RAM SBeam CONNECT Edition V7.00.00

Release Notes  

Release Date: June 2021 

This document contains important information regarding RAM SBeam. It is important that all users are aware of this information. Please distribute these release notes and make them available to all users of RAM SBeam. 

Important License Information: 

RAM SBeam is available through a Virtuoso Subscription, rather than a perpetual license. This is a subscription-based Bentley license providing a single user unlimited access to a product at a recurring annual payment. Licenses for previous versions of RAM SBeam do not carry over to RAM SBeam v7.0, subscriptions are required. For more information, see: Introducing the RAM SBeam Virtuoso Subscription

The RAM SBeam Virtuoso Subscription can be purchased at virtuosity.com: http://virtuosity.com/product/ram-sbeam/

New Features and Enhancements: 

RAM SBeam V7.00.00 contains several powerful enhancements: 

Launch from RAM Structural System and RAM Elements 

RAM SBeam v7.0 can be launched from RAM Structural System and from RAM Elements. When launched from the RAM Steel Beam module, all of the necessary data, including geometry, composite properties, loads, bracing, and criteria, is passed to RAM SBeam where any of that can be modified as desired. For this capability, update to the latest version of RAM Structural System; it may not function properly in v17.02.01 or earlier. Note: For some users this feature doesn't work with previous versions. Re-enabling this feature required changes to RAM SBeam, RAM Structural System, and RAM Elements; the changes necessary for RAM SBeam are included in this version, but for some users the capability won't be available until new versions of RAM Structural System and RAM Elements are released.

AISC 360-16 

The requirements of AISC 360-16, “Specification for Structural Steel Buildings”, as found in the AISC Steel Construction Manual, 15th Edition, have been implemented. This includes the new requirement for composite beam design to consider stud ductility. 

Canada CAN/CSA S16-14 

The requirements of CAN/CSA S16-14, “Design of Steel Structures”, have been implemented. 

India IS 800-07 WSD and LSD 

The requirements of IS 800-07, “General Construction in Steel – Code of Practice”, have been implemented. 

Eurocode Design of Steel Beams with Web Openings 

The design of steel beams with web openings has been implemented for the Eurocode, based on the recommendations of SCI Publication P355 Design of Composite Beams with Large Web Openings. Round and rectangular openings are allowed. The need for web reinforcement is investigated, and if needed is designed by the program. 

User-specified Demand/Capacity Limits 

The user can now specify the limit on the Demand/Capacity ratio used in design, on the Demand/Capacity tab of the Design Criteria tab. Previously the program designed to a ratio limit of 1.0. This now allows the user to specify lower values, resulting in designs of members with an extra margin of capacity for future changes in loads, for example. Separate values can be specified for steel beams and C-Beams, with limits for both strength and deflection. 

Composite Beam Stud Criteria 

Several powerful enhancements have been made to the Studs criteria. 

• Previously a Minimum % of Full Composite Allowed could be specified, applicable to all composite beams. Separate Minimum % values can now be specified for beams with Short Spans versus those with Long Spans, and the span length that divides the two. This feature was implemented mainly to provide one method for satisfying the new AISC 360-16 requirement for composite beam design to consider the effect of the ductility of the shear stud connection; the Commentary indicates that one method for doing that is to design beams with spans greater than 30 ft to be at least 50% of full composite. The option is available for all of the Codes, for anyone who desires to specify different minimum values for longer beams versus shorter beams. Note that it is not necessary to specify any minimum % values; the program will automatically satisfy the Code-specified minimums. These options are provided only for those that desire to design to a higher minimum % value. 

• Previously there was the ability to specify Maximum Stud Spacing, with options to limit the spacing per the Code requirements or to a more stringent value specified by the user, applicable to all composite beams. This has now been split into two sets of options, one for the case of the deck parallel to the beam and one for the case when the deck is not parallel to the beam (perpendicular or at some angle) for which an additional option, maximum spacing equal to Rib Spacing, has been implemented. This latter option will result in a stud in every rib, properly considering the number of ribs that actually cross the beam, whether perpendicular or at some skewed angle. When the deck is perpendicular this option provides another way of satisfying the new AISC 360-16 requirement for composite beam design to consider the effect of the ductility of the shear stud connection; this won’t necessarily satisfy the requirement if the deck is skewed with respect to the beams. 

• When designing to any of the AISC 360 Specifications there is an option for satisfying the AISC 360-16 requirement for composite beam design to consider the effect of the ductility of the shear stud connection by enforcing the method given in the Commentary, which indicates that for beams with spans greater than 30 ft the beam must either be at least 50% composite or have shear studs that provide at least 16kip/ft of capacity (roughly one stud per foot). It is recommended that this option be selected, otherwise the user will have to verify some other way that the stud ductility requirement is satisfied. If this option is selected it is not necessary to also specify a Minimum of 50% for Long Spans nor to specify Maximum Stud Spacing; the program will determine how best to satisfy the requirement automatically. Note that this is a new Specification requirement in AISC 360-16, but this option is recommended when designing to any AISC specification. 

