................ 92 6) Configure the toolbar...............................................................................................................................95 7) Assign smart connections to the model................................................................................................97

CHAPTER 4: CONNECTIONS EXAMPLE FOR RC-RSS .................................................. 99 1) Run RAM Connection .............................................................................................................................. 99 2) Assign basic connections to the model ..............................................................................................100 3) Create a connection template ...............................................................................................................107 4) Edit the templates to be used ............................................................................................................... 110 5) Create a connection database ..............................................................................................................112 6) Configure the toolbar.............................................................................................................................115 7) Assign smart connections to the model..............................................................................................117

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Introduction

Welcome to RAM Connection, a powerful and flexible engineering software for the design of steel connections. This program provides unequaled flexibility for the design of different types of shear, moment, bracing and splice connections. It is based upon the provisions of the ANSI/AISC 360-05 for Steel Design Specifications and considers mainly W and HSS shapes. You can call the program after RAM Structural System or RAM Advanse and use automatically the results of the analysis and design of members. The connection design can also be customized to adhere to your typical office standards.

How to learn RAM Connection? This manual provides an outline of RAM Connection. In order to address the different applications of the program, the manual includes some examples at the end. It is recommended to read the first two chapters of the manual before using the program.

New features This section describes the features added in the latest release of RAM Connection. More detailed descriptions of these features will be found in the corresponding chapters of the manual or in the Help context.

Interface: 

A new tool was implemented for the addition and creation of connections in the standalone mode. Now, the user can define all the required data of a connection in a single step.

Design: AISC Seismic provisions according to ANSI/AISC 341-05, ANSI/AISC 358-05 and FEMA 3502000 have been incorporated. The program considers: 

Material Specifications (Table I-6-1). Only the specified materials can be used in the seismic connections



Calculation of the probable peak moment (Mpr) at hinge location (Section 3.2.4)



Estimation of the shear demand at plastic hinge (Vp).



Calculation of the critical flexural demand (Mc and/or Mf).



Panel zone calculations



Special requirements for the connections (continuity plates, geometry restrictions, etc)

The following pre-qualified connections are considered: 

Reduced Beam Section (RBS) (Special procedure for DW connections) 7

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Introduction



Welded unreinforced flange (DW) bolted shear connection (WUF-B).



Welded unreinforced flange (DW) welded shear connection (WUF-W).



Welded or bolted FP connections (WFP, BFP).

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Chapter 1: General Overview

The purpose of this chapter is to illustrate the basic commands required to use RAM Connection Many of these commands are illustrated in the example in the last chapter.

.

RAM Connection (for RAM Advanse and RAM Structural) uses a constant philosophy in the way all of its commands (actions) are applied to elements in a model. Specifically, the user has to select the desired elements (nodes, members, connections or shells) of the structure and once they are selected, the engineer can then apply any command that will only affect those elements. This ‘select and apply’ rule is a fundamental feature of the program. All the provided tools for entering or generating data, together with the display and printing options adhere to this ‘select and apply’ principle.

Design in RAM Connection Connections can be designed by one of these three methods in RAM Connection (RC) and RAM Connection Standalone (RCSA) programs. The first method could be called a "trial and error" procedure. In this method the engineer defines a database of different connections (note that many connections are already supplied with the program itself), assigning one to the joint and the program will indicate if it is suitable for the joint. The engineer can then manually either assign another connection, or adjust the first connection he/she assigned. The second method would be to have the program search through a list of the database connections to find the first one in the list that works for the joint (geometry and forces). The third method is similar to the second but rather than search through a predefined list the program will assign a single smart connection to the joint. These three methods provide the engineer with complete control over the design of their individual connections.

Units available in RAM Connection The units will be imported from the RAM SS model. However, the user can change the unit system used for reports and graphics. To define the units press the

button or go to the Applications Menu Bar select the units option.

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Units configuration window. Besides the unit system configuration, the program allows a more detailed unit configuration for variable groups as lengths, section dimensions, etc. The buttons US Customary, Standard SI and Standard Metric are pre-set configurations that the user may use. The main unit system can be changed from the Units toolbar. Press

and select the required

units system

Customizing the interface The user can customize the position and visibility of all toolbars according to the requirements. To display the toolbar manage window execute the menu option View/Toolbars :

Show/hide toolbars window To move a toolbar to a given position, drag it with the mouse (keeping the left button pressed). 10

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Once all the toolbars are in their final position, you may save the actual desktop configuration with the option Save desktop... This way, you may create many desktop configurations that can be restored later.

RAM Connection (RA, RSS) Main Window RAM Connection has a main window, which is displayed below with all of the individual work areas identified.

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For RAM Connection Loads toolbar Selection toolbar View toolbar Panel toolbar Forces toolbar Rendering toolbar 3D Loads toolbar The button for seismic design is available for LRFD and ASD design codes. Clicking this button, a window is displayed in order to select the acting factored gravity combination.

The button

for the use of RAM Frame Steel load Combination.

For RAM Connection RC

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the following tools are available.


Zoom and rotation The following toolbars are used to zoom, change perspective, font size, rotate and edit the view of the model. The following toolbars are used to zoom, change perspective, font size, rotate and edit the view of the model.

Visualization and Cursor toolbars to define the view of the model.

If you have a mouse wheel you can use it to rotate and zoom in or out the model instead of the former tool bars Mouse wheel is equivalent to

b or

Ctrl + mouse wheel is equivalent to Shift + mouse wheel is equivalent to

or or

Ctrl + Shift + mouse wheel is equivalent to

or 13

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Ctrl + W (or mouse wheel double click) is equivalent to

.

.- See the Help Context (shortcuts) for more details about mouse operation or key shortcuts. Notice that you can modify the rotation increment for each rotation command in the Configuration/General/View rotation increment option of the main menu. Notice that you have an indicator (on lower right part) that tells you how the global axes XYZ are orientated To reset the view to its default position, press the middle button To enlarge a picture, press the

button (zoom in).

To reduce a picture, press the

button (zoom out).

.

To zoom in on an area of the structure, press the window zoom button

(zoom with a fence).

Hold down the left button of the mouse and drag a rectangle around the area you want to zoom.

To reset the drawing to the default size keeping the rotation position, press the size). The structure will fit in the screen.

button (reset the

The user may change the perspective of the drawing with the perspective track bar Visualization toolbar. The perspective button may take one of two positions: perspective) and

(draw with

(draw without perspective).

Hint: To save a specific model view to reload it later, you may use the Views toolbar

Panning Click the right button at the point on the structure that you want centered on the screen.

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in the

.


Clicking with the right button of your mouse will move the center of the screen to that point.

Selecting members, nodes and connections To select a member, click on it and it will be highlighted, indicating that has been selected. Do the same to select a node. The same applies to connections, which are represented in the graphic with the symbol.

When you click on an element (member, shell or connection), the previously selected elements are unselected. Pressing the Shift key, the user can select (or unselect) several elements without affecting the previously selected ones.

You can select multiple elements by enclosing them in a rectangle created by clicking and dragging the mouse from one corner to the other. In this case, pressing the Shift key enables the selection of the elements within the area without affecting the selection condition of the elements outside the area. Using this technique only the elements fully enclosed by the area are selected. That is, in the case of members, both nodes have to be enclosed in the rectangle. 15

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.- If you press the Ctrl key instead of the Shift key while you are selecting members, all the elements fully or partially covered by the area will be selected.

Selecting and hiding elements The Selection toolbar

has many tools to select and show/hide elements.

To hide parts of your model you can perform the following steps: 1. Select what you want to view. (unselect the other elements) 2. Press the button Press the button Press the

. To view the whole model, press the same button again.

or CTRL+A to select all the members, nodes, connections and shells.

button to de-select all the previously selected members, connections, nodes and shells.

To invert the selected elements press , the selected elements will be unselected and not previously selected elements will be selected automatically. To select the members between 2 nodes, first select the nodes and then press the

button.

To select all the members in a straight line, select one member in the desired line and then press the button.

Selection of members in line example. In the menu Tools, there are other selection and de-selection features that you can use:

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Other basic operations Undo Command

If you have accidentally performed an action, you can normally undo it by pressing the button located at the bottom of the spreadsheet. If you press the button again, the previous command will be undone and so on. Fill the column with the value of the cursor

To fill the current spreadsheet column with the value at the cursor, set the cursor in the desired place and press

.

Copy/Cut or Paste information to or from the spreadsheet

Press

(Copy the selected block to the Clipboard) or (Ctrl + C)

This command copies the values of the marked block in the clipboard to be used in another part of the spreadsheet, in another spreadsheet or to be exported to another program like Excel, Word, etc. Press

(Cut the selected block to the Clipboard) or (Ctrl + X)

This command moves a block of the spreadsheet to another location, including other programs like Excel, Word, etc. Press

(Paste the Clipboard information to the cursor location) (Ctrl + V)

This command pastes the previously copied data of the clipboard. This allows the engineer to import data generated in other programs. Reassign numbers to selected connections

This command allows reordering the number of the currently selected connections, starting at a specified value. It is located in the lower part of the connection spreadsheet. This command is useful to avoid missing numbers due to erased connections.

Connections worksheet The Connections worksheet has the following tools: Replace the current selected connection: Click this tool button to replace one of the model connections displayed (at cursor position) in the connection spreadsheet with the currently selected template in the template window. Note that the template name or any other item of the data bases can not be manually entered. Replace all the current selected connections: Click this tool button to replace all the model connections displayed in the connection spreadsheet with the currently selected template in the template window. Assign selected specific connection to model: select (all) the members and nodes where you want to define the same connection. Click this tool button to assign the selected connection in the available connection window (database). The program will only assign connections where it is 17

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possible. For example, you can select all the members in the model and select a beam-to-flange connection to assign, and it will be applied only where it is appropriate (i.e. a beam attaches to a column flange). Assign CONN+1 Description: click this tool button to assign the same description to the currently selected connections. Note that when connections have been designed by group, have already received a description automatically (assignment button plus a number). Delete selected connection: This button will delete only the selected connections even if members, shells and nodes are also selected. You can press F1 to display the Help context or click on the icon, which has useful information on: 1) The connections data to be introduced in the worksheets and 2) The use of the tool buttons to generate the data.

Help context window.

Connection groups (by description) Connection description is used to identify the design groups and the program assigns it automatically when connections have been assigned by group. The program allows to modify or assign descriptions manually, however, description manage should be made carefully. It is recommended the use of the tool (assigns description: CNN1,CNN2,...,CNNn) only with single connections, i.e. assigned from the spreadsheet with the tool. Note that the members’ description is imported from RAM SS and can not be edited in RAM Connection.

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For example, to select all roof beams of the model shown in the figure above, select one instance of the members and then press the button in the Selection toolbar. The program will select all members with the same Description(s) of the previously selected members. To simultaneously select several groups select one member of each group using the Shift key and then press the

button.

You can select any connection by entering its number in the green column (Connection column) of the worksheet and pressing ENTER. All the current data in a worksheet may be cleared using the not erase the related elements.

button. This tool button does

To select connections with the same template, select a connection with the desired template:

Click on the name of the connection (in the worksheet):

Press the button located at the bottom of the worksheet. All the connections with the same template will be displayed in the graphic and also in the worksheet: 19

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If you want to select equal connections, select one instance of the connection and press the button in the connection toolbar. Note that this button selects equal connections, na mely connections with equal family, type and connected members (same section and material). Therefore, connections with different descriptions can be shown simultaneously in the graphic and the worksheet, if they are equal.

