Manager

SNOW VS ROOF LIVE LOAD*: In the Criteria – Member Loads command, if the selection for Snow vs Roof Live Load was Consider Roof Live Loads, Ignore Snow Loads, and the Code for Live Load Reduction selection was changed to NBC of Canada, BS 6399, Eurocode, Eurocode UK NA, AS/NZS, China, or Hong Kong, the selection for Snow vs Roof Live Load changed to Consider Snow Loads, Ignore Roof Live Loads.

Effect: If the Code for Live Load Reduction selection was changed to any of the codes listed, the selection for Snow vs Roof Live Load may have unintentionally switched to Consider Snow, Ignore Roof Live Load, resulting in Roof Live Loads being ignored in analysis and design.

Modeler

FRAME COLUMNS ON GRAVITY WALLS: If the end of a Gravity wall shared the same point as a Frame column, and a Frame column above was supported by that Frame column, a DataCheck warning was erroneously being displayed indicating that a Frame column was supported by a gravity member (referring to the Gravity wall). The warning should not have been displayed since there was also a Frame column at that location.

Effect: Erroneous DataCheck warning for an acceptable configuration.

Steel Beam

WEB OPENING TEE BUCKLING CAPACITY CHECK: In the design of beams with web openings per AISC Design Guide #2, it is not required to perform the buckling capacity check of tees with an aspect ratio less than 4.0. However, the program incorrectly and unnecessarily calculated the demand/capacity ratio for that check and potentially listed that value as the controlling demand/capacity ratio for the opening, but correctly did not flag the opening as failing if that ratio exceeded 1.0. Hence it was possible that the program listed a demand/capacity ratio greater than 1.0 but did not indicate that the opening failed.

Effect: Potentially, in View/Update and on-screen, an incorrect demand/capacity ratio greater than 1.0 was listed for the opening, even if the opening passed all of the necessary design checks (the design report listed the correct value).

CASTELLATED BEAMS FREEZING: While optimizing castellated beam sizes for a range of opening spacing, e, the program may have failed to correctly determine an e-max for some beams’ designs.

Effect: The optimization process for certain castellated beam designs stalled during a Design All, the design of the remaining beams could not be obtained.

NON-COMPOSITE BEAM SPAN/DEFLECTION DISPLAY VALUES: When the Show Values option of the Process – Design Colors command was invoked, non-composite beams did not show the correct deflection interaction value if the deflection criteria for the beam only included a limit on the Live Load L/d ratio.

Effect: The designs were correct; the beam designs correctly considered the Live Load L/d deflection limit for non-composite beams. However, the Process – Design Colors command did not show the correct deflection interaction value in the display if the deflection criteria for the beam only included a limit on the Live Load L/d ratio.

Steel Column

AISC 360-16 DESIGN WARNING: In the calculation of the P-delta multiplier, B1y, if alphaPr was greater than Pe1y the warning given by the program incorrectly stated that alphaPr was greater than Pe1x.

Effect: Warning text error only. The warning incorrectly referenced Pe1x rather than Pe1y.

Concrete Beam

ACI 318 SEISMIC PROVISION DESIGN SHEAR, Ve*: When only some of the load cases were analyzed in RAM Frame, the portion of Ve attributed to the gravity load cases was sometimes greater than the actual gravity load case shear.

Effect: Design shear, Ve, used in ACI 318-11 Section 21.5.4.1 and ACI 318-14 Section 18.6.5.1, may have been wrong; when the error occurred, it was almost always conservative, but not necessarily, so in rare cases may have resulted in an unconservative design. If all of the load cases in RAM Frame were analyzed, the error did not occur.

CONCRETE BEAM FORCE ENVELOPES*: If not all cases were analyzed in RAM Frame, the Force Envelopes in Concrete Beam were calculated incorrectly.

Effect: Incorrect results.

Concrete Column

COLUMNS UNBRACED OVER MULTIPLE STORIES*: When calculating the special provision shear requirement of ACI 318-14 Section 18.7.6.1.1 (or analogous clauses in earlier codes), if a column was unbraced over multiple stories, the program did not take into consideration the probable moment contribution from beams in the upper story segments of the column when designing the lower story segments of the column.

Effect: Potentially there was an underestimation of special provision shear.

ACI 318-11 SECTION 10.3.5 LIMIT ON NET TENSILE STRAIN: The limit of 0.004 on the net tensile strain of the reinforcement for lightly loaded columns was not being applied.

