The engineer can import designs from Westok Automate v7.0 and assign them to Steel beams or Westok Cellular Beams in RAM Steel Beam. For this capability to be available, the code for Live Load Reduction must be set to BS 6399 in the Criteria – Member Loads command in RAM Manager.

To invoke an import, select the Process – Import from Westok AutoMate command. The Open dialog will appear, listing all Westok files available for import. It may be necessary to navigate to the desired directory where the files are located. Select the .cbx file with the beam information to be imported.

Select either a Steel beam or Westok Cellular Beam with the target cursor. The design data from the specified file will be imported and assigned to the selected beam:

• Top and bottom Tee size.
• Cell Diameter.
• Cell Pitch (spacing).
• Cell Locations.
• Elongated openings and stiffeners, if any.
• Infills, if any.
• Studs, for composite beams.
• Beam py.

Note that the loads and concrete and profile properties are not imported.

If a Westok design is imported and assigned to a Steel beam, that beam will be changed to a Westok Cellular Beam.

The length of an imported AutoMate beam must be the same as the length of the target beam, within a 50mm tolerance.

A primary beam design cannot be imported and assigned to a secondary beam,and a secondary beam design cannot be imported and assigned to a primary beam.

Beams with elongated openings cannot be Analyzed in the View/Update command in the RAM Structural System. If such beams are imported they are included in the Summary and Takeoff reports and on the DXF output, and they are shown in the 3D view, but no design information can be obtained. The RAM Structural System does not analyze or design elongated openings. If the Optimize command in the View/Update command is invoked, the beam will be designed without the elongated opening and if an Update Database is performed, the elongated cell data is lost.

The two programs handle studs (shear connectors) quite differently. Westok AutoMate allows "zones" to be specified, with the number of rows of studs in each zone defined. The RAM Structural System calls out the actual number of studs on the beam; each beam has a single number of studs and the distribution of those studs is assumed to be uniform except the ends may have double rows or triple rows while the rest of the span has single rows or double rows, respectively (the program automatically determines when and where that occurs). When possible the program converts the stud rows called for by Westok AutoMate into the equivalent number of studs in the RAM Structural System, although this is not always possible. Note the following:

• If the stud distribution in Westok AutoMate is uniform, it will be the same in RAM Structural System.
• For secondary beams with 3 stud zones in Westok AutoMate, the studs in that program and the studs in RAM Structural System will be the same if the stud spacing in each zone is the same, the end zones have the same length and the Group Number (studs per rib) in the 3 zones have one of the following configurations:
  • (1) 1, 0.5, 1
  • (2) 2, 1, 2
  • (3) 3, 2, 3
• If the stud arrangement for secondary beams in Westok AutoMate cannot be converted to an equivalent number of studs in the RAM Structural System, the beam will not be imported.
• The number of studs imported for primary beams is based on the zone with the highest stud density. The number of studs on the beam is then determined using the highest stud density across the entire length. Thus for primary beams if the stud density in each zone differ in the Westok AutoMate program, the designs between the two programs will not match because the studs do not match.