Load cases and combinations

This figure shows the toolbar area used to import, create, delete, edit and select load conditions (RAM Connection refers to both load cases and load combinations as load conditions). This panel allows you to: 

Create new load combinations.



Edit the load combinations (previously created in RAM Connection).



Clear load combinations.

Select the current load case or combination for the display of loads

You can select a load case or combination just clicking on the desired item:

Note that the limit of the number of load cases in RAM Connection is 200.

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

RAM Connection imports all the steel lateral and gravity load cases generated in RAM SS. The load combinations are imported when the

button is pressed. When using LRFD or

ASD design codes the option for seismic design is able

.

Warning! The connections on gravity members will have zero loads for load combinations that include lateral load cases.

It is also possible to generate a combination based on the imported loads with the load combination generator:

To define new load combinations go to the main menu and select the Loads/Load combinations option. A dialog window will appear where you can enter the new combinations or you can retrieve a file containing the required combinations. If you press OK, the load combinations will be generated. The load case categories will define the generation and they will be imported and defined in RAM SS (see the RAM SS documentation for more details). The available categories are DL for dead loads, LL for live loads, LAT for lateral loads, WIND for winds, EQ for earthquake loads, DYN for dynamic loads and OTHER for other type of loads. Note that you can save or retrieve your file for use in any model.

Window for the generation of load combinations. The formulae have to be organized in the following order: 1. Mathematics symbols (+, -). 21

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2. The reserved words AND or OR followed always by a space. Note that the rest of the components of the formulae may or may not be separated by spaces. 3. A factor which may be any real number. 4. The name of the desired category. (These must be valid symbols that are to be associated with the individual load cases). 5. Steps 1 – 4 are repeated as required. 6. Special commentary lines are also allowed if they start with "//" Note that the reserved word AND is used to show that each load combination to be generated has to include ALL the load cases that belong to the specified category, while the reserved word OR is used to generate different load combinations for each load case of the specified category.

Display of data and results RAM Connection can show almost all data and results in a graphical way. This is controlled through the Model Properties, Loads and Rendering toolbars: Press the button with the desired option to display it or unselect it to hide the option. A tool tip for the button will be displayed if you hover with the cursor over the desired button. Press

to view the coordinates of the selected nodes.

Press

to view the number of the selected nodes.

Press

to view the number of the selected members.

Press

to view the number or ID of the selected connections.

Press to view the hinges of the selected members (only shear connections can be assigned to these joints). Press

to view the sections of the selected members.

Press

to view the materials of the selected members.

Press

to view the description of the selected elements (members, connections or shells).

Press

to see the model in 3-D with members contracted. Connections will be drawn in 3-D.

Press

to see the model in 3-D. Connections will be drawn in 3-D.

Press

to display the shear force acting on the selected connections for the current load condition

Press to display the bending moment (around local axis 3-3) of the selected connections for the current load condition. Press

to display the axial force of the selected connections for the current load condition.

Notice that the previous forces (shear, moment and axial) are displayed ONLY for the current load condition. To se the envelopes of the different forces press along with one of the previous buttons ( , or ) The connection toolbar has also some tools for the display of data and/or results: 22

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displays the selected connections in colors, according to their description. displays the main design characteristics of the connections defined in the macros or connection pad (tags). Press

to graphically display the template name of the connections.

To graphically display the capacity ratio and status of the selected connections, press the

button.

Notice that this option will consider ONLY the current load condition. If you want to consider the load envelope for the design load conditions, press the The following button Press the button

button.

at the top right of the main window unselects all the display option buttons. in Units toolbar to view the units w

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Chapter 2: Steel Connections

RAM Connection allows the user to rapidly design, optimize or verify connections. The connection module may work integrated into RAM Advanse or RAM Structural System, automatically utilizing member dimensions and forces in the connection designs. th

Connections are designed and verified according to Manual of Steel Construction AISC 13 edition that gathers both LRFD and ASD codes. In this chapter we first define what is considered to be a “Connection” within the context of RAM Connection. We then proceed to directly show you How To Use the program. Following this section we describe in more detail the features of RAM Connection including the Connection Database, Connection Assignment/Optimization, Connection Output and how to Customize your Environment and connection designs. It is recommended that you read at least the first two sections of this chapter to help you understand how the connection module works.

What is a Connection? RAM Connection defines a Single Connection as all the parameters that completely define the quantities and dimensions of the pieces that make up a connection. It includes the information related to the Connection Family (beam-to-column flange, beam-to-column web, beam-girder, etc), the type of connection (shear, moment, bracing, splice or combined), as well as the number of bolts, size of bolts, welds, geometry and material of the connecting pieces etc. Before a connection can actually exist, there needs to be a connection template with the connection characteristics, from which to assign to your connection in the worksheet or structure. All connection templates are defined in the Connection Database that is accessible from the menu option Configuration/Databases/Connections. RAM Connection installs with an extensive pre-defined database of templates. To get you productive on RAM Connection we will proceed directly to the section on How To Use RAM Connection. For this section we will use the installed connection database and the default Connection toolbar. Following this section we will describe in more detail some of the features of RAM Connection, including how to customize the Connection toolbar. If you will work with Ram Advanse or RAM SS, it is recommended that the structure be analyzed with final member sizes specified before connections are assigned to joints. Both member forces and sizes are utilized to design the connections. However, if member sizes and forces change after the connections are designed, they (the connections) can easily be redesigned.

How to find technical information about a specific connection? When you are entering or reviewing the different parameters of a connection you can go to the help context where you will find a detailed description of the data and checks that are performed for each connection type. At the end of this chapter the list of the main references used in the development of the program is given where the user can find more information.

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How to Use RAM Connection? RAM Connection is designed to give you extensive flexibility in the way you design and manage your connections. However, it is also set up to allow you to get productive without requiring significant work on your part. As you gain experience with RAM Connection you can customize the behavior to better suit your working practice.

Use of RAM Connection in RAM Advanse or RAM SS If you have a RAM Connection License and the program is not active in RAM Advanse please see the Installation Manual. In general, connections are typically designed either in groups or individually. Grouped Connections

Grouped connections are connections on several different joints that are to be designed with the same connection template. For all the joints with identical member sizes the resulting connections will be identical (same bolts number, plate sizes etc.). As the connections typically have some ability to adapt to the geometry of the connecting pieces, joints with different size members or material may produce slightly different connections. Designing connections in a group allows you to minimize the number of unique connection designs on a structure. The engineer has control as to which joints are to be grouped together. Only connections of the same family (beam-to-column flange, or beam-to-girder etc.) and same type (shear, moment or bracing connections) can be grouped together. Remark: All grouped connections will have the same description, even though some connections could be different. Individual Connections

Individual connections are designed for the forces and member sizes at a specific joint. No consideration is given to any other joint force or connection design. This allows for each connection to be designed for its own forces and geometry, providing the most efficient use of material. The engineer can still find out which connections end up being identical even when they were designed individually. The connections can be designed in a group or one by one. The assignment procedure (from the connection toolbar) consists of having the program select the first connection template, from a user customizable list of connections, which satisfies the joint forces and geometric conditions. This assignment procedure permits the optimization of assigned connections by placing the connections in order of increasing strength the optimum connection for the applied forces will be selected. Therefore, the assignment lists should be created keeping in mind that the list order will determine which connection is selected at a particular location. The use and customization of the Connection Toolbar will be explained in detail in the following sections. It may be preferable to initially design all connections individually, and then use some of the available connection selection tools to determine how you would like to group your connections. Designing Connections Important Note: The connection design and the inclination angles are based on the assumption that the beam local axis 2 is coincident with the global positive Y Axis (upwards). The inversion of this 26

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axis (downwards) will lead in some cases to incorrect connections or the inversion of results i.e. top plate will be bottom plate. 1) Before connections are designed the user should configure the Connection Design criteria. To establish connection design criteria click on the menu command Configuration/ Connections and choose the Design Configuration option.

Dialog window to configure the connections design The user may choose the maximum allowable strength ratio that will be used in the design of connections. The default and typical value is 1.0. It is important to note that a value other than 1.0 will affect not only the design; it will affect also the code check and the determination of the status of the connection. The load conditions to be used in the design can also be selected in this window. All load conditions are selected by default. 2) Select the design state button to indicate the upcoming design will be performed individually (each connection is based only on its own forces), or unselect it if you want all the selected joints grouped for design.

Depress state button to design the connections individually 3) Select the members and nodes you would like connections designed for. If you selected to group connections (in the previous step) all selected joints of the same family type will be grouped (one design for all joints with same member sizes and inclination angles), so the selection is important. There are many tools available to assist you in selecting joints. One option is to use the menu command Tools/Select Joints to select joints from a common family out of the currently selected members.

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Joint selection options. Another option is to manually select each joint. The following table shows the elements that should be selected for each type of joint: Joint type

Elements to select

Beam – column flange joints

Beam + node

Beam – column web joints

Beam + node

Beam – girder joints

Beam + node

Beam – beam splice joints

(Right) Beam + node

Column- column splice joints

(Bottom) node

Column

+

Continuous beam over column Column + node joints Column – beam – braces joints

Column + node

Continuous beam – braces joints

Beam + node

Vertical X-braces joints

Braces + node

Note that for the case of brackets, you should select the related beam (usually a cantilever beam) and column. The beam will be used to pass the loads to the bracket.

Select the members and nodes for which connections are to be designed.

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4) Select the connections group button. You can activate by default the Smart Connections Basic Connections

or gussets for braces

,

. Finally the connection type should be selected.

Types of connections according to the selected group. 5) From the connection toolbar select the connection (i.e. shear plate, bolted end plate, etc.) that is to be assigned for the selected joints. The program will automatically determine the family (beam to column flange, beam to column web, beam to girder, etc) of the joint and will apply the corresponding templates. If assigned by group, each connection will automatically be given a description (assignment button's name) that identifies the design group, it will also be given the template name used in its generation, and a tag that contains the designed features of each connection (the plate size, bolt dimensions etc). The use of the tag will be explained later. For example, if the double angle, shear connection is selected to assign Press the Double Angle (

) button

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The double angle shear connection will automatically be designed at the selected joints. Naming Convention

The following connection naming convention has been adopted: Smart Connection example: DA BCF Weld support Bolt beam Basic Connection example:

DA_BCF_L 3x3x1/4_3B3/4

Connection types

CA = Shear angle(s) SP = Shear single plate EP = Shear end plate SS = Stiffened seated connection US = Unstiffened seated connection TEE = Shear tee TP = Through plate (only HSS supports) BP = Bent plate(s) DW = Directly welded moment connection EEP = Extended end plate FP = Flange plates MA = moment angles MT = Moment tees CP = Cap plate 4A = Four angles beam splice PBr = Plate bracket TBr = Tee bracket Remark: Bracing connections will have combined connection types, i.e. CA for the gusset to column connection, directly welded for the gusset to beam connections, etc. 30

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Connection families

BCF = Beam - Column flange BCW = Beam - Column web BG = Beam - Girder BS = Beam splice CS = Column splice CC = Continuous beam over column CBB = Column, beams and braces CVR = Chevron braces VXB = Vertical X braces Remark: In the detailed connection reports, all the capacity values calculated to evaluate the strength ratio and the status of the connections are included. Any supplemental verification required is the responsibility of the engineer. Connection characteristics

bolted = all-bolted connection welded = all-welded connection Bolt support = bolted to support Weld support = welded to support Bolt beam = bolted to the beam Weld beam = welded to the beam n = number of bolts l = connector length Press the connections.

button to graphically display the number and template's name of the selected

6) You can combine shear connections with moment connections when the combination is possible. For example press the buttons (Double Angle) and then the (Flange Plate) to get the combined connection of a flange plated moment connection with a double angle shear. This will be shown on the screen on the joint as follows:

Shear and moment connection assigned to a joint. 31

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Note that when the connections are drawn in low-resolution (wire) mode, the shear connection is drawn under the line of the beam and the moment connection is drawn above the beam line. These positions are assuming that the direction of the local beam axis 2 is vertical upwards. If a bracing connection is adopted, no other connection is allowed in the same plane. The bracing connection has all the options to combine any arrangement of beams and braces. The only condition is to adopt a maximum number of one brace per quadrant. In this case the low-resolution connection draw will be placed over the related node.