Effect: The maximum reinforcement ratio for columns imposed by the minimum limit on the tensile strain at nominal strength was not being considered.

Concrete Wall

COUPLING BEAMS COMPOSED OF DIFFERENT WALL PANELS*: If a coupling beam was composed of portions of two wall panels (i.e., the upper portion of the coupling beam was from the panel above and the lower portion of the coupling beam was from the panel below), the design forces may have been incorrect, only including the forces in the lower portion of the coupling beam.

Effect: Incorrect design of coupling beams for the condition described.

COUPLING BEAM UPDATE DATABASE: If changes were made to the reinforcing for coupling beams, and then saved using the Update Database command, the original design results were not cleared, and a subsequent View/Update would show the results from the original configuration rather than the saved configuration.

Effect: Incorrect design results were shown in View/Update after the coupling beam reinforcement was changed and updated.

HORIZONTAL SECTION CUT FORCES BETA ANGLE*: When a designed and saved model is re-opened, the program recalculates the beta angle of the resultant horizontal section cut forces. These global forces were not converted to the local axes of the wall prior to the calculation of the beta angle.

Effect: An incorrect beta angle was calculated and displayed for the resultant forces. Generally, this was only a display error. However, subsequent optimizations may have been based on calculations using this erroneous beta angle, resulting in incorrect designs.

Frame - Analysis

USER-DEFINED WIND LOADS ON SEMIRIGID DIAPHRAGM*: When the wind loads were user-defined rather than generated and the diaphragm was specified as Semirigid, the wind load distribution on skewed diaphragm geometries were not correct because the program used real building lengths instead of projected lengths. Even though the total applied load was correct, the wind load profile (wind load distribution along building surfaces) was not correct.

Effect: For diaphragm geometries with skewed faces, total wind load was correct, but the wind load distribution along any given face was not.

USER-DEFINED WIND LOADS ON SEMIRIGID DIAPHRAGM*: If deck assignment (deck polygon) did not fully extend out to the end of slab edges and the deck was specified as Semirigid, the program applied user-defined wind loads at wrong locations. It was expected such wind point loads should be applied to mesh nodes close to edges, but they were applied to nodes at other locations.

Effect: Wind loads were not assigned to nodes along edges if the deck polygon did not extend out to that slab edge. The error was generally very obvious if the Process – Results – Applied Story Forces command was invoked to display the loads on the diaphragms.

USER-DEFINED WIND LOADS ON SEMIRIGID DIAPHRAGM: When the wind loads were user-defined rather than generated and the diaphragm was specified as Semirigid, the applied loads were greater than necessary if the diaphragm had a concave geometry.

Effect: The applied wind loads were greater than what the user had defined.

INCORRECT MEMBER FORCES FOR BEAM WITH SPRING CONNECTION AND SEMIRIGID DECK*: The program produced incorrect member forces for beams if the beam had been assigned a spring connection and the deck was Semirigid.

Effect: Member forces for beam were incorrect.

INCORRECT FORCE/MOMENT DIAGRAGMS FOR BEAM WITH SPRING CONNECTION: Member Force diagrams were incorrect on beams if the beam had been assigned a Spring connection type and the option to Include Effects for rigid end zones was selected.

Effect: The diagram was shifted and the program was not consistent in properly displaying the values at rigid-end-zone distances versus at the face of joint.

WRONG SIGN REPORTED FOR BEAM AXIAL AND MINOR MOMENT FOR DYNAMIC CASES*: Beam axial force and minor moment for dynamic load cases were reported with the wrong sign if the "Apply sign" option was selected for dynamic analysis results and member forces were reported at face of joint.

Effect: Wrong sign reported for beam dynamic axial force and minor moment.

CRASH WHILE ATTEMPTING TO DISPLAY GRAVITY WALL STRESS: Gravity walls are included in the analysis if they support two-way decks and the option to include them in analysis is selected. However, if gravity walls were included in a previous analysis and then not in the current analysis, the program subsequently crashed if the Process – Results – Stress and Internal Force Contours command was invoked.

Effect: Program crash.

USER-DEFINED STORY WIND AND SEISMIC LOADS*: In a very rare case, user entered values for user-defined story forces were lost either upon closing the load case dialog or after an analysis was performed.

Effect: User entered values for wind and seismic forces were lost.

NBC OF CANADA 95 WIND LOAD CASE REPORT: For the NBC of Canada 1995 wind load case, the Loads and Applied Forces report only listed the building frequency for the X-direction even if both X- and Y-direction wind cases were analyzed.