Web Openings 

Several enhancements have been incorporated for the design of beams with web openings. 

• As indicated above, the design of steel beams with web openings has been implemented for the Eurocode. 

• Previously, the modeling of the openings in the beam required the definition and placement of each opening individually, one at a time. The Beam – Web Openings command has been enhanced to allow generation of openings along a portion of the beam length or along the entire length. 

• When a beam has web openings, the View/Update dialog and the Modify Web Opening dialog have been enhanced to graphically show the beam with its openings. Failing openings are shown in red. If an opening is selected from the list of openings in the Modify Web Opening dialog, the corresponding opening in the graphic will highlight; if an opening is selected in the graphic, the corresponding opening in the list of openings will highlight. 

• Previously, openings could only be modified in the View/Update dialog; now openings can also be added and deleted there. 

Updated Steel and Deck Tables 

• The AISC steel tables have been updated, based on the steel shapes listed in the AISC Steel Construction Manual, 15th Edition. This includes the Master (.tab) and Beam (.bms) tables for both the standard and the SI Equivalent shapes. Changes include new shapes and minor changes to a few geometric dimensions and section property values. Some minor corrections to ordering and grouping were also made. 

• The ramdecks.dck file, the file that contains the composite decks used in the United States, has been updated based on the latest deck data made available by the deck manufacturers. The Wheeling decks were removed since that deck is no longer produced, and New Millennium decks were added. The values for Ybar (which only impacts the design of beams using the old ASD 9th Edition code) were slightly modified for ASC 3W and Vulcraft 1.5VL. The depth was changed from 2" to 2.0625" for Verco W2 Formlok, which also changed AcRib and Ybar (which will slightly impact designs, including loads from deck self-weight). 

Deflection Limits Listed on Steel Beam Design Report. 

The Gravity Beam Design report lists the deflections and span/deflection ratios for the various conditions of Dead, Live, and total loads. This listing has been enhanced to now show the corresponding deflection limits specified by the user; this makes it easier to see to what limits the beam was designed. The ratio of actual to allowable deflection values is also listed; this makes it easier to verify whether or not the deflection limits have been satisfied.  

Eurocode Combinations 

Previously the load combinations used for design per the Eurocode used the provisions of Equation 6.10 in BS EN 1990:2002+A1:2005. The program has been enhanced to now use load combinations based on Equations 6.10a and 6.10b. Designs based on the load combinations of Equation 6.10 were conservative, designs based on Equations 6.10a and 6.10b will likely result in more economical designs. 

Castellated and Cellular Beams 

In addition to the implementation of AISC 360-16, the design warnings for Castellated and Cellular C-Beams have been enhanced. For an optimized C-Beam size, if the number of studs required to satisfy a user-specified Minimum Percent Composite or user-specified Maximum Stud Spacing did not fit on the beam (because for example the deck is skewed or the flange is narrow), the program would call for as many studs as would fit but would not warn the user that the user-specified value was not satisfied. The designs satisfied code-required Minimum Percent Composite and maximum stud spacing, but may not have satisfied user-specified values, without warning to the user. Proper warnings are now given (even though no further action is required to meet the requirements of the Specification). 

Crash Reporting

In order to improve the stability and reliability of the program we have implemented a feature in which a report is delivered to Bentley anytime the RAM SBeam program crashes. When a crash occurs, a dialog is given requesting a description of the events leading to the error. Please provide us with as much pertinent information as you can (what series of events that you did prior to the crash, etc.), and then select the command to Send Error Report. This will assist us in locating the cause of program crashes, and better enable us to eliminate their causes.

Bentley CONNECT 

As a CONNECT Edition, RAM SBeam CONNECT Edition v7.00 includes several powerful features common to other Bentley CONNECT Edition programs: 

• CONNECT Center: When you sign in to your Bentley account you now have easy access to CONNECT Center. This personalized portal gives you easy access to Usage reports, site configuration information, downloads, and Learning information on webinars, seminars and events, and includes a transcript listing the Bentley courses that you have completed. Your personal portal also lists your recent projects with a portal into analytics on that project. CONNECT Center can be accessed by selecting the Bentley Cloud Services – CONNECT Center command or by selecting the Sign In command in the upper right corner of the RAM SBeam screen.  

