COMPUTERS AND STRUCTURES, INC.

, BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA JULY 2009

TUBULAR STEEL FRAME PUNCHING LOAD CHECK

TECHNICAL NOTE

PUNCHING LOAD ASSIGNMENTS

This Technical Note describes the punching load assignments that are viewed and modified using the Design menu > Steel Frame Design > Punching Load Joint Assigns command. This command is available only when the steel design code is set to API RP2A-WSD2000, API RP2A-LRFD 97, or Norsok N-004-2004.

Assignments to Multiple Joints

Select more than one joint and click the Design menu > Steel Frame Design > Punching Load Joint Assigns command to bring up the Punching Load Assignments form shown in Figure 1. The Joint Name is displayed as Multiple Joints Selected, indicating that multiple joints are selected. The Punching Load Check area of the form has a Do NOT check this joint check box. If this check box is checked and the OK button is clicked, all of the selected joints will be flagged to be skipped when the punching load check is performed. The Do NOT check this joint flag is the only punching load assignment that can be viewed or modified for more than one joint at the same time. All other punching load assignments must be viewed or modified for a single joint at a time. (Note that when you use the database editing features of the program, it is possible to modify all punching load assignments for all joints at the same time.)

Figure 1: Punching Load Assignments form with multiple joints selected

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Assignments to a Single Joint

Select a single joint and click the Design menu > Steel Frame Design > Punching Load Joint Assigns command to bring up the Punching Load Assignments form shown in Figure 2. The selected joint name and all punching load assignments for the joint are displayed. The Punching Load Check area of the form has a Do NOT check this joint check box. If this check box is checked, the joint will be skipped when the punching load check is performed.

Figure 2: Punching Load Assignments form with a single joint selected

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Punching Load Check Status

The Current Punching Load Check Status for this Joint area of the Punching Load Assignments form (see Figure 2) indicates if the program will check the joint. Typically, if the program will not check the joint, the reason for not checking is displayed in this area. The most common reason that a joint will not be checked is if it is framing into members other than pipe sections.

Joint Check Parameters

The Joint Check Parameters area of the Punching Load Assignments form (see Figure 2) lists the punching load assignments for the selected joint. The steel design code (API RP2A-WSD2000, API RP2A-LRFD 97, or Norsok N-004-2004) selected in the steel design preferences determines the availability of some parameters (for example, Phi factors and Vwa). Also, selection of the API RP2A-WSD2000 code and the punching load method in the steel preferences determines the availability of the Qq and Qu factors. When you click on an item in the Joint Check Parameters area, a description of that item appears in the Item Description area. The items in the Joint Check Parameters area are color-coded blue, black or red. The meaning of each color code is defined in the Explanation of Color Coding for Values area of the form. The first column in the Joint Check Parameters area lists the punching load assignment items. The other columns list the assignments for each of the line objects (frame members) that are connected to the joint. All of the data for a single line object is contained in a single column in the table. The line object name is given in the second row of the table. Depending on the Type and Class specified for a particular line object, some of the punching load assignment items associated with the line object are inactive. When the Type for the line object is Chord, only the Active, Section, and Type items are active. All other items are inactive (blank with a gray background). When the Type for the line object is Brace, the Gap item is inactive, except when the Class item is set to K Gap. Also, when the Type for the line object is Brace, the items associated with overlapping joints are inactive, except when

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the Class item is set to K Overlap. The items associated with overlapping joints are L2, L1 / L, and Weld Thick, Vwa, and PhiWeld and apply only to the API codes. (Note that Vwa is applicable only when the steel design code is API RP2A-WSD2000 and PhiWeld is applicable only when the steel design code is API RP2A-LRFD 97.) If the Type and Angle items are not user defined, they are automatically calculated by the program, and they are automatically updated every time a change is made to the punching load assignments. Thus, in some cases, changing a single item in the Joint Check Parameters area may cause other items to change as the program automatically recalculates the Type and Angle items.

Set to Default or Previous Values

The Set To Default or Previous Values area of the Punching Load Assignments form (see Figure 2) contains several options and two buttons. The options allow you to indicate which items are to be set. The choices are the selected items, the selected column, the selected row, or all items. Clicking one of the buttons sets the values. The Set to Default Values button sets the items to their program default values. The Set to Previous Values button sets the items to the values they had when the form was opened.

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