Bracing connection assigned to a joint 7) To view the results of the connection designs on the screen press the button of the toolbar. The capacity ratio and status of the current load condition will be displayed for all selected connections.

A shear connection displaying its capacity ratio and status for the current load condition Note that the capacity ratio may be different for the different selected connections because the loads acting on them are different but the connections are identical. If you want to consider the envelope of all load conditions, press the

button.

Connection capacity and status for the envelope of all load conditions To draw connections in extruded (3D) form, press the extruded shape button ( extruded shape button ( ).

) or the shrink

Three-dimensional view of a double-angle shear connection. Notice that the true dimensional characteristics of the connections are shown (plate length, bolts, etc). 8) To view the designs Double-Click on the connection to view the Connection Pad 32

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Before the connection pad is displayed, the program will show the dialog box Loads specification for report that will ask you if you want to consider the forces envelope, critical forces or all the load conditions forces separately in the connection Pad.

Loads specification dialog window. When a group connection is designed, it uses a conservative envelope of forces for each design set of joints of the group, for more details see the Design Criteria section later. If you want to see the design envelope of forces, it can be displayed for each design set of joints. To do so select the required connection and then press on the toolbar and go to Detailing/Connections..., in the Loads specification for report dialog, select the option Envelope forces. If the forces dialog is inactive, turn it on from Configuration/ Connections/ Show "Loads specification for report" dialog box.

More information on the connection pad is found in the following sections of this chapter.

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Connection Pad to edit and check connections. 9) To view a detailed design report select the 10) To view the connection geometry report select the

button button

11) A detailed or summary report for connection groups is available by selecting all the desired connections and selecting the Reports/Connections design... option in the main menu.

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Connections reports dialog window. You can generate a report organized by family, connection type, description, tag, etc. Notice also that you can have a list of the joints and their connections with the option Reports//List of joints… It is very useful to know the joints that need to be designed and the ones that have already assigned connections. 12) If you modify a member size, structure geometry or loads, you will need to redesign your connections by clicking on the redesign button in the connection toolbar. The command will act on the selected connections and will preserve the previously defined groups and connection types. Note that for grouped connections the redesign will be based on the description of the connections (connections with the same description are grouped). Hint: To enable or disable the display of the descriptions, press the button properties toolbar.

in the Model

13) To select all connections in a single group, click on one connection in the group and click

, or

click to color all the groups individually (up to 9 unique groups can be colored, all connections that are designed individually are given the same color (white). As you can see getting connection designs is quick and easy, however, there is significant flexibility in exactly how connections are assigned and designed. The following sections describe in more detail the features that were used above. Notes: 

If the strength ratio is less than the limit specified by the engineer, but the status of the connection is N.G. (because of some geometric requirement is not satisfied or the members 35

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compatibility does not comply), the connection drawing could be incorrect. In this case the capacity verifications are not valid anymore and the calculation assumptions are incorrect 

Besides the geometry verification and members compatibility made by the program, the engineer should verify that the geometry of the designed connections is appropriate. The 3D and 2D graphics can be used as a tool to verify the connections appropriateness. An example of such a situation is when the beam flange width is wider than the column internal space in a BCW connection or when there are beams with depths larger than the girder depths they frame into. In these cases the program does not display any error message, but the connection drawings will clearly show this incompatibility. The user could specify special copes in these cases and may independently verify some additional connection capacities, so that the connection could still be OK.



When the beam axial load is taken into account for shear connections the program also verifies the flexural and prying action capacities of some connection elements. This may lead to the use of thicker plates or the reduction of bolt gages. In this particular case and in all cases in general, the connection calculations required to guarantee the required ductility prescribed by the code are the responsibility of the engineer.



After connections assignment or after the re-design of groups of connections, it is strongly recommended to verify the design status of the resultant connections. A useful tool for this purpose is the

that allows the selection of all structure connections that are O.K. or

N.G. respectively, and it is activated after pressing either status display button current load case) or 

(for the

(for the load envelope).

Some shear connections such as the TEE, BP, US, TP and SS does not allow axial forces, therefore, the engineer should verify that the applied connections are able to transfer all the forces between members.

Inclination angles of members (Skew and Slope) Many of the connections allow beam inclination angles, either horizontal and/or vertical. The list of the connections that allow inclination angles are as follows: Connection

CA

Family

BCF

Inclination angles Horizontal

Vertical

Both

Yes

Yes

Yes

Clip (shear) BCW Angle/s BG

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

SP

BCF

Yes

Yes

Yes

Shear Plate

BCW

Yes

Yes

Yes

BG

Yes

Yes

Yes

BS

No

No

No

CS

No

No

No

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EP

BCF

Yes

Yes

Yes

End Plate

BCW

Yes

Yes

Yes

BG

Yes

Yes

Yes

SS

BCF

No

No

No

Stiffened Shr

BCW

No

No

No

US

BCF

No

No

No

Unstiffened BCW Shr

No

No

No

TEE

BCF

No

No

No

Shear Tee

BCW

No

No

No

BG

No

No

No

TP

BCF

No

No

No

Through Plate

BCW

No

No

No

BP

BCF

Yes

No

No

Bent Plate

BCW

Yes

No

No

BG

Yes

No

No

BCF

Yes

Yes

No

Direct Weld BCW

Yes

Yes

No

EEP

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

No

DW

Ext. Plate

BCF End BCW

FP

BCF

Yes

Yes

Yes

Flange Plate

BCW

Yes

Yes

No

BG

Yes

No

No

BS

No

No

No

CS

No

No

No

BCF

No

No

No

BCF

No

No

No

CC

No

No

No

MA Moment Angles MT Moment Tee CP

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Cap Plate 4A

BS

No

No

No

BCW

No

No

No

BCF

No

No

No

Bracing CBB connections CVR beams

No

No

No

Bracing CBB, connections VXB

CVR, No

Yes (20°-70°)

No

Four Angles Splice PBr Plate Bracket TBr Tee Bracket

braces

The CA connection has a 15º skew limit imposed by the code. Each BP template connection has the skew angle limits specified in the connection pad. Remark: For a correct calculation and graphic representation of the connections, the beam local axis 2 must be coincident with the global Y positive axis (upwards).

The inclination angles are considered as follows: Skew angle for BCF and BCW families,

The skew angle in degrees is defined over a horizontal plane defined between the local axis of the support and the beam longitudinal axis. Counterclockwise angles are considered positive. Its default value is 0º (rectangular joint). Slope angle for BCF and BCW families,

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The slope angle in degrees is defined over a vertical plane defined between the local axis of the support and the beam longitudinal axis. Upward angles are considered positive. Its default value is 0º (rectangular joint). For braces:

Remarks: 

The components of the beam forces (moment, axial, shear) transmitted to the support vary according to the inclination angles. When only a skew angle exists, the beam forces are conservatively assumed to remain the same, that is to say, it is considered as rectangular joint. When only slope angle exists, the beam forces are decomposed over the support axis. When skew and slope angles exist, it is treated as if only the slope angle would exist. It is the engineer responsibility to verify in each case the additional required capacity verifications due to the inclination angles.



The maximum angle at which a connection will automatically be considered a beam-column web as opposed to a beam-column flange connection must be defined. This limit is currently assumed to be 44º from the support face (BCF) or from the support side (BCW). When a connection should be assigned with an angle larger than this limit, it can be assigned either with the worksheet tools or by changing the members’ geometry temporarily to assign the connection. The worksheet tools should be applied over an existing connection. They 39

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could apply even a BCF connection over a BCW connection, so you will have a BCF connection with a skew angle greater than 44º. 

To differentiate between sloped beams and diagonals, the user should identify the braces with the option located in the worksheet Members\Nodes and Description\Braces. If this flag is enabled the program will assume that the member is a brace. Otherwise (default option), it will consider it as a sloped beam.



The maximum slope angle allowed for members is 30º. Members with bigger vertical inclination angles are not considered for the connection assignment.

HSS Section Supports The connections that accept HSS section supports include some specific and other modified capacity verifications in reference to I shape supports. The following connections allow square or rectangular HSS supports:

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Connection

Family

Characteristics to beam

to support

CA

BCF,BCW

bolted/welded

welded

SP

BCF,BCW

bolted

welded

TP

BCF,BCW

bolted

welded

TEE

BCF,BCW

bolted/welded

welded

US

BCF,BCW

bolted/welded

welded

SS

BCF,BCW

bolted/welded

welded

DW

BCF,BCW

welded

welded

EEP

BCF,BCW

welded

bolted (to HSS) welded(to Doubler)

FP (or BCF, BCW diaphragm plate)

bolted/welded

Bracing

Bolted (CA, SP), welded /welded

CBB

welded

The following connections allow circular HSS supports: Connection

Family

Characteristics to beam

to support

SP

BCF,BCW

bolted

welded

TP

BCF,BCW

bolted

welded

Design Criteria It is important for the user to know exactly how the design process with the connection toolbar is performed. Each assignment button in the toolbar (either from the Smart Connections or Basic Connections group) is associated with a list of one or more connection templates.

Design criteria for RA and RAM SS When assigning by group, and the connection template is assigned (after joints are selected) the program will check the templates in the order of the list. As soon as it finds a connection template that complies with the strength requirements and geometrical conditions of all the appropriate joint sets (joints of the same family with identical geometry and inclination angles - see the joint grouping graphic below), it will be assigned. Note that the order of the list will give the hierarchy and preference for the connection assignment. If no connection meets all the requirements, the last

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checked connection in the list would be assigned even if it does not satisfy the force or geometric conditions for all the joint sets. The user has to be aware that the design may not always be successful, and the program will display a message if the assignment has not been successful. The user should always check the obtained results to correct or reject the assigned connections that are not acceptable (status = N.G. or ratio>max ratio defined by the user). Any database connection template may be included in the list of an assignment button. When an assignment button is applied to the model, the resultant connections are based on one of the specified connection templates, but the model connection itself is stored with the structure and is not linked to the template after assignment. Either the assignment method is by group or individually, the resultant connections receive the name of the template used for design. If the assignment was by group, the connections will receive also as a description the name of the assignment button. It should be noted that the resultant connections of Smart Connections buttons, might have differences in the resisting elements (number of bolts, size and thickness of some pieces) between assignment joint sets. For moment connections this criterion may not always be conservative, therefore, for these connections the program is considering four different combination of forces (maximum moment with maximum and minimum axial, and minimum moment with maximum and minimum axial). In this way the design is covering the worst possible combination of forces in a conservative way. The following drawing shows schematically how the selected model joints are grouped when assigning connections by group.