• CONNECTED Projects: All of Bentley’s CONNECT Edition programs, including RAM SBeam, allow models to be associated with a project. Multiple models, from any of the Bentley products, can be associated with a given project. This simplifies the process of keeping track of work done for a project and will enable analytics to be performed and reported for the project. A file can be associated with a project using the Bentley Cloud Services – Associate Project command. Projects can be registered (created) from your Personal Portal, or from the Assign Project dialog by selecting the + Register Project command. 

• ProjectWise Projects: A ProjectWise Projects portal enables you and your project teams to see project details required to evaluate team activity and understand project performance. 

• View project activity by site, application and user

• Gain insights into the users who are working on your projects and their effort 

• Register and manage your CONNECTED Projects  

• Access ProjectWise Connection Services including ProjectWise Project Sharing, ProjectWise Project Performance Dashboards and ProjectWise Issue Resolution Administration 

Error Corrections: 

Some errors in previous versions have been corrected in v7.00. The more significant errors are listed here. The error only occurred for the precise conditions indicated. Errors that may have resulted in un-conservative designs are shown with an asterisk. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. 

STUDS ON BEAMS WITH WEB OPENINGS*: If the design of a composite beam with a web opening is controlled by M-V interaction of the tee, it is possible in some cases to eliminate required stiffeners by adding additional studs. When that condition occurred, the program attempted to add additional studs to determine if the stiffeners could be eliminated, but in some cases would determine that the stiffeners could be eliminated but did not specify the required number of additional studs. 

Effect: For the case where the M-V interaction of the tee of the composite beam controlled the beam design the program may have indicated that no stiffener was required but may not have specified the proper number of studs to satisfy the web opening design without stiffeners. Error did not occur if anything else controlled the design of the beam. 

WEB OPENING TEE BUCKLING CAPACITY CHECK: In the design of beams with web openings per AISC Design Guide #2, it is not required to perform the buckling capacity check of tees with an aspect ratio less than 4.0. However, the program incorrectly and unnecessarily calculated the demand/capacity ratio for that check and potentially listed that value as the controlling demand/capacity ratio for the opening, but correctly did not flag the opening as failing if that ratio exceeded 1.0. Hence it was possible that the program listed a demand/capacity ratio greater than 1.0 but did not indicate that the opening failed. 

Effect: Potentially, in View/Update, an incorrect demand/capacity ratio greater than 1.0 was listed for the opening, even if the opening passed all of the necessary design checks (the design report listed the correct value). 

VIEW/UPDATE DEMAND/CAPACITY RATIO – BEAMS WITH WEB OPENINGS: In View/Update, if a beam with a web opening was optimized using the Optimize command there, the value listed for Demand/Capacity Ratio for Strength was incorrect. 

Effect: Display error only. Although the results initially displayed in the View Update dialog box for beams with web openings were correct, the Demand/Capacity Ratio for Strength displayed when the beam was optimized using the Optimize button was incorrect. 

VIEW/UPDATE DEMAND/CAPACITY RATIO – BEAMS WITH WEB OPENINGS: The Demand / Capacity Ratio shown in the View Update dialog box for beams with web openings designed according to US codes did not include the worst interaction from the compression tee buckling results. 

Effect: Display error only. Although the design of beams with web openings designed according to US codes were correctly performed and the detailed report showed the worst interaction encountered, the displayed interaction in the View Update dialog box did not include the worst interaction from checks done for the compression buckling of the tees. This error only occurred if the compression tee buckling of an opening controlled the design of the beam. 

VIEW/UPDATE DEMAND/CAPACITY RATIO – SHORED COMPOSITE BEAM DEFLECTION: The reported controlling deflection interaction in the View Update dialog box for shored composite beams may have been incorrect. 

Effect: Display error only. While design of shored composite beams was correct, the reported controlling deflection interaction in the View Update dialog may have been incorrect. 

CSA/CAN S16-09 HSS SHEAR CAPACITY*: The shear capacity for a Rectangular HSS was incorrect. 

Effect: In calculating the shear capacity of a Rectangular HSS, the depth of the shear plane should have been reduced by 4 times the thickness of the web rather than 2 times the web thickness. A less conservative shear capacity was reported. For designs governed by shear, a member may have passed the shear check when it should have been failed. 

CAN/CSA S16-09 CLASS 4 HSS: The flexural capacity calculated for Class 4 HSS sections designed according to CAN S16-09 was incorrect  

Effect: The design and reported flexural capacity for Class 4 HSS was incorrect. The reported capacity was conservative. Designs which should have otherwise passed, may have been reported as failed. 

C-BEAM COMPOSITE WEB POST BUCKLING CHECK*: The reported demand and capacity results for the Web Post Buckling check may not have been the worst evaluated during the member check. 

Effect: Although all other limit state checks were correctly performed, the governing results reported for the Web Post Buckling check may have been incorrect. C-Beam designs governed by the Web Post Buckling check may have been unconservative.