Product(s):	ProStructures
Version(s):	CONNECT Edition (10.XX.00.XX)
Environment:	N/A
Area:	Steel
Subarea:	Steel Connections
Original Author:	Alistair Lobo, Bentley Product Advantage Group

Overview

While modelling steel structures, you may need to stiffen the column or beam web against plane deformations to resist the stresses of the adjoining members. In such cases, stiffeners are created using the Stiffener tool in the Steel workflow of ProStructures.

This document will guide you on how to create, place and control the insertion and placement of stiffener plates.

Method

1) Create a shape in your model where you want the stiffener inserted. For the sake of this case, create a beam in the model.



2) Now go to Steel > Home > Steel Connections > Stiffeners and click on that tool.



3) Now it will prompt you to select the shape that you want to insert the stiffener in. In this case, select the beam.

4) After this you need to select the Insertion midpoint of stiffeners. The stiffeners then get placed and the Stiffener dialog box comes up.

5) From this dialog box, you can control various parameters of the stiffener plates viz. its layout, size, distances, connection welds, punch holes, etc.





5) In the ‘Options’ tab, you can also set an angle value if you want the stiffeners to be inserted at an inclination with respect to the parent shape.



The ‘2D Section’ checkbox when ON allows creation of detailing of the stiffener plates in the 2D Detail Center environment.

6) In the ‘Assignment’ tab, you can associate the stiffener plates with Display class, Area class, Part family & Description, etc.



7) On clicking OK, the stiffener is now placed at the selected position along the web.

In this manner, you can create a stiffener and control it’s layout while modelling in the Steel workflow.