Braces may be specified as Tension-only; that is, they are only capable of resisting forces in tension and are assumed to have no axial stiffness in compression. For such members the direction of applied lateral load is significant (e.g., positive X-axis vs. negative X-axis). Therefore, RAM Frame provides an option whereby additional load cases can be created. To invoke this, select the Generate Additional Load Cases for Analysis with Tension-Only Members option in the Load Case generation dialog box when generating lateral load cases (implemented for wind, seismic and notional load cases only).

See Assign Tension-Only for information on assigning braces to be tension-only and Boundary Conditions for technical information on tension-only analysis.