Tutorial Problem on Steel Designer:Introduction:

Let us use a truss model named Truss.std to illustrate how the Steel Designer Works. The
base model looks like the one in the picture below:

It is absolutely necessary to perform the analysis in STAAD before going into the Steel
Designer. The Steel Designer reads the analysis results from the analysis file and then
designs the selected members. Thus, analyzing the model is a necessary prerequisite.
How to access the Steel Designer:
Once the analysis has been done, we can go into the Steel Designer. The Steel Designer
can be accessed from two locations:
1. From the main-menu bar go to Mode>Interactive Designs> Steel Design. This is
shown in the figure below:

2. From the Green Title bar by clicking on Steel Design. This is also shown in the
figure below:

Steel Designer Screen A description:

Once we get into the steel designer from the above-mentioned locations, the screen will
look like the one as shown below:

As we can see, the tabs are arranged in a sequential order from the top to the bottom. We
have to work our way from the first tab Load Envelope at the top to the Connection
design tab at the bottom.
Step 1- Creating the Load Envelope:
By default, we are in the Load Envelope Page. This page has only one sub-option called
the Setup. So, we can say that by default we are in the Load Envelope-Setup Page.
This page helps us to select the load cases (primary and combinations), we have already
defined, while modeling the structure that are to be included in the design.
Now, let us look at the screen at the right. We will see a dialog box as shown in the figure
below:

As we can see, right at the bottom of this dialog box, we can find two buttons New
Envelope and Edit Envelope.
As we are trying to create a new load envelope, click on the button New Envelope. We
find the following dialog box appear:

We can put in the name of the envelope in the Window besides the title Envelope
Name. By default the envelope name will be Design Envelope 1. Let us go with the
default name.
Under the Defined Loads category, we find that there are two options with check
boxes- Select All Load Cases Shown Below and Show Combinations Only. By
default, the check box besides Show combinations Only is ticked and only the
combination load is shown in the big window at the bottom.
Say, we want to include one of the primary load cases in the design process. So, we
remove the tick mark besides Show Combinations Only, and we immediately find that
all the defined load cases are now being shown. This is illustrated in the figure below:

If we check the box besides Select All Load Cases Shown below, all the load cases
(primary and combinations) will be selected.
Let us select Load Case 1 and Load Case 3, by physically ticking besides the respective
load cases as shown in the figure below:

Now, let us click on Ok.

We can see that the dialog box on the right of the screen turns to following:

Thus, we have created our load envelope, which includes Load 1 and Load 3. The Ref.
for the Load Envelope is E1 as can be seen from the figure above. We can click on E1 to
select the load envelope and then click on the Edit Envelope button to edit our load
envelope.
However, let us stick to the Envelope we have created.
Step 2- Defining the Physical members:
In STAAD, Every member between nodes is treated as a separate member. However, we
might not like to go on with this concept. For example, have a look at the figure below:

The bottom chord of the truss is made up of members 20,21,22,23. We would like to
define that as one physical member. Similarly, we might like to define members 8,9,10 as
one physical member and member 11, 12, 13 as one physical member. Let us say, for the
rest of the members 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19, we would associate a physical member
with each separate member.
For this, it is important for us to know the concept of Form members and the
AutoForm members. We will explain these concepts as we go along with this tutorial.
To realize our aforementioned objectives, we have to get into the member design page.
Let us click on the following button as shown in the figure below:

On clicking this button, a list of sub-pages included under the Member Design appears
as shown in the figure below:-

As before, we have to work from the top to bottom as these sub-tabs are arranged in a
sequential manner.
By default, we are in the Member Design-Member setup page.
Now, let us realize the objective of defining members 20, 21, 22, 23 as one physical
member. For this select the members 20 to 23. Now go to Member design > Physical
members > Form member. The location of this option is shown in the figure below. The
screen will like the one as shown in that figure.

You can also select this form member option from the icon as shown in the figure below:

On clicking the Form member option from either of the options as described above, the
model will appear as shown in the figure below:

So, we find that the bottom chord is depicted by a single physical member M1. The
numbering of the physical member will be in the order as you create starting from the
default name M1. The next will be M2, M3 and so on.
Let us try and define the set of members 8, 9, 10 as a physical member. After that, we try
and define the set of members 11, 12, 13 as another physical member. We try and use the
same procedure described above. If we have done that correctly in the order specified, the
model will appear as shown below:

Thus, up to this point, we have defined three physical members- M1, M2 and M3. Let us
try and define the rest of the members as a physical member each. Now, instead of
selecting each member at a time and pressing on Form members to achieve our

objective, we try and do that in one shot. For that, we use the principle of Auto-Form
members. The location and the icon of this option is shown in the figure below:

Now, let us select all the members that have not yet been defined as a physical member.
After selecting all such members, the model should appear as the one shown below:

Now, press the option Auto-Form Members. We find that immediately all the
remaining members are assigned the status of a physical member in a sequential order.
The model, now should look like the one as shown in the figure below:

Thus, our objective in Step 2- that is defining the physical members is now complete.
Step 3- Defining Restraints:
For this, we have to click on the Restraint sub-tab under Member design.
Immediately, the screen looks like the one as shown in the figure below:

The yellow colored table at the bottom is the Restraint Table. Let us maximize this
window. Now, this looks like the one in the figure below:

There are various parameters that define the restraints of the members. To know about
these parameters, please go to the Help Contents.
If you wish to edit the parameters of any member, select the member from the Table by
clicking on that Member number. Say if we want to select the member number 1, we
click on M1 from the table. That line will appear to be blackened. Now, let us right-click.
A box appears as shown in the figure above. If you click on Edit, a dialog box will pop
up as shown in the figure below:

By default the first component member of the physical member M1 will be selected. We
can move to any component members using the drop-down window besides the Select
Beam. We can remember the first component member was 20 for member M1. In the
dialog box above, we can see the member 20 of the physical member M1 is highlighted
by default.

