In some cases, due to members that frame into rigid end zones, a finite elements length is shorter than its rigid end zone length. In all cases where a member's rigid end zone length exceeds three-quarters of the elements length, RAM Concrete Analysis ignores the rigid end zone, and uses the center-to-center dimension as the effective lengths.

Similarly, columns in very short "dummy" stories could have rigid end zones larger than their own heights. Again, in such cases RAM Concrete Analysis uses the clear heights of the columns as their effective lengths without carrying out rigid end zone corrections.