Joint grouping when the connections are assigned by group. The design of the shear connections by group considers the load envelope of all the joints on a given assignment set. The beam axial force is not taken into account in the shear connections, and it is assumed to be taken by a moment connection when the beam moment value is relevant. As it was stated in the "Inclination angles of members" section, the beam loads are decomposed over the 42

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support axis, taking into account only the slope angle, and in this case, the design loads are the result of the most adverse load combination.

Some shear connections such as the SP, accept positive and negative shear loads (reported always as positive values), as the connection is symmetric. However, other connections such as SS or US do not allow negative shear loads. The design of the moment connections by group considers the four different combinations of forces (maximum moment with maximum and minimum axial load, and minimum moment with maximum and minimum axial load). In this way the design is conservatively covering the worst possible combination of forces. The load envelope ratio for shear and moment connections could be bigger than the worst load condition stress ratio due to the envelope calculation method, particularly when the axial load and slope angle are relevant. The joint loads considered for connection design, are only those shown in the connection pad. Joint loads as the M22 bending moment and torsional moment are not considered nor checked in any way during connection design and calculation. The next flowchart describes schematically the design procedure that is followed when the connections are designed in groups:

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Thus the connections design configuration should be executed in two parts: 

The definition of the templates to be used.



The configuration of the different assignment buttons of the toolbar, defining the template lists that will be included in each assignment button.

Remarks: 

The shear connections assigned to joints where the moment is bigger than a minimum value, will only take the shear force and not the axial force, as it is assumed that the required moment connection will take the axial force.

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

The bracing connections where the geometry is imposed (it is not automatically calculated) and/or a load is specified in one connector may generate moments in the gusset-to-column or gusset-to beam connections. These moments should be transmitted only by directly welded connections. Single plates or clip angles are not allowed to deal with moments and an error message will be displayed in this case.



The connection assignation will be effective only in the joints where the range check of the connection variables is fulfilled. For example, the range for the skew and slope angles, member section types, etc. If after the connection assignation a variable is modified, and it is out of the valid range, the connection is invalidated and it does not allow reporting data or results and it is not displayed. In the connections reports, such connections will be displayed with a Not Designed status.

The next sections explain all the program characteristics as the Templates Database, Connection Toolbar, Connection Worksheet and Connection Output. Notice that the Database and the Connection Toolbar can be customized according to your requirements for connection design.

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Suggested steps for bracing connection design

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Seismic provisions for connections The connection designs for structures under seismic loads implement the specifications and requirements of ANSI/AISC 341-05 and ANSI/AISC 358-05. The program includes prequalified connections from the “ Recommended Seismic design criteria for new steel moment-frame buildings” FEMA 530 each prequalified connection is limited to specific conditions for which they are prequalified, including size of the elements, grade of the material, and other details of the connection. The prequalified connections that are included in the program are: Directly welded connections: 

Welded Unreinforced Flanges, Bolted Web (WUF-B)



Welded Unreinforced Flanges, Welded Web



Reduced Beam Section (RBS)

(WUF-W)

Flange Plate Connections 

Welded Flange Plate (WFP)



Bolted Flange Plate (BFP)

Extended End Plate Moment Connections (EEP) The method includes calculates the requirements and loads that are applied at each connection and design the connections with the strength of the critical sections. The location of the plastic hinge for prequalified connections is valid for beams with limited gravity loads. If the gravity loads have a significant value then a plastic analysis of the frame should be performed to determine the hinge locations. The excess of the gravity demand can shift the locations of the plastic hinges and even change the form of the collapse mechanism. The probable plastic moment in the plastic hinge should be determined with the following equation:

Ry= Ratio between expected yield strength and specific yield strength Ze= Plastic modulus of the section at the location of the plastic hinge CPR=Factor to account for the peak connection strength, including strain hardening, local restraint. Fy= Specific yield strength of the material. According to AISC, the formulation used can be 1.1RyMp; where Ry is the coefficient applied to the beams for seismic provisions and Mp is the probable moment at the plastic hinge, to determine the plastic moment capacity of the beam. However, for most connection types, the peak moment developed is somewhat higher than 1.1 factors; therefore, the factor Cpr is used for individual connections, with a default minimum value of 1.2. The program will take the greatest value between the minimum (1.2) and the resultant of the equation (3-2 FEMA350).

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Solicitations at critical sections Determine the shear at the plastic hinge considering the gravity loads that are applied to the beam. To complete the design of the connections, it must be determined the shear and the flexure strength demands at each critical section. The moments are taken at two important critical sections: at column face and at the center line of the column. These sections are used to check strong-column-weak-beam and panel zone shear conditions. The moment at the column face is determined with the following equation:

Where Cy is:

Cpr= Peak connection strength coefficient. Sb= Elastic section modulus of the beam at the zone of plastic hinging. Zbe= the effective plastic section modulus of the beam at the zone of plastic hinging. Other important conditions for the connections design include: beam requirements (Beam flange stability, size and span effects, thickness of the flange, requirements for welded joints, bolted joints), strength at the panel zone, system type (OMF, IMF, SMF). Moment-resisting connections should be proportioned either so that shear yielding of the panel zone initiates at the same time as flexural yielding of the beam elements connections or so that all yielding occurs in the beam. The thickness of the panel zone that results in simultaneous yielding of the panel zone and beam results from the equation: ; tmin= Thickness of column web or doubler plate, in. dz= Panel zone depth between continuity plates, in. wz= Panel zone width between column flanges, in.

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Where the column is found inadequate to resist the imposed loads, a web plate (doubler) and/or stiffeners will be designed. A valid joint should have a column with an I-section with one or two Isection beams attached to the flanges. Otherwise, no checks are performed. The required shear strength Vu of the connection shall be determined using the load combination 1.2D+0.5L+0.2S. When designing gusset connections, it can be chosen a concentrically braced frame system (OCBF or SCBF) in order to include the necessary requirements in the design to anticipate limited inelastic deformation (OCBF) or significant inelastic deformation (SCBF) in the connection. When the brace (W, L, HSS rectangular, HSS circular, etc.) is in tension, the brace section can be reinforced with plates to increase the effective net area to account for shear lag effect. For OCBF and SCBF the required tensile and compressive strength of the brace are considered as demands for the connection capacities according to sections 13.3 and 14.4 of the AISC Seismic Provisions of Structural Steel Building (i.e. AISC 341-05) The next table shows a resume of the design codes, seismic codes and seismic prequalifications adopted for each connection in RAM Connection.

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The Connection Database RAM Connection ships with an extensive collection of pre-defined connections templates. The engineer is free to add, remove or modify connections from this provided list of connections.

Database Organization Each connection in the database is categorized according to the family to which it belongs. RAM Connection currently offers engineers the following families of connections; each connection is given one of these designations: 1. Beam - Column Flange (BCF) 50

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2. Beam - Column Web (BCW) 3. Beam – Girder (BG) 4. Beam Splice (BS) 5. Column Splice (CS) 6. Continuous beam over column (CC) 7. Column, beams and braces (CBB) 8. Chevron braces (CVR) 9. Vertical X braces (VXB) To view all the connections that are installed on your computer, execute the menu option Configuration/Databases/Connections... command as illustrated below:

Go to Databases/Connections

The window that is displayed is the connection-database window. Each connection template in the database can be considered a ‘Basic’ or a ‘Smart’ connection. 51

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Basic Connection: A connection template that can automatically adjust the geometry (position or dimensions) of the connection pieces to fit the connection members. It does not calculate the quantity or dimensions of the connecting pieces (bolts, plates etc) to resist the applied forces. Smart Connection: A connection template that can automatically calculate the quantity and dimensions of the connecting pieces (bolts, welds, plate sizes etc) to resist the applied forces.

Within each folder is a list of single connection templates. Two templates with the same name are not allowed, even in different folders. It is the engineer’s prerogative how to group templates within a folder. The folder name should be used as an organizational tool to assist you in grouping connections according to your own practice. The connection templates that are installed with RAM Connection are grouped in two main groups (Smart and Basic connections) and subdivided according to function (Shear, Moment or Bracing) and type (Shear plate, end plate etc). This classification keeps the shear, moment and bracing connections separate. However, the engineer can also create folders where the bracing, moment and shear connection templates are in one folder and even in one connection template (combined connection template, only for moment and shear connections). The smart connections folders contain a single connection for each family and connection type, but each of these connections contains the intelligence to design some of its own properties based on the forces (this is the characteristic that makes them ‘Smart’) and members to which it is assigned. In fact, these are the connection templates assigned to the default connection toolbar that was used in the previous ‘How To’ section. The ‘Basic’ connections templates adjust the dimensions and location of the connection pieces according to the joint members. Once again it should be noticed that this organizational structure (separating the smart connection templates from the other connection templates) is not significant in terms of how RAM Connection works. However, before creating your own connection database think about how you want to organize the data, it will make it easier to locate the connections you want to consider for design. It is very important to note that in the case of Smart Connections, while some of the connection parameters are designed based on the required forces, others may be designed according to geometry. If a smart connection template does not design the connection the way you would typically like, you may create copies of the smart connection with variations on the parameter that you want designed. For example, the default Smart DA does not design your bolts size, the default size is ¾ inch and if the bolts fail they will not be increased in size. To handle this situation create 3 copies of the smart connection template (using the database command Copy the selected object ), each with its own bolt dimension (5/8, ¾, 7/8) then put all these connection templates in the list of the appropriate assignment button (see customizing the toolbar) and the first one that works for the selected joint group will be assigned.

The following smart connection templates are included in the program. Note that the items that are optimized in each template are listed, if an item is not listed then there is a default value associated with the connection that you can modify as required to suit your requirements:

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Type connections

of Family and Description

Optimization of the following parameters

(Folder name) Smart DA

BCF, BCW, connections

BG

double

angle number of bolts for bolted connections, weld size for welded connections and angle size

Smart DA Beam BS double angle bolted connections splice Smart SP

number of bolts and size

angle

BCF, BCW, BG, single plate angle number of bolts, plate size. connections weld size to support

Smart SP Beam BS single plate angle connections splice

number of bolts, plate size

Smart EP

BCF, BCW, BG end plate connections

number of bolts, plate size. weld size to beam for bolted connections and plate size and welds sizes for welded connections

Smart ST

BCF, BG shear tee connections

tee size, number of bolts for bolted and weld size for welded connections

Smart SS

BCF, BCW stiffened seated bolts rows , weld size and connections, type SST, SSP, SS2L connector size

Smart US

BCF, BCW connections

Smart DW

BCF, BCW, connections

Smart FP

BCF, BCW, BG bolted flange plate bolts rows, distances between connections bolts, top and bottom plate thickness, weld size to support

Smart FP

BCF, BCW, BG welded flange plate welds sizes, top and bottom connections plate sizes

Smart EEP

BCF extended end plate connections

Smart MA

BCF bolted moment angle

bolt rows and angle size

Smart Gussets

CBB, CVR VXB connections

See the following table for details

unstiffened BG

directly

seated angle size bolts rows or weld size welded extended plate size for BCW connections

bolts sizes, pf , bolts spacing, plate size

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Gusset

Gusset-to-Brace

Gusset-to-Beam or Column

All

For W and For L, T2L, Directly WT C, I2C y HSS Welded sections sections

Single Plate

Le, Le1 and Le2 distances to let the gusset be compatible with the connectors geometry

Number of bolts on claw angles

Required Number of weld size bolts on support – if it is bolted

Weld length Required (toe and heel) weld size – if it is welded

Num ber of Number of bolts on bolts – if it is splice bolted plates

Double Angles

Number of bolts

Number of bolts on beam/gusset – if it is bolted

Plate thickness

Support weld size – if it is welded Beam/gusset weld size – if it is welded

Basic connection templates are organized in different folders with the following naming convention: Basic + {Connections type initials} + {connection family} + {connection characteristics}. The connection template name thus reflects the relevant characteristics of the connection. Remark: The folders where the Connection Database, and the Toolbar are located could be configured, by choosing any required directory, even a network directory. To do this, select the option Configuration/Genera/Default folders... For details please see the dialog help context.