Effect: Report error only, the Y-direction frequency was not listed.

EUROCODE 1991-1-4:2005 AND EUROCODE 1991-1-4:2005 UK NA WIND CASE: The program crashed for Eurocode 1991-1-4:2005 and Eurocode 1991-1-4:2005 UK NA wind load cases if the ground level was not At Base in the Criteria – Ground Level command.

Effect: Program crash.

EUROCODE ENV 1991-2-4:1995 WIND LOAD CASE*: For Eurocode ENV 1991-2-4:1995 wind load case, the program did not immediately recognize changes to the Ground Level selection in the Criteria – Ground Level command, the program continued to use the ground level from the previous run.

Effect: Calculated wind forces were not correctly reflecting ground level set for that run.

ZERO WIND PRESSURE FOR CHINA GB50011 WIND LOAD CASE*: The China GB50011 wind load generator was not generating any wind loads.

Effect: No wind pressure and forces calculated for the load case.

DISPLAYING MEMBER FORCES ENVELOPE VALUES: The Process – Results – Member Forces Envelope command took an exceptionally long to display member force envelope values on screen if the model included dynamic load cases.

Effect: Prohibited viewing of member forces envelopes if there were dynamic load cases.

CRASH WHEN SWITCHING BETWEEN MODES: The program would sometimes crash when switching between the various modes (Load Combinations, Steel, Drift, and Shear Wall Forces).

Effect: Program crash.

DURAFUSE PANEL ZONE ROTATION FOR DYNAMIC LOAD CASE: For dynamic load cases, the Member Forces report for a column in a moment frame using the DuraFuse moment frame connection reported incorrect Panel Zone Rotation values.

Effect: Incorrect Rotation values reported.

STRESS CONTOUR VALUES NOT DISPLAYED IN PLAN VIEW: When displaying stress contours in Plan View, the option to Show Stress Contour Values did not work, the values were not displayed.

Effect: Stress contour values could only be displayed in 3D View, not in Plan View.

STRESS CONTOUR DISPLAY IGNORED EXTENTS: If the extents of the view had been limited using the View – Extents command, those extents were ignored when the stress contours were displayed.

Effect: Wall and diaphragm stress contours were displayed for all levels, even if the user had attempted to limit the stories being displayed using the View – Extents command

PROGRAM FREEZE WHEN DISPLAYING STRESS CONTOURS FOR LOAD COMBINATIONS: In Load Combinations mode, the program become unresponsive when the Process – Results – Stress and Internal Force Contour command was invoked.

Effect: The contours could not be viewed in Load Combination mode.

ECCENTRIC GRAVITY MOMENT AT TILT-UP WALL GAP JOINTS: Eccentric gravity moment from gravity beams framing into the joint was intended to be equally distributed to the tilt-up wall panels common to the joint. If both (or all, if more than two panels converged at a joint) panels had been assigned to have a gap there, the moment was equally distributed properly, but if one of the panels had not been assigned to have a gap there, it was not assigned any eccentric gravity moment; it was all assigned to the panel with the gap assignment.

Effect: Tilt-up panels without gap assignments may not have been designed for the intended eccentric gravity moments from beams framing into the wall end.

CRASH AFTER DELETING LOAD CASES: If load cases were deleted after they had been analyzed the program was susceptible to crashing on the subsequent analysis.

Effect: Program crash.

CRASH WHEN SWITCHING BETWEEN MODES: Program crashes were common after invoking the Shear Wall Forces mode and then switching to another mode.

Effect: Program crash.

Frame - Steel Standard Provisions

VIEW/UPDATE WITH DYNAMIC LOAD CASES: Investigation of different beam sizes in the View Update dialog for models with dynamic load cases was often unresponsive, leading users to believe a crash had occurred.

Effect: While investigating other beam sizes in View Update dialog box, the program became unresponsive while internally processing combinations with dynamic load cases. Models without dynamic combinations did not result in delays when investigating alternate beam sizes.

SIDEPLATE OR DURAFUSE CONNECTION UNBRACED LENGTH: For the SidePlate and DuraFuse connections, the unbraced length of beams and columns should be the clear distance between faces of members (regardless of the selections for Rigid End Zones in the Criteria – General Criteria command). However, the program was calculating the unbraced lengths based on those selections.

