OpenBuildings™ Designer Help

Place Deck

Used to place steel decks and composite decks using these placement options:

  • Structural Members – Select members that form the deck boundary.
  • Boundary – Enter points to construct a deck.
  • Shape – Select a shape element to form the deck boundary.
Accessed from:


  • Ribbon: Building Design > Structural > Place Structural Elements > Deck


Important: Decks are fully promoted Structural elements containing Structural Quantities information and a full compliment of Structural Data attributes that can be populated with values after placement. Steel deck material properties are predefined from manufacturer data. Concrete fill can be added by selecting concrete type and entering an overall deck thickness.
Tip: Steel decks are free form solids that combine both steel and concrete deck components into one element. Their shape can be manipulated by moving edit handles, and can be penetrated with cut features.

General tab

SettingDescription
General
  • Place By - Selects one of the deck placement modes:
    • Structural Members — Defines the deck boundary by selecting its supporting Structural members.
    • Boundary — Defines the deck boundary by entering data points.
    • Shape — Defines the deck boundary with a shape element.
    Note: With the boundary defined, all the deck placement modes require “deck direction” data point entries to define the orientation of the steel decking.
  • Concrete Fill - Used to add concrete fill to the steel deck. When on, Concrete and Composite settings are enabled on the General tab. Two properties tabs; Concrete and Composite are also enabled.
    Note: An overall deck thickness must be entered.
    When off, the Composite and Concrete settings and property tabs are disabled, allowing only steel deck to be placed.
Steel Deck
  • Catalog Type - Used to set the DataGroup catalog type to be used for steel decking.
  • Catalog Instance - Used to set the DataGroup catalog type instance to be used for steel decking.
  • Kind - Used to select a steel decking specification mode. There are several options available:
    • Table — When selected, Steel Deck Properties are highlighted and populated with manufacturer data, including the Organization, Revision and Profile Name properties which are appended to the Steel Deck settings.
      Remember: Highlighted properties like Thickness and Sheet Width must be defined to complete the steel decking specification.
    • Sine Wave — When selected, steel decking geometry is specified by manually entering its Steel Deck Properties. An additional property Wave Length replaces dimensional properties when the Sine Wave specification mode is selected.


    • Standard - When selected, steel decking geometry is specified by manually entering its Steel Deck Properties (including dimensions). The Organization, Revision and Profile Name properties are removed from the Steel Deck settings.
  • Organization - Enabled when the Table deck type is selected. Used to select a steel decking manufacturer dataset. Selecting an organization updates other options related to the steel decking manufacturer.
  • Revision - Enabled when the Table deck type is selected. Used to select from available manufacturer data editions.
  • Profile Name - Enabled when the Table deck type is selected. Used to select from available steel deck profiles in the selected manufacturer data edition (Revision). Steel Deck Properties are updated as profiles are selected (read only).
Steel Deck Properties Contains controls used to set steel deck properties for all available tool modes.
  • Top Width (Tw) - Sets the width of the steel decking profile’s top surface.
  • Diagonal Width (Dw) - Sets the width of the steel decking profile’s diagonal surface.
  • Bottom Width (Bw) - Sets the width of the decking profile’s bottom surface.
  • Depth (D) - Sets the width of the decking profile’s overall depth.
  • Thickness (T) - Selects the steel decking material thickness. Steel decking thickness must always be selected manually.
  • Model Sheet Width - When on, the width of the individual steel sheets that make up the steel deck are modeled.


    Model Sheet Width: Off (Left), On (Right)

  • Sheet Width - Sets the width of the individual steel sheets that make up the steel deck.
  • Overhang - Used to enter an overhang distance to be applied to the deck edges.
  • Wave Length (L) - Enabled when the Sine Wave deck type is selected. Sets the size of the sine wave from trough to trough which defines the decking profile.
Concrete Enabled when the Concrete Fill setting is checked. Contains controls used to set the DataGroup catalog information for the concrete fill to be used in the composite deck.
  • Catalog Type - Sets the DataGroup catalog type to be used for the concrete fill.
  • Catalog Instance - Sets the DataGroup catalog instance to be used for the concrete fill.
  • Thickness - Sets an overall composite deck thickness. The value entered must be greater than the steel decking Depth (D) property.
Composite Enabled when the Concrete Fill setting is checked. Contains controls used to set the DataGroup catalog type and instance for the composite deck. The composite deck (steel and concrete combined) is treated as a single Structural member and must have a catalog type and instance associated.
  • Catalog Type - Sets the DataGroup catalog type to be used for the composite deck.
  • Catalog Instance - Sets the DataGroup catalog instance to be used for the composite deck.
Place Used to validate and accept the steel deck settings preparing the tool for placement of the deck.
Close Dismisses all changes and closes the Place Deck dialog.

Property tabs

Contains controls used to manage the DataGroup properties of the deck. Steel Deck, Concrete and Composite Deck properties are arranged in three properties panels. The Steel Deck properties panel is always preset. Concrete and Composite Deck are enabled only if the Concrete Fill option is checked on the General tab.

Deck properties defined on the Placement tab are available here as well as all the other Structural member properties stored in the DataGroup System. All defined properties will be applied to the deck.



Key-in: STEELDECKTOOL PLACE
Note: Use the Modify Properties to open the Modify Deck.
Complete Deck Specification Prior to Placement
Place Steel Deck By Selecting Structural Members
Place Steel Deck By Entering Data Points
Place Steel Deck By Selecting a Shape Element
To Place the Steel Deck Roof
Manipulate Decks
Parent topic: Structural Placement