Design Results Page 1 of 4

COMPUTERS AND STRUCTURES, INC., BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA FEBRUARY 2003

TUBULAR STEEL FRAME PUNCHING LOAD CHECK
Technical Note
Interactive Punching Load Check
This Technical Note describes the interactive punching load check that can be
performed after a punching load check has been performed using the Design
menu > Steel Frame Design > Start API Punching Load Check
command. The punching load check is only available when the steel design
code is set to API RP2A-WSD2000 or API RP2A-LRFD 97.
To start the interactive design, right-click on a joint after the punching load
check has been run. The Interactive API Punching Load Check form shown in
Figure 1 appears. If the form does not appear, click the Design menu >
Steel Frame Design > Interactive API Punching Load Check command
to put the program in an interactive design mode and then right-click the
joint. If the Design menu > Steel Frame Design > Interactive API
Punching Load Check command is inactive, run the punching load check
using the Design menu > Steel Frame Design > Start API Punching
Load Check command.
Design Results
A single row in the design results table presents a summary of the punching
load check results obtained for a single chord, brace and design combination.
Results are reported for all possible chord-brace-combination permutations.
The following fields are present in the design results table.
Chord: Name of the considered chord member.
Brace: Name of the considered brace member.
Combo: Name of the considered design combination.
Equation: The code equation that gives the largest ratio for the
specified chord, brace and design combination.
Ratio: The largest ratio for the specified chord, brace and design
combination.
SAP2000

SAP2000

SAP2000

Tubular Steel Frame Punching Load Check Interactive Punching Load Check
Design Results Page 2 of 4
Figure 1: Interactive API Punching Load Check form
Warnings: This field indicates if any design warnings were produced
for the specified chord, brace and design combination. It is either
None or Yes, n where n is the number of design warnings
produced. If warnings exist, they will appear in the Design Messages
area of the form when a cell in the table row containing the chord,
brace and design combination is selected.
Tubular Steel Frame Punching Load Check Interactive Punching Load Check
Modify/Show Assignments Page 3 of 4
Errors: This field indicates if any design errors were produced for the
specified chord, brace and design combination. It is either None or
Yes, n where n is the number of design errors produced. If errors
exist, they will appear in the Design Messages area of the form when a
cell in the table row containing the chord, brace and design
combination is selected.
Modify/Show Assignments
The Modify/Show Assignments area of the Interactive API Punching Load
Check form contains the Punching Load Assigns button. Clicking this button
brings up the API Punching Load Assignments form. Refer to the Technical
Note entitled Punching Load Assignments for more detailed information
about this form.
Any changes made on the API Punching Load Assignments form are
immediately reflected in the results displayed on the Interactive API Punching
Load Check form after you click the OK button in the API Punching Load
Assignments form.
After you make changes to the API Punching Load Assignments form and click
the OK button to return to the Interactive API Punching Load Check form, if
you then click the OK button to close the Interactive API Punching Load
Check form, the changes that were made in the API Punching Load
Assignments form will be permanently saved. If instead you click the Cancel
button to close the Interactive API Punching Load Check form, the changes
will be considered to have been temporary and are not saved.
Temporary Design Combinations
The Set Temporary Design Combos area of the Interactive API Punching Load
Check form contains the Temporary Combos button. Click this button to
bring up the Design Load Combinations Selection form. Use the form to
modify which of the currently defined design load combinations are to be
considered for interactive design.
Any changes made on the Design Load Combinations Selection form are
immediately reflected in the results displayed on the Interactive API Punching
Load Check form after you click the OK button in the Design Load
Combinations Selection form.
Tubular Steel Frame Punching Load Check Interactive Punching Load Check
Display Complete Details Page 4 of 4
The changes made to the design combinations are always considered to be
temporary. They are not saved when you click the OK or the Cancel button
to close the Interactive API Punching Load Check form.
Display Complete Details
The Display Complete Details area of the Interactive API Punching Load Check
form contains the Tabular Data button. Click this button to bring up the
display of two tables in the standard tabular display form for the program.
The first table shows the same summary data as is included in the table in the
Design Results area of the Interactive API Punching Load Check form. The
second table has several additional fields and thus displays more detailed
information about each chord-brace-combination permutation.
The tables displayed using the Tabular Data button can be exported and
printed.