AISC Connection Design for NonAISC Sections using the STAAD.Pro/RAM.

Connection Link

By

RAM/STAAD Solution Center

6 March 2008

STAAD.Pro section database contains sections from seventeen different countries. If a new section profile is introduced in the market or a very old steel section is missing in the section database, the user has the power to modify the existing section profile tables by using the Tools>Modify Section Database menu command. STAAD.Pro 2007 was released with the new STAAD.Pro/RAM.Connection link. The intent of this link was to target the U.S market specifically because RAM.Connection currently only supports connection design as per the AISC code. It was bought to our attention that several STAAD.Pro users wanted to use the RAM.Connection tool to design connections for their international projects using non-AISC sections as per the AISC code. The purpose of this document is to provide a temporary solution to this problem. In the future, the STAAD.Pro/RAM link will be able to design the connections for the European sections as per the AISC code. There are three databases that the STAAD.Pro/RAM.Connection link user must be aware of: 1. The STAAD.Pro section database stored as mdb files in the C:\SPro2007\STAAD\Sections directory. The STAAD.Pro/RAM.Connection link database stored in C:\SPro2007\STAAD\RamConnection\Sec directory. RAM.Connection database

One of the ways to resolve this problem is to define the missing section in the STAAD.Pro/RAM.Connection link database which is a simple text file. Example: 1. Suppose you had the following STAAD.Pro model:
STAAD SPACE START JOB INFORMATION ENGINEER DATE 06-Mar-08 END JOB INFORMATION INPUT WIDTH 79 UNIT FEET KIP JOINT COORDINATES 1 0 0 0; 2 0 10 0; 3 10 10 0; 4 10 0 0; MEMBER INCIDENCES 1 1 2; 2 2 3; 3 3 4; DEFINE MATERIAL START ISOTROPIC STEEL E 4.176e+006 POISSON 0.3 DENSITY 0.489024 ALPHA 6.5e-006 DAMP 0.03 END DEFINE MATERIAL MEMBER PROPERTY EUROPEAN 1 TO 3 TABLE ST HD260x172 CONSTANTS MATERIAL STEEL ALL SUPPORTS 1 4 FIXED LOAD 1 LOADTYPE None TITLE LOAD CASE 1 MEMBER LOAD 2 UNI GY -0.1 PERFORM ANALYSIS PRINT ALL PARAMETER 1 CODE EC3 CHECK CODE ALL FINISH

2.

3.

These databases are independent of each other and each one has their own fuctions. If a section is added to the STAAD.Pro section database, the changes will not be reflected in the STAAD.Pro/RAM.Connection database. The RAM.Connection link will issue a Unable to Create Joint. Only American Steel Tables are allowed. message box if a user tries to design a connection using sections that are defined in the STAAD.Pro database but are not present in the STAAD.Pro/RAM.Connection link database.

Note that this file contains a HD260x172 section from the European steel profile table. 2. Analyze the model using the Analyze->Run Analysis menu. 3. Now try to design the connection for beam #2 and column #3 using the STAAD.Pro/RAM.Connection link.

4. When you try to create a joint in the STAAD.Pro/RAM.Connection link, you will notice the following message: Unable to Create Joint. Only American Steel Tables are allowed. 5. Close STAAD.Pro. 6. Open the W.sec file using notepad. 7. We will notice the following:
Figure 2: New section added in W.sec file.

d = 209 mm = 11.417323 in bf = 268 mm = 10.551181 in tw = 18 mm = 0.708661 in tf = 32.5 mm = 1.279528 in k = 35 mm = 1.377953 in k1 = 10 mm = 0.393701 in A = 34.04 in2

Figure 1: W.sec file in Notepad.

This table contains all the AISC wide flange sections that the STAAD.Pro/RAM.Connection link supports. We will attempt to add the HD260x172 section from the European steel profile table to this database. 7. Go to the end of the file and insert the following line:
W260x172CHD 11.42 1.38 False 10.55 0.39 False 0.71 34.04 False 1.28 In

Figure 3: Section parameters in the W.sec file.

8. The section in the STAAD.Pro input file should be renamed from HD260x172 to W260x172CHD and this section should be included in the STAAD.Pro section database. You may use MS-Access to open this database or use the Tools->Modify Section Database menu command in STAAD.Pro. 9. Open STAAD.Pro and open the section database. 10. Add the following section to the AISC section database under W-Sections: Section Name: W260X172c STAAD Name: W260x172CHD Ax=34.04 in2

d= 11.417 in bf= 10.551 in tf = 1.280 in tw = 0.709 in IZ = 752.23 in4 Ix = 17.27 in4 cT= 1.18 in Iy = 251.06 in4 Zx = 154.02 in3 Zy = 72.74 in3 t = 17 in k = 1.38 in k1 = 0.39 in 11. Change the following lines from:
MEMBER PROPERTY EUROPEAN 1 TO 3 TABLE ST HD260x172

to
MEMBER PROPERTY AMERICAN 1 TO 3 TABLE ST W260x172CHD

13. Try to design the connection using the STAAD.Pro/RAM.Connection link. You will notice that the new W260x172CHD sections are now recognized by RAM.Connection.

Figure 4: AISC Connection design for a non-AISC section using STAAD.Pro/RAM.Connection link.

Please note that this is a temporary solution and is not appropriate for large scale projects. Alternatively, an engineer may also use the RAM.Connection stand-alone mode to do the same.