11A.

3 Design Parameters Page 1 of 5

11A.3 Design Parameters

The program contains a number of parameters which are needed to perform design as per IS:456(2000).
Default parameter values have been selected such that they are frequently used numbers for conventional
design requirements. These values may be changed to suit the particular design being performed. Table
9A.1 of this manual contains a complete list of the available parameters and their default values. It is
necessary to declare length and force units as Millimeter and Newton before performing the concrete
design.

Note: Once a parameter is specified, its value stays at that specified number until it is specified again. This is
the way STAAD works for all codes.

Table 1. Indian Concrete Design IS456 Parameters

Parameter Default Description
Name Value
CODE -
Must be specified as INDIAN.

Design code to follow. See Section 5.53.2 of the Technical Reference

Manual.

BRACING 0.0
Beam Design:

A value of 1.0 means the effect of axial force will be taken into
account for beam design.

Column Design:

correspond to the terms "Braced" and "Unbraced" described in

Notes 1, 2, and 3 of Clause 39.7.1 of IS456:2000.

0. The column is braced about both axes.

1. The column is unbraced about major axis.
2. The column is unbraced about minor axis.
3. The column is unbraced about both axis.

CLEAR
25 mm For beam members.

40 mm For column members

DEPTH YD Total depth to be used for design. This value defaults to YD as provided
under MEMBER PROPERTIES.
EFACE 0.0
Face of support location at end of beam. The parameter can also be used to
check against shear at any point from the end of the member.

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Parameter Default Description

Name Value
Note: Both SFACE and EFACE are input as positive numbers.

ELZ 1.0 Ratio of effective length to actual length of column about major axis. See
Note b below.
ELY 1.0 Ratio of effective length to actual length of column about minor axis. See
Note b below.
ENSH 0.0
Perform shear check against enhanced shear strength as per Cl. 40.5 of
IS456:2000.

• ENSH = 1.0 means ordinary shear check to be performed ( no

enhancement of shear strength at sections close to support)
• For ENSH = a positive value(say x ), shear strength will be enhanced
up to a distance x from the start of the member. This is used only
when a span of a beam is subdivided into two or more parts. (Refer
note )
• For ENSH = a negative value(say –y), shear strength will be enhanced
up to a distance y from the end of the member. This is used only
when a span of a beam is subdivided into two or more parts.(Refer
note)

If default value (0.0) is used the program will calculate Length to Overall
Depth ratio. If this ratio is greater than 2.5, shear strength will be enhanced
at sections (<2d) close to support otherwise ordinary shear check will be
performed.

FC 30 Concrete Yield Stress.

N/mm2
FYMAIN 415 Yield Stress for main reinforcing steel.
N/mm2
FYSEC 415 Yield Stress for secondary reinforcing steel.
N/mm2
MINMAIN 10 mm Minimum main reinforcement bar size.
MAXMAIN 60 mm Maximum main reinforcement bar size.
MINSEC 8 mm Minimum secondary reinforcement bar size.
MAXSEC 12 mm Maximum secondary reinforcement bar size.
MFACE 0
Design beam for flexure at any point along the length of the beam as
specified by SFACE and EFACE parameters.

0. (Off) Do not design at sections

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Parameter Default Description

Name Value
1. (On) Design at specified sections from start and end of the
members assigned.

Note: If SFACE and EFACE sections are not previously defined, then the
output will present a warning and no flexure design will be performed (i.e.,
the MFACE parameter is ignored).

RATIO 4.0 Maximum percentage of longitudinal reinforcement in columns.

REINF 0.0 Tied column. A value of 1.0 will mean spiral reinforcement.
RENSH 0.0 Distance of the start or end point of the member from its nearest support.
This parameter is used only when a span of a beam is subdivided into two
or more parts. (Refer note)
RFACE 4.0
2. Two faced distribution about major axis.
3. Two faced distribution about minor axis.
4. Longitudinal reinforcement in column is arranged equally along 4
faces.