Directories configuration

Defining Connections The steps to define a connection template and add it to the connection database are discussed next.

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Proceed to the database from Configuration/Databases/Connections... Press New group button

(top of the toolbar)

Enter a name for the New folder where you are going to define your conn ections. Press New item

to define a new connection template.

Note: if you want to enter a new connection in an existing folder, place the cursor in the folder where you want to insert the connection. The program will not allow you to enter a connection unless there are available folders (groups) already defined and selected. The following window will appear:

Enter a descriptive name for the template. The name is used to identify the template and has to be unique in the whole database. Then choose if you want to define a simple or a combined connection.

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A simple connection is comprised of either a shear or a moment connection. A combined connection is comprised of both a shear and a moment connection type. For example, the extended end plate connection is considered a combined connection.

Select family, Shear Connection and Moment Connection for a combined connection, and press OK.

Or Select the family and the connection type for a simple connection (1) Family: describes the type of joint, beam-to-girder, beam-to-column-flange, etc. The 9 available families in the list are:

1. Beam - Column Flange 2. Beam - Column Web 3. Beam - Girder 56

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4. Beam Splice 5. Column Splice 6. Continuous beam over column 7. Column, beams and braces 8. Chevron braces 9. Vertical X braces (2) Connection type: For simple connections only the corresponding list (Shear, Moment or Gusset) will be displayed (2), and for combined connections both connection lists will be displayed (2a and 2b). The drop down list will contain all the available connections depending on the selected family; for example, shear web plates are available only in “Beam Splice” or “Column Splice” families. (3) OK: To finish the connection template definition, press the OK button. The corresponding connection pad to enter/edit all the connection data will be displayed.

After pressing the OK button the connection pad is displayed. The DATABASE window title indicate we are creating a connection template for the database. Note: To create a connection similar to an existing connection, you can use the Copy button. Place

the cursor at the connection that you want to copy and press the you for the new connection name.

button and the program will ask

You also have the following tools to manage the database: Create a new template folder Create a new template 57

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Edit the current template Delete the current template or folder (with all its templates) Rename the current template or folder Move the current folder or template one position up Move the current folder or template one position down Export to the clipboard all the templates of the current folder Import the templates from the clipboard Order alphabetically all folders Order alphabetically all connections of the selected folder If you want to create multiple connections that are similar except for one or few parameters (number of anchors, or size of plates etc) then it may be preferable to use the ability to generate connections in Excel™ as illustrated below. 1) Select the folder you want copied to Excel.

2) As illustrated above, press the button “Copy to clipboard”. Open Excel and paste the information in a worksheet In Excel you will see the templates and its variables names. Each template data corresponds to one table row.

3) In Excel modify the desired data. REMEMBER to name the connections uniquely (maintain the folder name at the beginning of the name). 58

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4) Then select ALL the information and copy the data to the clipboard (Ctrl+C)

5) In RAM Connection paste the connection templates into the database by pressing the indicated paste button.

The new connection templates will be imported. Note: The process to import several connection templates may take some time.

Databases for sections, materials, bolts and welds The program already comes with the most common types of bolts, welds, materials and sections. In the case of materials and sections of members, if the current members’ materials or sections do not exist in the corresponding database, they can be defined in a very similar way as connections. When used with RAM Advanse or RAM SS, materials and sections of members are extracted from the main program. See the main program manual for further details.

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A dialog window will appear with the list of available items and the tool buttons to create, edit and manage the database.

A new pad with the data related to the selected item will appear when you edit or create it.

Connection Toolbar The connection toolbar helps in the design and management of connections. It is located on the right side of the worksheet and it is comprised of different sections or groups of buttons classified according to their function.

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Connection toolbar groups

Connection Toolbar in RAM Connection for RA and RAM SS Group1: Selection options (connections and joints)

This first group of the connection toolbar is devoted for the selection of connections. Here the frequently used commands for the selection of connections are assigned to the following buttons: To select equal connections (all connection parameters as bolts, welds, members, inclination angles, etc. are identical) To select all connections of the model To unselect all connections To select all connections with the same tag (same designed elements) The program offers many graphical ways for selecting model connections.

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You can click on the desired connection or you can drag around it with the mouse. To select multiple connections, press Shift while clicking with the mouse on each connection.

You can click with the left button of the mouse over each desired connection.

You can make a fence over the desired connections clicking and dragging the mouse from one corner to the other. You can select groups of connections too, select an instance of the desired connection and go to Tools/Connection Selection and choose the desired option.

Available options for the connection selection If you want to select connections by description (remember that a design group has the same description), select an instance of the desired connection and press in the Selection toolbar. All connections in the model that share the same description will be selected. Press to select all connections that are identical (in every parameter of the connection pad). Note that all the connections that have exactly the same properties, even if they have different descriptions and template names, will be selected. This tool is normally used to select the connections to be detailed after with the command Detailing/Connections… When using the connections detailer the Connection Pad will consider all equal (selected) connections, in this way a change can be made to multiple connections at one time. Selecting joints: Before assigning a connection to a joint, the members and node that make up the joint need to be selected. You can find several options for the selection of joints in Tools/Select joints option.

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Available options for the joints selection. Notice that you have a Special selection... option, which allows the selection of joints of a particular family, with special characteristics as a determined range of beam heights and end conditions.

Special selection of joints. Notice that you can limit the selection by beam depth and beam end conditions. Another important option for joints selection is the command Select connection nodes and members in Tools/Connection Selection. This tool is very useful if you want to change or modify the design of a group of connections. The related members and nodes will be highlighted in the model. Then you can erase the connections of the selected joints and/or proceed with a new design by pressing any assignment button of the connection toolbar. Note: The beam local axis 2 is supposed vertical. Other orientation would lead to nonsense connections. Group2: Result display options

The second group is devoted for the display tools: It colors the selected connections by description. 63

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It displays the tag of the selected connections. It displays graphically the number and template name of the selected connections. It displays the strength ratio and status of the selected connections for the current load condition. It displays the strength ratio and status of the selected connections for the load envelope. When a smart connection template is assigned, certain parameters are designed automatically (plate thickness, bolts, welds etc). The user can get quick visual feedback of the designed parameters by pressing the button which displays a line summary (tag) with the value of the designed parameters on the selected connections. For basic connections this button will show the connection template name. Press to select all smart connections with the same designed elements (expressed in the tag). This tool is useful when connections are designed individually, and the user wants to find all the connections that have similar designs so as to assist in determining an appropriate grouping of connections. Note that connections with the same tag could have different connection data as for example the members sections. Press the connections.

button to display graphically the number and template name of the selected

Display of the connection number and the template name (for smart connections). To select connections by status, you have to first display the status and capacity ratio of the connections using the

(current load condition) or

connection toolbar . This will enable the to select all the OK connections or press

(envelope of load conditions) buttons of the

buttons at the top of the graphic screen. Press the to select all the not good (N.G.) connections.

Group3: Design and Assignment settings

The third group of buttons is used in the design of connections. The available buttons are: to specify if connection design on selected joints will be made by group (button lifted) or individually (button depressed). to assign the same description to the selected connections. Note that when the connections were designed by group, they are automatically given a description consisting of the assign button name plus a sequential number. The same description can be given to seve ral connections to group them for design purposes to ensure the same designs during assignment, but all must have been designed with the same assignment button.

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to define the design criteria to be adopted, including the maximum allowable strength ratio and load conditions to be considered. For details see the How to Use RAM Connection? section at the beginning of this chapter. to redesign connections. This tool is very useful when the model is re-analyzed due to changes in model geometry, loads or member sections. In this case the program will redesign all the selected connections considering the new loads and/or geometry of the model. This command is equivalent to reassigning the connections to the joints in their original groups (same description). This command performs the following actions in each design group: 1. Selection of their joints. 2. Deletion of the current connections. 3. Application of the original design button, which is equivalent to applying each template on the button list. Warning!

To maintain the original design criteria, the user has to select absolutely all the connections of the original design groups. If the connections descriptions (groups) or the list of templates of the assignment buttons were modified after the assignation, the user might get results different from the original design, even if loads or members have not been changed. Remark:

For individually designed connections, this command is equivalent to re-assign the original template. Group4: Groups of Connection Assignment Buttons

The user can create its own groups of connection assignment buttons (see Customizing the toolbar next). By selecting one of the group buttons ( ), the available assignment buttons will be displayed. The engineer may choose to configure the shear, moment and bracing connections in different groups or smart connections and basic connections in different groups.

Customizing the toolbar It is important that the connection toolbar be configured according to your preferences. The configuration of the toolbar determines the list of connection templates that will be associated with the assignment buttons, and the order in which these connections will be attempted. To configure the connection toolbar, go to the main menu, and select Configuration/Connections/Customize toolbar... The configuration window will appear with the current configuration of the toolbar.

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Connection toolbar configuration window. On the left pane of the window (1), you have all the available database templates, on the right (2) you will find the group buttons and the assignment buttons that are defined for the toolbar and finally in the middle (3), you have the tools to configure the toolbar. The assignment buttons created in the Root folder will always be visible along with the group buttons, therefore, it is recommended to include in this folder only the assignment buttons of frequent use. You can create a new group button with the group.

button. You will be asked for the name of the new

Dialog window asking the name of the new group. To create a new assignment button, place the cursor where you want the new button to be placed.

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For example locate a new assignment button in the recently created group. Then press the

button and enter the name of the button.

Then go to the list of available connections of the database and choose the templates for the button(1). Press the button to include the current template in the button list (2). Note that if you have selected a folder of the database, all the connection templates of the folder will be assigned to the button keeping the same order as the database (3).

Select the connection templates you want associated with the button “ My Button” in the group “My Group”. It is very important to specify the order of the templates within a list because this order will be used for the assignment. If you want to sort the templates use the buttons selected template up or down. You can also insert a separator between buttons with the tool

and

to move the

or erase a button with the tool

. Notice that all buttons that are created have by default the same bitmap. The user can define the bitmap to be associated for each button with the button tool 67

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The bitmap has to be a bmp file of 22x22 pixels. You have several ready-to-use choices in the SmartConn folder. Notice that you can draw your own bmp´s with any drawing application like Microsoft Paint.

