Selecting the Criteria - Self-Weight command in the RAM Manager will cause the Self-Weight dialog box to appear. The current Self-Weight selections are displayed.

Modifications can be made by selecting a checkbox.

Clicking the Cancel button will cancel any new selections made.

Clicking the OK button to affirm the new selections will cause a warning dialog box to appear stating that the changes will require that the model be reframed and members be redesigned. Clicking OK will allow the code change to proceed. Clicking Cancel will cancel the change and return you to the RAM Manager screen.

Automatic consideration of beam, column, wall and slab self-weight is an option. Except as noted below, this eliminates the need for the user to include an approximate value for member self-weights in surface load and line loads.

Self-weight of Steel Joists is not automatically included. In order for the design to consider the self-weight for these members, it must be applied by the user as part of the surface load or as a series of separate line loads. This is necessary because only the self-weight of Standard steel joists is known (although even that can vary with the actual span). The actual self-weight of Girders and Special joists is not known. So for consistency, no self-weight is automatically considered for any Steel Joists.

Self-weight of Braces is not automatically included.

Column self-weight is not included in the column load applied to transfer girders. If significant, the user should specify a Point load at that location to approximate and account for the self-weight of the supported column. This is necessitated by the fact that if self-weight was to be automatically included in this case, the columns would need to be designed before the beams in order to get the column self-weight applied to the transfer girder, but the beams need to be designed first in order to get the beam self-weights applied to the columns. Thus it would require an iterative design process, alternating between the beam design and the column design until no sizes changed. For simplicity it was decided to not automatically apply the column self-weight to transfer girders.

Masses due to the self-weight of members can also be automatically included in the story masses calculated in RAM Frame. Options for including the self-weights for mass can be selected in the Criteria - Self-Weight command in RAM Manager.

When the top of a wall slopes, the wall self-weight is applied as a trapezoidal load rather than a uniform load, based on the wall thickness, unit weight and height of the wall at each end.

For columns, the calculated self-weight is applied as a point load at the top of the column.

The self-weight of Concrete columns and beams is calculated using the value of Unit Weight for Self-Weight, specified by the user in the Modeler. This value of Unit Weight is separate from the value specified for Unit Weight used in the calculation of material properties (e.g., modulus of elasticity).

The self-weight of composite floor slabs is calculated using the Unit Weight and Concrete Thickness Above Flutes specified by the user in the Modeler, and the deck profile from the deck table (for determining the contribution of the concrete in the deck ribs to the total slab self-weight). To this is added the self-weight of Steel Deck specified by the user in the Modeler. See PropTable - Decking.

The self-weight of noncomposite floor slabs/decks is the value specified as the Unit Weight for Self-Weight. See PropTable - Decking.

The self-weight of Concrete slabs is calculated using the Concrete Slab Thickness and the Unit Weight for Self-Weight. See PropTable - Decking.

Note that self-weights are based on the center-to-center of supports and floor-to-floor heights of beams and columns respectively. This means that there is a duplication of self-weight at the joints. The program does not make any attempt to reduce this.