Assign - Trial Groups

Selecting Assign > Trial Groups opens the Assign - Trial Groups dialog, which is used to override the global Trial Groups for individual column lines.

The Column Design module can produce up to three distinct designs at one time with the use of Trial Groups. A "Trial Group" defines a group of sizes from which a size can be selected and investigated during the optimization process.

For Standard Columns, each Trial Group consists of:

I-shape size group (e.g., W12)
Rectangular or Square Hollow Section size group (e.g. HSS16x16)
Round Hollow Section size-group (e.g. HSS8)

For Hanging Columns, each Trial Group is made up of nine shapes:

I-shape
Rectangular Hollow Section
Round Hollow Section
Channel
Tee Section
Flat Bar
Round Bar
Single Angle
Double Angle

During the design process, columns will be selected only from the size groups indicated in the Trial Groups. The optimum column sizes in each trial group is determined during design, and the trial group with the least weight is selected as the column line design.

The Default Trial Groups for all columns in the model are specified in the Criteria - Trial Group Defaults dialog.

How To:

Clicking the Cancel button will cause the dialog to close and return you to RAM Steel Column.

Making an assignment will cause the affected column line to be redrawn in yellow. Assigning trial groups to an optimized column will clear the optimized design. Frozen columns will maintain their design but will need to be re-analyzed.