Connection Worksheet The data of the currently selected connections is displayed in the connection worksheet. It is also possible to use the connection worksheet to assign "single" connections or delete connections. A single connection, unlike other model connections, has not been assigned by an assignment button.

Assigning connections to the model using the worksheet Once connections templates have been created in the database, connections can be assigned using the worksheet. Note that if assigned from the worksheet, the connections will always be designed individually no matter if the design individually button in the toolbar is depressed or not. Note: It is recommended to interact and verify the status of the single connections in the model separately from the other model connections. This is because the redesign button (in the connections toolbar) does not display warning messages for these connections when they are inadequate (NG).

The steps to assign single connections to a model are shown below. There is also a way to replace existing connections that is explained below down. Assign selected connection template to model

Select members and nodes where you want the connection designed. You can select several members and nodes at once. 68

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In the worksheet database area select the desired connection template to be assigned. Press the button to assign the template connection.

The single connections are assigned. This command will only assign connections where it is possible. For example, you cannot assign a column splice connection on a beam to girder joint. Trying to do so will have no effect and it will be ignored (no message is displayed). Therefore, you can select indiscriminately a large group of members and nodes and the connection will only be applied where that connection is possible. If the user is going to assign a Beam to Girder connection, the girder must be defined in RAM Advanse or RAM Structural System as a physical member; otherwise the Beam to Girder connection will not be assigned. When a new connection template is created it can be directly assigned to a joint with the assign button of the worksheet. Otherwise, the connection toolbar has to be configured to consider the new template in an assignment button. Therefore, one of the main functions of the assign button the worksheet is to test and assign recently created templates.

in

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Replace (all) the current selected connection (s)

This option allows you to replace one or all the model connections currently selected and displayed in the connection spreadsheet. In the worksheet select the desired connection template to replace. Press one of the replace one or all of the selected model connections respectively.

buttons to

This tool is very useful to replace existing connections with other connections of the same family, because the user only needs to select the connections and not the members and the nodes. Note that it is not possible to assign a template from another family. Assign connection description

It is possible to modify or assign the descriptions of your model connections. However the engineer should be aware that the description for these connections is used to identify the design groups and will be used also for the redesign of connections (redesign tool of the connections toolbar). It is recommended to only change the description when two or more identical groups/connections need to be grouped together and designed as one new group. To assign the same description to the currently selected connections you may copy them to the clipboard (Ctrl+C) and then paste them to all the desired connections (Ctrl+V). Another method to assign the same description (CNX1, CNX2, ..., CNXn) to the currently selected connections (recommended only for single connections) is to apply the assign description button from the worksheet or connections toolbar. Alternatively the engineer can type any description label into the spreadsheet description column.

Deleting model connections. To delete a connection of the model select it and press . This button will delete only the selected connections even if members, shells and nodes are also selected. If only connections have been selected, they can also be deleted with the worksheet tool the end of the worksheet.

button at

Note: The connection label (identification number) once assigned to a model connection does not change, even if connections with lower value labels are deleted.

Connection Pad The connection Pad is required for the creation of templates for the database and also to review/edit a model connection, or many model connections with the connections detailer. It is accessed when any template of the database is edited, when the user double clicks a model connection, or when several identical model connections are selected and the detailing command is invoked from the main menu. The connection pad has the following areas:

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Connection pad. 1) Properties area . 2) Drawing area. 3) Help area .

Used to enter connection information.

Used to display the entered data in 3D or 2D.

Used to display information about the specific item selected in the properties area.

1: Properties area In this section the user enters all the necessary data to define the connection template (or reviews/modifies the properties of the selected model connections). The following connection data should be provided: Units system, Code, Loads, Tag, and the all the specific data required in Shear, Moment or connections. The available units systems are Metric, English and SI. The available codes are ASD and LRFD. The loads can be entered in a worksheet that enables only certain loads according to the selected connection i.e., in a bracket plate connection, only shear load is allowed. Note that when editing model connections, the joint loads are passed to the connection automatically. icon (when editing model connections) is passed to the connection pad Notes: All data with the directly from RAM Advan se or RAM Structural System. When creating a template ( icon), these data are not required, as they will be modified for each model joint. When editing a model connection, any change in this data will not be permanent, as they are updated every time a report or graphical presentation is required. Templates could be used with either ASD or LRFD code, enter the information for one or for both options, as required. Choose the unit system of your preference to enter and display the connection data. 71

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Notice that the current units of each property are shown beside their value. If you enter a value without units, the currently shown units will be considered for the value. You may also enter a value with its own units, which could be different from the current units system, in this case the program will transform the entered value to the current units system. The following length units are displayed according to the unit system selected. Metric: cm, m. English: in, ft. SI: mm, m. Note: All the connection properties with units, (as edge distances, plate length, etc.) will show their value and will be edited according to the current units system. If you enter a property value with small units, a dimension in centimeters for example, the default units when editing the property will be cm, inches or mm, according to the current units system, on the other hand, if big units would have been used (as meters or feet), the default units would be m, feet or m. Consider that this modification is applied only to the template or model connection currently being modified.

For example (If the current units system is Eng lish): Entering “1.5” in Setback means 1.5 inches Entering “0.1 ft” in Setback means 0.1 feet (the default unit becomes “ft”). Notice that the program will allow you to enter, for example, “1.5 kip” for a length. Although this is accepted, the resulting value may not be the expected. Also, this will not change the units of the property (in this case a length measure will not be changed to a force measure). If you are creating a connection template in the database through the connection pad, the first time the connection pad is displayed; it is filled with the default connection properties values. If you want to see it drawn with some specific member sections (and materials) or if you want to get preliminary or test reports, you should assign your required sections and materials.

2: Drawing area In this part of the Connection Pad a true 3D or 2D visual representation of the selected connection is shown. Press to view the 3D model of the joint or press to view the 2D drawing of the joint at the bottom part of the window. Notice that you can only see one representation at a time.

3D view of a Single Plate BCF.

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2D Drawing with different views and the option to export as a DXF file. The following buttons are used to zoom and rotate the view of the connection:

Connection pad tools. You may view the connection transparent (3D view), To zoom, press one of the following buttons: Zoom in. Zoom out. Zoom fence. Press this button and drag a fence around the area you want to zoom in on. Fit in window. Press this button to return the currently displayed structure to the full window space image. If a mouse wheel is available

, the engineer can use the wheel to rotate, zoom in or out.

First, make the drawing area active, you may do this with a right-click over the center of the drawing. To zoom, use the mouse wheel. To rotate horizontally, use the Shift-mouse wheel combination. To rotate vertically, in the plane perpendicular to the screen, use the Ctrl-mouse wheel combination. To rotate vertically, in the screen plane, use the Ctrl-Shift-mouse wheel combination. 73

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Font Size

Increase the font size for the graphic in the screen. Reduce the font size for the graphic in the screen. DXF files

This module has the option to export graphics to DXF. Press

, name the file, and save it. The graphic will be available to open with any CAD program.

Activate and inactivate graphic layers. Activate and inactivate edges movement. You can reposition the dim lines when this option is enabled. Notice that the new positions are not saved and this should be done prior to printing or exporting the drawing. Print graphics

Print current graphic. This button allows you to print the graphics of the screen directly. You can also print to a file if the

button is pressed.

Panning

To pan (move the drawing across the screen), use the right mouse button to click on the location you want to be centered on the screen.

3: Help area In this section of the Connection Pad the help information related to the selected data in the Properties area is displayed:

Click the

button to return to the previous explanation of the help window.

Click the

button to print the current explanation of the help window.

The Connection Pad also has a toolbar in the top part of the window, which has different functions:

Toolbar of the Connection Pad (when editing a model connection) Click this button to save all the data entered or modified in the Connection Pad .

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Click this button to prevent from saving all the data that has been entered or modified in the Connection Pad . Push this button to display the Drawing area (3D view). Pull the button to hide it. Push this button to display the Drawing area (2D view). Pull the button to hide it. Push this button to display the Help area. Pull it to hide the Help area. Click this button to see the connection data report. Click this button to see the model connection results report. Notice that you have a status traffic light at the bottom right of the toolbar. If the red light is on, it shows that the status and strength ratio of the connection are no good. When the yellow light is on, the strength ratio is OK but there is a design requirement not fulfilled and finally, if the green light is on, the connection design status is OK.

Connections Reports You can obtain connection reports from the Connection Pad or from the program main menu. To obtain data or results reports from the Connection Pad , either you are reviewing/editing a connection or creating/editing a connection template. You can press one of the following buttons: or

.

The data report provides the full description of the connection(s) considering the geometry and characteristics of the members and connection elements. The results report provides all the connection capacity values for each load condition or for the load envelope depending on the option selected in the dialog Loads specification for report before the pad was opened. At the beginning of the report there is a list of the load conditions considered. The second section of the report checks that the critical dimensions are within allowable code prescribed ranges or geometrical requirements. If a dimension is out of range, the status of the connection will reflect it, invalidating the connection. There is also a geometric verification to see the compatibility of the connection with the members (for example, this check will indicate if a plate exceeds the support width) in which case a warning message will also be reported. The third section shows the different capacity checks that are performed comparing the calculated capacity of the connection with the connection required force. If any capacity is not sufficient, the status of the connection will change to N.G. (not good). Finally, at the bottom of the report, the most critical strength ratio and the status of the connection are reported. RAM Connection for RA or RAM SS also offers the possibility to have detailed or summary reports of several connections.

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To obtain model connection reports for a group of connections, select the desired connections and go to Reports/Connections design…

Select the type of report, summary or detailed. You can specify if the connections will be grouped by tag, by type, by family, by description or connectors. The Connectors report is a summary of all the connectors with their main characteristics (note that the connections are grouped according to the listed parameters, so, within the connections of a group there could be differences in the parameters not listed), while the rest of reports are a review of the design that include the strength ratio and status considering the selected load conditions. The detailed report always considers the connections load envelope of the selected load conditions. Note that you have an option to report a list of joints. Additionally, the user can print the 3D graphic area with the desired connections. To do this, choose the desired graphic view. Go to File/Add text box...

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Enter the desired text that will be included in the graphics printing. To print the actual view, execute the menu option File/Print... select the printer options and accept printing.

References The used references are: 

ANSI/AISC 360-05 Manual of Steel Construction.



ANSI/AISC 341-05 Seismic Provisions for Structural Steel Buildings.



ANSI/AISC 358-05 Prequalified Connections for Special and Intermediate Steel Moment Frames for Seismic Applications.



Federal Emergency Management Agency – Recommended Seismic Design Criteria for New Steel Moment-Frame Buildings, FEMA-350/June 2000.



Murray Thomas M., Extended End-Plate Moment Connections, Steel Design Guide Series 4 nd 2 edition, AISC, 2003.



Ellifritt Duane S. and Sputo Thomas, Design Criteria for Stiffened Seated Connections to Column Webs, Proceedings of NSCC Sponsored b y AISC, New Orleans, April, 1-3, 1998



J. H. Garret, JR. and R. L. Brockenbrough, Design Loads for Seated-beam in LRFD, Engineering Journal, AISC, 1986.



Akbar R. Tamboli, Handbook of Structural Steel Connection Design and Details, McGraw Hill, 1999

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

Sherman, Donald R., Ales, Joseph M., The Design of Shear Tabs with Tubular Columns, Master of Engineering Project, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, 1990.



