The Criteria > Beam Design Bar Selection tab is where various parameters are defined to fine-tune the reinforcement selection:

• Minimum Number of Bars in Beam Top - Used to define the minimum acceptable number of bars in the top of the beam. If bars are required in the top of the beam, there will be at least as many bars in the top of the beam as are specified here.
• Minimum Number of Bars in Beam Bottom - Used to define the minimum acceptable number of bars in the bottom of the beam. If bars are required in the bottom of the beam, there will be at least as many bars in the bottom of the beam as are specified here.
• Bar Sizes: Keep all bars in layer the same size - Used to force bars that are in the same layer (upper or lower) to be the same size.
• Bar Sizes: Adjacent bars may differ in size by # sizes - Used to control the change in bar size for bars in the same layer. For example, if 1 is entered, then only #4, #5, and #6 bars can be placed in an adjacent span to a #5 bar. This option is available if the option to force all bars in the same layer to be the same size is not selected.
• Transverse Bars: Segment Length Increment - Used to help in defining design segment dimensions that are rounded off to typical dimensions that an engineer would use or that would be practical for construction. For example the shear reinforcement in a beam may be divided into three segments with one at either end where the shear is highest and a center segment. The segment length increment identifies the segment size increment. If 6" is used then the segments will be multiples of 6".
• Transverse Bars: Bar Spacing Increment - Used to define the transverse reinforcement spacing increment so that transverse reinforcement spacing matches office and project standards. This eliminates bar spacing that may be in fractions of inches or spacing increments that are impractical for construction.
• Select bars based on Minimum Bar Area, Minimum Bar Spacing, or Maximum Bar Spacing - Used in selecting the optimization criteria from all the acceptable combination of bar sizes and spacing. Selection by area will attempt give the least bar area. The program will use these selection criteria to try and select reasonable bar sizes. When a set of bar size and quantity combinations are acceptable, the selected set will satisfy both the user defined criteria and internally defined selection criteria that are used to give reasonable bar sets.
• Bar Selection Bias : Bias Bar Size - This option identifies which size bars are preferred by the engineer. The bars in the Bar Table are divided into three groups. Assuming #3 through #18 bar sizes are in the table:
• Small size = #3, #4, #5, and #6
• Medium size = #7, #8, #9, and #10
• Large size = #11, #14, and #18
• Bar Selection Bias : Amount of Bias - Used to specify how much importance the engineer places on the Bar Size selected in Bias Bar Size.