Effect: For SidePlate and DuraFuse connections, the unbraced length of members used in design was correct if the option to Include Effects was selected with 0% reduction, but any other selection would result in a conservative (longer) unbraced length. The analysis was correct, only the unbraced length may have been incorrect.

SCBF COLUMNS - MAX COMPRESSIVE FORCE: The 0.75 reduction factor was not applied to the transient load combinations for SCBF Columns designed according to AISC 341-10 and -16 ASD.

Effect: The max compression design force for SCBF Columns designed according to AISC 341-10 and -16 ASD and governed by combinations with transient loads was not reduced by the transient load reduction factor of 0.75. Designs may have reported incorrect controlling load combinations.

Frame - Steel Seismic Provisions

AISC 341-16 BASIC REQUIREMENTS FOR SCBF BEAMS*: AISC 341-16 Section F2.5a Basic Requirements requires that SCBF members satisfy the requirements of Section D1.1 for highly ductile members; however, the program was only applying the moderately ductile limits on SCBF beams.

Effect: SCBF beams checked according to AISC 341-16 Basic Requirements, Section D1.1, used Moderately Ductile rather than Highly Ductile limits. Some beams should have failed under the more stringent flange b/tf limit for highly ductile members.

CONTINUITY PLATE CHECK STATUS: When a Joint Code Check for IMF and SMF joints was performed and it was determined that continuity/stiffener plates were required but web plates were not, the symbol displayed for the joint was incorrect, indicating that web plates were required. Also, the Seismic Provisions Joint Code Check report incorrectly stated that both web plates and stiffeners were required although it correctly only listed the stiffener plate information.

Effect: When stiffeners were required, both the symbol displayed for the joint and the report incorrectly indicated that web plates were required.

ROUND HSS REQUIRED COLUMN STRENGTH: The reported required column strength per the requirements of Section D1.4a of AISC 341-10 and AISC 341-16 for SCBF and BRBF with round HSS columns with different orientations for columns within a multi-story stack was calculated incorrectly; the amplified seismic load Emh or Ecl in certain chevron bracing configurations was incorrect.

Effect: The amplified seismic load, Emh or Ecl, determined respectively according to Sections D1.4a of AISC 341-10 and AISC 341-16 for SCBF-V and BRBF-V for round HSS columns was incorrect when columns within a multi-story column stack had varying column orientations. When no braces frame into the top of column in a given axis, the column is designed for an accumulation of axial loads from supported stories and any unbalanced beam shear reactions. When braces frame into the top of the column in a given axis, only the vertical reaction of the braces and any accumulated axial loads from supported stories are considered. When the column orientation for a round column changed from level to level, these values were incorrectly mixed.

DURAFUSE HSS JOINT CHECK*: Some DuraFuse joint configurations at HSS columns were incorrectly considered invalid and so were not designed.

Effect: The joint check for the DuraFuse connection was not performed in many cases when the column was an HSS.

Data Extractor

INCORRECT DATA EXPORTED FOR GRAVITY BEAM REACTIONS: In the GravLoadReactionsOnBeams tab of the Loads tables, there were several columns that should have been expanded to show an array of values rather than a single value. For example, Columns BC-BH listed the tributary areas on the beam; however there are three such values for each beam corresponding to the left cantilever, the span, and the right cantilever. But only a single value was listed, and it was incorrect, it didn’t even correspond to the value for any of those segments. There were several other columns with similar problems, notably Columns CA-CB listing the MultiLevelFlag. These columns have now been expanded to contain the full arrays of values.

Effect: Columns BC-BH, BQ-BT, CC-CN, CA-CB and CU-CZ had erroneous values. The correction required that several existing columns of data were relocated to the right. Of note, Column DS, that contained the StoryID, is now Column EQ.

INCORRECT DATA EXPORTED FOR GRAVITY COLUMN REACTIONS: In the GravLoadReactionsOnColumn tab of the Loads tables, there were several columns that should have been expanded to show an array of values rather than a single value. For example, Columns Q-AB listed beam reactions on the sides of the columns, used for skip loading and unbalance moments; however only a single side’s value was listed rather than all four sides’ values, and that value that was listed was wrong. All of the columns to the left of AU had a similar problem. These columns have now been relocated and expanded to contain the full arrays of values.

Effect: Columns Q-AB and AV-CQ had erroneous values. Columns Q-AB have been abandoned (filled with 0.0 and labeled as unused), and the values in Columns Q-AB and AV-CQ have been expanded and relocated to the right of Column AU.