Applies To
	Product(s):	STAAD.Pro
	Version(s):	All
	Environment:	N/A
	Area:	Steel Design
	Subarea:	General Steel Design Solutions
	Original Author:	Bentley Technical Support Group

A structure that I'm working on I have a 11.6m beam which supports transverse beams and bracing. How can I determine the overall deflection of the 11.6 m beam and check if it is complying with the L/500 criteria?

There are a couple of ways to handle this. One is during the design phase and another is during the analysis phase.

Check during design phase

To ensure that beams are checked appropriately for deflection, using the physical member length as opposed to the length of the analytical segments, please refer to the Note 2 under STAAD.Pro Help section Design > D. Design Codes > D1. American Codes > D1.B. American Codes - Steel Design per AISC 9th Edition > D1.B.1 Working Stress Design > D1.B.1.2 Design Parameters which explains how the design parameters like DJ1, DJ2 and DFF can be used to check deflection for the physical member. In your case, you would specify DFF as 500 for the beam to be checked against an allowable deflection limit of L/500.

Checking during analysis phase

If you are not planning to go for design and would just like to check the deflection based on analysis results, you may define the entire beam as a physical member (PMEMBER). After analysis you will then be able to double click on the physical member ( ensure that your selection cursor is the physical member cursor ) and see the local deflection for the entire physical member.