Thornton, William A., Loescher Michael, AISC - Hollow Structural Sections Connections Manual, American Institute of Steel Construction, 1997.



Bull Moose Tube HSS Connections Manual, Bull Moose Tube Company, 1999.



J.A. Packer, J.E. Henderson, Hollow Structural Section - Connections and Trusses - A Design Guide, Canadian Institute of Steel Construction, 1997.



Sherman, D. R. and J. M Ales, 1991, The Design of Shear Tabs with Tubular Connections, Proceedings of the 1991 National Steel Construction Conference, pp.1.1-1.22, AISC, Chicago, IL.



Dowswell Bo, Connection Design for Steel Structures (Lecture Notes), Structural Design Solutions, LLC, 2003.

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Chapter 3: Connections examples for RC-RA

This chapter will take you step by step through the design of steel connections. The structure to be used in this chapter is only illustrative and is shown below:

It is a small steel building with steel columns, beams and girders. See the previous examples for more details regarding to the generation and analysis of a structure. The file of this example is available in the Data\Samples folder of RAM Adva nse.

1) Retrieve the structure

Select the Open File command.

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Open Connections Example.

2) Assign basic connections to the model RAM Advanse is shipped with ready-to-use connections templates called basic connections. You will see in the following sections how you can customize them to your work practice. For the moment we will work with the standard settings. Remark: The example model comes already with connections. To erase all connections, select all the

structure (Press

in Selection toolbar), display the connection worksheet (press

toolbar, select the Conn Tab worksheet.

) and press

in Panels in the

Note. - Previous start assigning the connections, the user should take care to make distinction between inclined beams and braces in the worksheet to let the program assign the connections correctly. For that:

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Select all the braces of the model, go to “Connectivity and description” of the tab Members in the worksheet, and change No to Yes by making double click on the cell. Once the user has done this distinction, he is ready to start assigning connections. So, in order to start assigning connections the user needs to display the Connection Toolbar at the right of his screen. To display the connection toolbar, go to the menu View, Toolbars,

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Select the load conditions that will be considered in the design. Press the Connection toolbar and select all load conditions for the example.

button (2) in

Select all load conditions and keep a stress ratio limit of 1.0 (default value) for the connections design. In order to apply any command you have to use the 'select and apply rule'. So, first, select the whole structure. Press

in Selection toolbar (3).

Now you are ready to assign your first connections. As a first try you need to know exactly the required connection on each joint. A recommended procedure is to design individually each joint and evaluate the obtained connections. Press the 'Design each connection individually' the Basic Connections (6).

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button in the connection toolbar (4). Then press

button group (5) and select the Basic SP (Single Plate) connection


Steps to assign smart single plate connections to the whole structure. Note that the toolbars position is only a configuration possibility as the user could change position and activate/deactivate toolbars. In few moments the program will suggest an optimum single plate connection for each joint of the structure that can have a shear connection.

Model with all shear joints with a single plate connection.

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Press the button to see the template name of each connection, which includes the family. To evaluate the different single plate connections required, select first one instance of the desired connection family; in this case select a BCW connection.

Left-click on a SP-BCW connection Go to Tools/Connection Selection and Selection and execute the command Select connections of the same family. family. Press the

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button to see the main characteristics of each connection.


Single Plate BCW connections designed individually for each joint. Note that there are connections that require 4 bolts while others require only 3 bolts. Let’s suppose that for construction we decide to adopt the same connection for all BCW connections. Select Select all the struct structure ure (with (with

), lift lift up the

button button to design design by group group and press press again again the button button

to assig assign n single single plat platee connect connections ions ( .) You You can sele select ct the the BCW BCW connec connectio tions ns and and you will will see that that all BCW connections are with 3 bolts (as expected). The other families have also 3 bolts. When you design by group you can obtain the same connection for each family independently of the related sections and materials of the joints. You can check the status and strength ratio pressing the button for the critical load and the current load condition. Notice that a different ratio is shown for each connection.

for

Notice that you can select all connections that have an OK or N.G. status pressing one of the following

buttons. In this case all connections have an OK status.

You can print a summary report. Select all the structure and go to Reports/Connections to Reports/Connections Design and select the option Group by tag . With this report you will obtain a summary of all adopted connections with their main characteristics and the critical strength ratios. For the example you have: 85

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Descriptio Fam Ty n ily pe

Basic 79

SP

BCW

Basic 80

SP

BCF

Basic 83

SP

BG

Tag

ID

Ratio

Status

SP SP_BCW_1/4PL_3 46 B3/4

1.16

NG

43

0.42

Ok

SP_BG_1/4PL_3B 69 3/4

0.42

ok

SP_BCF_1/4PL_3 B3/4

Now you can continue with the design of the moment connections. Press to view all the hinges of the structure (you have to select previously all members). The moment connections will be designed only for the fixed joints. Select all the structure structure (with

), press the

button to design individually individually and press the FP Bolted

button. To see the designed connections pick two samples of the FP connections con nections (one for BCW and one for BCF) and use the command Select all connections of the same type.

Flange plate connections individually designed. 86

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You can check the status and ratio of the connections (with characteristics (with

or

) and also the main

).

Next, you can continue with the design of the brace connections, for that, select all the structure (with

), press the Gusset

Angle) connection

button and select CBB_DA (Column, Beams and Braces-Double .

As you can see 6 CBB Connections were assigned. Now you have finished the connection design. Notice that the task was performed very fast and in a simple way. What you need to know now, is how to configure your connections design. This will be shown in the next sections. If you want to review in detail a connection or several connections of the same type and members, select the, and go to the Modules/Connections option of the main menu. For example select the SP BCF connections of the first floor (perimeter columns) and go to the detailing of connections.

Review all the data for the selected connections in the connection Pad. You can print the data or the results reports by pressing

or

respectively.

You can edit any parameter of the connections. This is very useful when the design was not successful in order to achieve an adequate connection. Notice, however, that any manual change will be lost if the connections are redesigned or reassigned. Now it is time to save your structure with all your connections. Press

in Model toolbar.

What if the loads, geometry or any design condition change? No problem, you can redesign all or part of your connections very fast. For example, select your FP BCW connections (tip: use the option Select connections of the same type in the Tools/Connection selection menu). Press the

button

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to change the connection configuration with a stress ratio limit of 0.80. Press the the status and ratio for the selected connections.

button to see

To change this press the redesign button ( ) in the toolbar. Note that the strength ratio for the critical load is now under the new limit and that some connections have been modified to comply with the new limit.

3) Create a connection template Although RAM Advanse has by default several templates in the database, the user may want to define new templates with all the specific characteristics required by the user practice. It is always suggested to back up your connections database (file Connections.ini in the DB folder of main directory) before generating or changing your templates. To access to the connections database Configuration/Databases/Connections option:

go

to

the

main

menu

A dialog window showing the available connections grouped in folders will appear:

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and

select

the


Create a new folder with the button. Enter a name for the new group of connections. For the example you can adopt the "My SHR SP" group. With the former folder selected, press the window will be displayed

button to create a new connection. The following

Enter the name, family and type of the desired template and press OK. In this case enter the options shown in the figure. Notice that the name of the template is used to identify the connection and has to be unique in the whole database (including all folders). Thus you have to assign a name that describes the geometry and main characteristics of the connection. The following window will be displayed:

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You can review/change all the parameters of the template connection. The following data are required: Loads, Tag name, Main Data and the specific data required in Shear and/or Moment connections. For the units choose the English system. For the case of the loads, notice that they are preceded with the or icon, which means that these data will be transferred automatically to the connection from the main program. Therefore you can leave this field with no entries. Now you can enter the specific parameters for the connection. Note that the beam, support sections and materials are also transferred from the main program and they are not required to be defined. The default values shown are used only for the 3D drawing. Notice also that you have to enter only the parameters that are different from the desired values and are constant for all connections to be generated with the template. For this case accept all the default values, pressing the OK button. Any change that you perform will be reflected in the Drawing Area. Press the drawing area if this option is not enabled.

button to see the

You can use any of the available tools of the Drawing Area to zoom, rotate or modify the view of the connection. The context sensitive help ( ) is also available to give technical information related to the current parameter to be edited (where the cursor is located).

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4) Edit the templates to be used If you want to enter a similar connection of the existing ones, you can use the Copy button. For example, place the cursor at the connection SP_1/4_BCF_2_3/4 and press the below:

button as shown

Enter the new name of the connection. For this example use SP_ 1/4 _BCF_ 3_ 3/4. Edit the new connection:

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In this example change the number of bolts from 2 to 3 and press the OK button. Note that the connection is displayed with 3 bolts and that the length has automatically changed to fit the bolts.

Change the number of bolts from to 2 to 3 for the new template.

5) Create a connection database If you want to create several connections, the procedure outlined in steps 1 and 2 may be very lengthy and time consuming. A very fast procedure can be adopted in order to change/create a set of connections. First, you have to create a connection prototype as performed in steps 2 and 3. Lets generate a whole set of Single Plate connections of the database.

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Select the former generated folder. Press the button “Copy to clipboard”. Open Excel and paste it in a worksheet The spreadsheet will look similar to the following figure:

Note that each column of the spreadsheet contains the different values of a specific parameter of the connection. You can use the different tools available on Excel to copy or change the values. In this example copy the data line (row 4) 4 times. The following columns will be edited in the following way:

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The name and the number of bolt rows (Nrow) are changed. The user can keep or even erase the rest of the columns. In the latter case the connection will take the default values. Once the data is defined, the user may proceed with the generation. Then select ALL the information and copy the data to the clipboard (Ctrl+C)

Press the

button to paste the connections into the database.

The program will ask if the existing connections are going to be replaced. Answer yes and then a message with the number of generated connections (6) will be displayed. The following connections will be generated:

As you can see, this way of generating the connections is fast and allows creating the complete set of templates that a design office may need with the required custom values.

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Notice that you have to configure the connection toolbar in order to use your recently created templates in an assigning button. However, you can assign them through the worksheet with the tool

.

6) Configure the toolbar Normally, a reduced list of connections of the same type may be required for a specific project. This list may be defined in an assignment button in the following way: Go to Configuration/ Connections in the main menu. Execute the option Customize Toolbar.... The following window will appear:

There are three groups of connections that are predefined; a new group can be defined. Press

to define a new group. Enter the name of the group (My group).

Dialog window to define a new group of buttons in the toolbar. Press

to define a new assigning button.

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Dialog window to define the name of the new button.

Steps to assign the group of SP templates to the new button. Select the desired template or group (in this case My SHR SP) and press the button. Repeat the process until you have assigned all the connections of the list. Note that the order in the list is very important because it will define the priority in the selection of the template. To change the order in the list you can use the

buttons.

You can assign an adequate bitmap to your button. Press plates.

and select the bitmap for the single TM

Remark: You can create your own bitmaps with any drawing tool like Paint

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.


Dialog window for selecting the bitmap for the new assigning button. Now you have a new button ready to be used in the connection design with your single plate connections. You can try it in the model following a similar procedure as performed with the basic connections.

7) Assign smart connections to the model The program comes with another group of templates besides the basic connections. They are the ‘Smart’ connections, where the program determines all the main design parameters as the connector size, number of bolts, size of welds, etc. based on the connection forces. This allows having one smart connection template per family and connection type. This self-optimizing templates are included in the Smart Connections group. Remark: If you have previously created connections from the basic group, erase all connections. To

do so, select all the structure (Press


in Panels toolbar, select the Conn Tab in the worksheet.