Once, you have edited the box we can click on OK. However, for our present case, we do
not make any changes and carry on with our tutorial problem.
So, this ends our step 3.
Step 4- Creating Briefs / Groups:
The next step is creating the Briefs / Groups.
In the Briefs we set the design parameters for our steel design. Let us see how this can be
done. For this we have to click the Briefs / Groups sub-tab under the Member Design
tab. Immediately, we find that the screen appears as below:

Click on the button New Brief, as shown in the picture above. A dialog box pops up as
shown in the figure below.
By default, the brief name appears as Design Brief 1. The Design code appears as
AISC ASD. You can use any design code, by selecting the appropriate code from the
drop- down window. Let us use the default name of the brief and let us use the AISC
ASD code for this tutorial.

Click on the Select Parameter List button, to set the parameters for design. When we
click here the above box appear as shown in the figure below:

As can be seen from the above figure, all the parameters are selected by default. You can
tick off any unnecessary parameters. However, for our case, let us keep all the parameters
selected and click on OK.
Thus, we have created our required brief namely Design Brief 1. This now gets listed in
the Briefs Table as shown in the figure below:

The reference marking for the Brief is B1. If we are to edit the brief we have created,
we have to select the brief by the method shown in the figure above The List will then
appear in black. Now, we have to click on the Edit Brief button, as shown in the figure
above.
We do not need to edit the Brief for this tutorial. So, we carry on from here.
The next important step is creating the groups. Remember, up to this point, we have
created both the Load Envelope and the Design Brief, but we have not joined them
yet. There can be more than one load envelope and one design brief. So, it is very
important to define which envelope goes with which brief. This is achieved by defining
Groups where we conjoin a design brief with a load envelope. Let us see how this can
be done.
From the Groups table click on New Group. This is depicted in the figure below.

As soon as we click on this button we find the following box pops up:

The default group name appears as Design Group 1. We can change the name to our
wish. Supposing that we had more than one load envelope and more than one design
brief- we could have selected the appropriate briefs and envelopes from their respective
drop-down windows and associated with this group. But for our problem, we have only
one design brief Design Brief 1 and one load envelope Design Envelope 1 and we
associate them with the Design Group 1. Now, we have one more item in the group- the
members we want to design. Thus this will associate the members with the load envelope
and brief.
Before that, we have to add the Design Group 1 under the Group folder. This can be
accomplished by clicking on the Add button. Let us look for the illustration in the
figure below.

Once the Add button is clicked, the above dialog box will look like the figure below.
The Design group 1 is thus move under the Group folder.

This being done, we want to associate the members we want to design under the Design
Group. Let us click on the members we want to design (or associate with the Design
group 1), under the Members window and move them to the Groups window on the
right using > or > > buttons. Let us say, we want to associate all the members with
the Design Group 1 for this problem. In that case, we have to select and move all the
members under Design Group 1. The dialog box, now, should look like this.

Thus all the members has been associated with Design Envelope 1 and Design brief
1 under the banner of Design Group 1. So, we can click on OK.
We will find that the Design Group is added to the Groups table as shown in the
picture below.

Editing design group is same as the operation of editing Design briefs.

So, now, we are ready for design.
Step 5- Doing the design:
First let us select the member / members, we want to design. Let us suppose that we want
to carry out the design operation for the physical beam M1.So, let us first select the beam
with the Physical member Cursor. This cursor should be active now. If not, you can
make it active by going to either of the locations as shown encircled in red in the picture
below:

Anyway, with the Physical member cursor active, let us select M1, which we want to
design. The model should like the following when you have selected M1.

Now. There are two design commands- Check Code and Member Selection. You can use
either of the two from the following location as shown in the picture below:

For this tutorial problem, let us suppose that we want to check code member M1.
So, let us click on the option Check Code.
Once the design is done, we will see the following dialog box.

So, we are done with the design of member M1. The next step is to access the design
reports.

Step 6- Accessing the Design Reports:

To see the Design Reports, we have to click on the Results / Reports sub-tab under
Member Design.
Once we click on that, the screen appears as the one shown below:

We can see the Reports at the bottom of the screen. We can maximize that window and
see what this report looks like.

To look at the detailed designed report for a member, we have to select the member in the
tabular report above. That particular member will appear in black. Let us say, we want to

see the detailed design report of the physical member M1. Then we have to click on M1
from the table above and the table will appear as the one shown in the figure below:

Now, let us right-click. We will see this:

Thus, we can see a box pop up. Now, let us click on the option View Design
Calculation. We find that we can see a detailed design calculation appearing. This is
shown in the figure below:

We can maximize the above box or scroll down the list to see the detailed design report.
With this, we conclude this tutorial problem on Steel Designer.
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