Drawing distributed tendon quadrilaterals
Distributed tendon quadrilaterals define a specification to generate a specific force or number of strands per unit width at a given angle within a defined 4 sided polygon.
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Choose the Distributed Tendon Quadrilateral tool (
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- Click each of the four vertices of the quadrilateral vertex sequentially (the quadrilateral can extend across multiple spans or bays).
Since distributed tendon quadrilaterals are meant to represent a "smeared" tendon force, the spacing specified isn’t typically critical. However, due to geometrical irregularities inaccuracies can be introduced near the edges of the shape. RAM Concept automatically attempts to provide a half space at each edge of the tendon layout area to minimize this effect. This effect can also be minimized by specifying a smaller spacing, at the expense of a larger number of generated tendons and increased run time. A spacing of 2 ft (0.75 m) will normally provide a good balance between accuracy and computational expense.