Selecting the Assign > Beam > Unbraced Length command causes the Assign Beam Unbraced Length dialog to be displayed. From this dialog the engineer can assign, on a member by member basis, the value of unbraced length to be used in the design of the member. If the Global Criteria option is specified, the program will calculate the unbraced length using the beam flange bracing criteria specified in the Criteria - Flange Bracing command (or the flange bracing assignment made by the user, if any, using the Assign - Beam - Flange Bracing command).

After the appropriate values are specified the engineer can assign the criteria to a single beam ( Single), to multiple beams (Fence) or to all beams ( All).

• If Single is selected, the dialog will close and a target cursor will appear. Click on each beam to which the criteria is to be applied.
• If Fence is selected, the dialog will close and a fence cursor will appear. Click and drag a rectangle around all the beams to which the values are to be assigned.
• If All is selected, the dialog will close and the values will be assigned to all beams, even those that are not in the current view.

When assigning these values, care must be taken to select the correct beam.

Note that the values are only assigned to steel frame beams.

To return to the dialog to assign different effective length values, click on the right mouse button.

To view which member axes are using the global criteria and which have been overridden, select the Unbraced Length option from the View-Members command.