The ability to move beams and attached framing is available from the RAM Modeler. Secondary beams will move with the beam, stretching or shrinking as necessary. Web openings in beams will maintain their absolute spacing from where they were modeled. The behavior of secondary beams will be dictated by the Options available from the Move Beam dialog as explained in more detail below. Additionally, the following items will be updated appropriately with the modified framing: slab edges, slab openings, nodal loads, brace points, point loads, line loads, surface loads, snow loads, and deck polygons.

The Move Beam command can be initiated either from the Layout - Beams - Move menu or from the toolbar.

There are two options for moving beams. The beam can either be moved parallel to its current location, or one end of the beam can be moved to a new location.

The Parallel option allows you to specify an offset distance from the current beam location. Enter an offset and click Move to select a beam to move. Two parallel guide lines will appear, parallel to the chosen beam at the offset distance specified. Note that if the Offset was specified as 0.00, only one parallel guide line will appear, directly in line with the chose beam.

Click anywhere along either of the parallel guide lines to identify the bay into which the beam is to be moved. The beam will automatically determine and attach to the supporting columns, beams or walls in the new location.

The One End option allows you to specify a beam end to move. Click Move to select the beam whose end you want to move. After selecting a beam, the cursor will toggle between beam ends to allow you to chose the end to move. Once an end is selected, move the cursor to the new location for that beam end.

Note that moving a single beam end may result in an illegal framing condition. If this occurs, be sure to adjust the framing to correct the problem.

The Adjust secondary beams to Maintain Global Orientation option will attempt to maintain the global orientation of the secondary beams as long as possible. There may be framing geometry that will make this impossible. If it is not possible to maintain the orientation of the beam without disconnecting framing, the framing will be preserved and the beam will be reoriented. With this option, it is possible that beams will become too small. The lengths of beams are checked with each move. If the move results in a beam less than 6" in length, the user is given the option to delete that beam.

The Adjust secondary beams to Maintain Relative Spacing option will maintain the % distance from the beam's support, thus preserving the relative spacing of beams on a girder. Beams will change orientation. This option is similar to how the Move Grids feature deals with secondary beams.