SFACE 0.0 Face of support location at start of beam. It is used to check against shear at
the face of the support in beam design. The parameter can also be used to
check against shear at any point from the start of the member.
SPSMAIN 25 mm Minimum clear distance between main reinforcing bars in beam and
column. For column center to center distance between main bars cannot
exceed 300 mm.
TORSION 0.0
0. torsion to be considered in beam design.
1. torsion to be neglected in beam design.

TRACK 0.0
Beam Design:

0. output consists of reinforcement details at START, MIDDLE, and

END.
1. critical moments are printed in addition to TRACK 0.0 output.
2. required steel for intermediate sections defined by NSECTION are
printed in addition to TRACK 1.0 output.

Column Design:

0. reinforcement details are printed.

1. column interaction analysis results are printed in addition to
TRACK 0.0 output.
2. a schematic interaction diagram and intermediate interaction
values are printed in addition to TRACK 1.0 output.

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Parameter Default Description

Name Value
ULY 1.0 Ratio of unsupported length to actual length of column about minor axis.
See Note c below.
ULZ 1.0 Ratio of unsupported length to actual length of column about major axis.
See Note c below.
WIDTH ZD Width to be used for design. This value defaults to ZD as provided under
MEMBER PROPERTIES.

Notes
a. You may specify reinforcing bar combinations through the BAR COMBINATION command. Refer to
11A.7 Bar Combination for details.
b. ELY and ELZ parameters are used to calculate effective length of column to find whether it is a short
or long column. Please refer CL 25.1.2 of IS456:2000.
In CL 25.1.2 of IS456:2000, you will find two term, lex and ley, which STAAD calculates as:
• lex = ELZ multiplied by the member length (distance between the two nodes of the member)
• ley = ELY multiplied by the member length (distance between the two nodes of the member)
For the term "D" in CL 25.1.2 of IS456:2000, STAAD uses the YD dimension of the column.
For the term "b" in CL 25.1.2 of IS456:2000, STAAD uses the ZD dimension of the column.
c. ULY and ULZ parameters are used to calculate unsupported length of column to find minimum
eccentricity. Please refer CL 25.4 of IS456:2000.
In CL 25.4 of IS456:2000, you will find an expression "unsupported length of column". This term is
calculated as
• ULZ multiplied by the member length for the Z axis
• ULY multiplied by the member length for the Y axis
d. The value of the ENSH parameter (other than 0.0 and 1.0) is used only when the span of a beam is
subdivided into two or more parts. When this condition occurs, the RENSH parameter is also to be
used.

The span of the beam is subdivided four parts, each of length L meter. The shear strength will be
enhanced up to X meter from both supports. The input should be the following:
Steps:
a. ENSH L MEMB 1 => Shear strength will be enhanced throughout the length of the member
1, positive sign indicates length measured from start of the member
b. ENSH (X-L) MEMB 2 => Shear strength will be enhanced up to a length (X-L) of the member
2, length measured from the start of the member
c. ENSH –L MEMB 4 => Shear strength will be enhanced throughout the length of the
member 4, negative sign indicates length measured from end of the member

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d. ENSH –(X-L) MEMB 3 => Shear strength will be enhanced up to a length (X-L) of the
member 3, length measured from the end of the member
e. RENSH L MEMB 2 3 => Nearest support lies at a distance L from both the members 2 and 3.
f. DESIGN BEAM 1 TO 4=> This will enhance the shear strength up to length X from both ends
of the beam consisting of members 1 to 4 and gives spacing accordingly.
At section = y1 from start of member 1 av = y1
At section = y2 from the start of member 2 av = y2+L
At section = y3 from the end of member 3 av = y3+L
At section = y4 from end of member 4 av = y4
where tc, enhanced = 2dtc/av
At section 0.0, av becomes zero. Thus enhanced shear strength will become infinity. However for any
section shear stress cannot exceed tc, max. Hence enhanced shear strength is limited to a maximum
value of tc, max.

Parent topic: 11A. Indian Codes - Concrete Design per IS 456

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