) and press

First, select the whole structure. Press Press the 'Design each connection individually' Smart Connections

button in the connection toolbar. Then press the

button group and select the Smart SP (Single Plate) connection

.

As you may notice the different Single Plate connections have been assigned to the model. Notice that when the display button

is pressed, the name of the used template is shown which indicate

only the connection type and family (i.e. SP BCF). To view the main designed parameters, press . If you review the results of the design you can see that they are similar to the results obtained with the basic connections in the first part of the example. Notice however that the result for a design by group will not be the same because the program will design an optimum connection for each subgroup (same family and member sections). 97

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Chapter 4: Connections examples for RC-RSS

This chapter will take you step by step through the creation, design and optimization of steel connections in RAM Connection. The structure to be used in this chapter is only illustrative and is shown below:

It is a small building with steel columns, beams and girders. The perimeter beams and columns will be the lateral framing while the interior columns and beams will be part of the gravity framing. See the examples in the RAM SS Tutorial for more details for the generation and analysis of a building. The file of this example is available in the Data folder of RAM SS.

1) Run RAM Connection Once the structure is created in RAM Modeler (gravity and lateral framing, slab data, load data and story data of the structure) you can define or design the steel gravity columns and beams with the design modules, then you can perform the lateral analysis in RAM Frame. Once the sections of the structure are completely defined, you are ready to use RAM Connection. This module is a powerful tool to help in the rapid, interactive, design of the most common connections. For this example, exit RAM Manager, run RAM Connection and open the file ConnEx.rss. Notice that the model is completely defined and analyzed. The RAM Connection window will appear. You can review your model using the following graphic options:

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Review your RAM SS model using the different available display tools. 1) Visualization toolbar 2) Cursor toolbar 3) Model Properties toolbar 4) 3D Model toolbar and 5) Forces toolbar. Note that the toolbars position is only a configuration possibility as the user could change position and activate/deactivate toolbars.

2) Assign basic connections to the model RAM Connection is shipped with ready-to-use connections templates called basic connections. You will see in the following sections how you can customize them to your work practice. For the moment we will work with the standard settings. Remark: If the example model is already with connections, you will have to erase them. Select all

the structure (Press toolbar) and press


in Panels

in the worksheet.

In order to start assigning connections you need to use any of the default assignment group buttons of the Connection Toolbar (

).

But first, select the load conditions that will be considered in the design. Press the Connection toolbar and select all load conditions for the example.

button (1) in

Note that the load combinations generated in RAM SS (RAM Frame) will be used for the connections' design. To do this, press the

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button in the Loads toolbar.


Select all load combinations and keep a stress ratio limit of 1.0 (default value) for the connections design. In order to apply any command you have to use the 'select and apply rule'. So, first, select the whole structure. Press

in Selection toolbar (2).

Now you are ready to assign your first connections. As a first try you need to know exactly the required connection on each joint. A recommended procedure is to design individually each joint and evaluate the obtained connections. Press the 'Design each connection individually' the Basic Connections (5).

button in the connection toolbar (3). Then press

button group (4) and select the Basic SP (Single Plate) connection

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Steps to assign smart single plate connections to the whole structure. In few moments the program will suggest an optimum single plate connection for each joint of the structure that can have a shear connection.

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Model with all shear joints with a single plate connection. Press the button to see the template name of each connection, which includes the family. To evaluate the different single plate connections required, select first one instance of the desired connection family; in this case select a BCW connection.

Left-click on a SP-BCW connection Go to Tools/Connection Selection and execute the command Select connections of the same family. Press the

button to see the main characteristics of each connection.

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Single Plate BCW connections designed individually for each joint. Note that some connections require 4 bolts, 3 bolts and the rest require only 2 bolts. Let suppose that for construction we decide to use the same connection for all BCW connections. Select all the structure (with

), lift up the

button to design by group and press again the

button to assign single plate connections ( + Basic SP). You can select the BCW connections and you will see that all BCW connections are with 4 bolts (as expected). The other families have only 3 bolts. When you design by group you can obtain the same connection for each family independently of the related sections and materials of the joints. You can check the status and strength ratio pressing the button for the load envelope and for the current load condition. Notice that a different ratio is shown for each connection. Notice that you can select all connections that have an OK or N.G. status pressing one of the following

buttons. In this case all connections have an OK status.

You can print a summary report. Select all the structure and go to Reports/Connections Design and select the option Group by tag . With this report you will obtain a summary of all connections with their main characteristics and the critical strength ratios. For the example you will have: 104

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Descriptio Fam Ty n ily pe

Basic 1

SP

BCW

Basic 2

SP

BCF

Basic 3

SP

BG

Tag

ID

Ratio

Status

SP SP_BCW_1/4PL_3 46 B3/4

1.16

N.G.

43

0.42

OK

SP_BG_1/4PL_3B 69 3/4

0.42

OK

SP_BCF_1/4PL_3 B3/4

Now you can continue with the design of the moment connections. Press to view all the hinges of the structure (you have to select previously all members). The moment connections will be designed only for the fixed joints. Select all the structure (with

), press the

button to design individually and press the Basic

FP Bolted button. To see the designed connections pick one instance of the FP connections (for BCW) and use the command Select all connections of the same type.

Flange plate connections individually designed.

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You can check the status and ratio of the connections (with characteristics (with

or

) and also the main

).

Next, you can continue with the design of the brace connections, for that, select all the structure (with

), press the Gusset

Angle) connection

button and select CBB_DA (Column, Beams and Braces-Double

.

As you can see 6 CBB Connections were assigned. Now you have finished the connection design. Notice that the task was performed very fast and in a simple way. What you need to know now, is how to configure your connection design. This will be shown in the next sections. If you want to review in detail a connection or several connections of the same type and members, select them and go to the Detailing/Connections option of the main menu. For example select the SP BCF connections of the first floor (perimeter columns) and go to the detailing of connections. To do so, you can select an instance of the SP BCF connection and press the toolbar.

button of the connection

Review all the data for the selected connections in the connection Pad. You can print the data or the results reports by pressing

or

respectively.

You can edit any parameter of the connections. This is very useful when the design was not successful in order to achieve an adequate connection. Notice, however, that any manual change will be lost if the connections are redesigned or reassigned. 106

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Now it is time to save your structure with all your connections. Press

in Model toolbar.

What if the loads, geometry or any design condition change? No problem, you can redesign all or part of your connections very fast. For example, select your FP BCW connections (tip: use the option Select connections of the same type in the Tools/Connection Selection menu). Press the change the connection configuration with a stress ratio limit of 0.80. Press the status and ratio for the selected connections.

button to

button to see the

Some FP BCW and SP BCW connections do not comply with the conservative stress limit ratio used (0.80). To change this press the redesign button ( ) in the toolbar. Note that the strength ratio for the envelope is now under the new limit and that some connections have been modified to comply with the new limit.

3) Create a connection template Although RAM Connection has by default several templates in the database, the user may want to define new templates with all the specific characteristics required by the user practice. Hint: It is always suggested to back up your connections database (file Connections.ini in the DB folder of main directory) before generating or changing your templates. 107

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To access to the connections database Configuration/Databases/Connections option:

go

to

the

main

menu

and

select

the

A dialog window showing the available connections grouped in folders will appear:

Create a new folder with the button. Enter a name for the new group of connections. For the example you can use the "My SHR SP" group. With the former folder selected, press the window will be displayed

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button to create a new connection. The following


Enter the name, family and type of the desired template and press OK. In this case enter the options shown in the figure. Notice that the name of the template is used to identify the connection and has to be unique in the whole database (including all folders). Thus you have to assign a name that describes the geometry and main characteristics of the connection The following window will be displayed:

You can review/change all the parameters of the connection template.

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The following data are required: Units, Code, Loads, Connection ID, Tag name, Main Data and the specific data required in Shear and/or Moment connections. For the units choose the English system. The available codes are ASD and LRFD. Chose LRFD. Now you can enter the specific parameters for the connection. Note that the beam and support sections and materials are also transferred from the main program and you do not need to define them. The default values shown are used only for the 3D drawing. Notice also that you have to enter only the parameters that are different from the desired values and are constant for all connections to be generated with the template. For this case accept all the default values, pressing the OK button. Any change that you perform will be reflected in the Drawing Area. Press the drawing area if this option is not enabled.

You can use any of the available tools of the Drawing Area connection.

button to see the

to zoom and rotate the view of the

The context sensitive help ( ) is also available to give technical information related to the current parameter to be edited (where the cursor is located).

4) Edit the templates to be used If you want to enter a similar connection of the existing ones, you can use the Copy button. For example, place the cursor at the connection SP_1/4_BCF_2_3/4 and press the below:

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button as shown


Enter the new name of the connection. For this example use SP_ 1/4 _BCF_ 3_ 3/4. Edit the new connection:

In this example change the number of bolts from 2 to 3 and press the OK button. Note that the connection is displayed with 3 bolts and that the length has automatically changed to fit the bolts.

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Change the number of bolts from to 2 to 3 for the new template.

5) Create a connection database If you want to create several connections, the procedure outlined in the former Section may be very lengthy and time consuming. A very fast procedure can be selected in order to change/create a set of connections. First, you have to create a connection prototype as performed in Section 3. Let’s generate a whole set of Single Plate connections.

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Select the former generated folder. Press the button “Copy to clipboard”. Open Excel and paste it in a worksheet The spreadsheet will look similar to the following figure:

Note that each column of the spreadsheet contains the different values of a specific parameter of the connection. You can use the different tools available on Excel to copy or change the values. In this example copy the data line (row 4) 4 times. The following columns will be edited in the following way:

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The name and the number of bolt rows (Nrow) are changed. The user can keep or even erase the rest of the columns. In the latter case the connection will take the default values. Once the data is defined, the user may proceed with the generation. Then select ALL the information and copy the data to the clipboard (Ctrl+C)

Press the

button to paste the connections into the database.

The program will ask if the existing connections are going to be replaced. Answer yes and then a message with the number of generated connections (6) will be displayed. The following connections will be generated:

As you can see, this way of generating the connections is fast and allows creating the complete set of templates that a design office may need with the required custom values.

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Notice that you have to configure the connection toolbar in order to use your recently created templates in an assigning button. However, you can assign them through the worksheet with the tool .

6) Configure the toolbar Normally, a reduced list of connections of the same type may be required for a specific project. This list may be defined in an assignment button in the following way:

Go to Configuration/Connections in the main menu. Execute the option Customize Toolbar . The following window will appear:

There are three groups of connections that are predefined. A new group can be defined. Press

to define a new group. Enter the name of the group (My group). 115

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Dialog window to define a new group of buttons in the toolbar. Press

to define a new assigning button.

Dialog window to define the name of the new button.

Steps to assign the group of SP templates to the new button. Select the desired template or group (in this case My SHR SP) and press the button. Repeat the process until you have assigned all the connections of the list. Note No te that the order in the list is very important because it will define the priority in the selection of the template. To change the order in the list you can use the

buttons.

You can assign an adequate bitmap to your button. Press plates.

and select the bitmap for the single TM

Remark: You can create your own bitmaps with any drawing tool like Paint 116

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.

RAM CONNECTION_manual.pdf

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