Structural Analysis

Beta Angle
The Beta Angle describes a member’s orientation about its longitudinal axis with respect to a
default, or Beta Equals Zero, condition.
Combining two STAAD.Pro Models by
Copy and Paste
Select all members in the model.
Click Edit > Copy. (Ctrl. C)
Click File > Close.
Open the dataset file where you’re going to use
Click Edit > Paste Beams to open the Paste with Move dialog.
Click Reference Pt in the Paste with Move dialog.
The Specify Reference Point dialog opens showing a graphic of the braced frame model.
A prompt in the dialog indicates “click on the node to act as the reference point”. The node in
the lower left-hand corner is currently selected, but it is hidden by the coordinate axis tripod.
Supports
The Supports dialog is used to define support or boundary conditions for a structure.
Fixed and Pinned
At a fixed support, all degrees of freedom are restrained to prevent any translation or any
rotation.
At a pinned support, the three translational degrees of freedom are restrained, but the three
rotational degrees of freedom are unrestrained.
Fixed But
A Fixed But support provides checkboxes to individually control the fixity or release of the three
translational and three rotational degrees of freedom. The Fixed But support also provides the
ability to assign a spring constant to any of the six degrees of freedom in lieu of full fixity or full
release.
Supports
Enforced and Enforced But
An Enforced or an Enforced But support perform the same basic functions as the Fixed and Fixed
But supports. They are different from Fixed and Fixed But in the following ways:
First, the Fixed and Fixed But supports cannot handle Support Displacement loading if plates
and/or solids are present in the model. The Enforced and Enforced But supports were
introduced to handle these conditions.
Second, the Fixed and Fixed But supports restrain certain degrees of freedom when the global
stiffness matrix is assembled. By contrast, the Enforced and Enforced But supports actually
maintain all degrees of freedom as active in the global stiffness matrix, but they assign springs
with extremely high stiffness to the supports that are supposed to be restrained in certain
directions.
Loads and Load Definitions
The Load & Definition dialog is used to define, assign, and combine loads.
Definitions
The Definitions tab contains the options used to generate the “DEFINE” block of data in the
input file. If any Code-specified load cases such as wind, seismic, and snow are used in a model,
the “DEFINE” block is used to store the values for all of the parameters required to define the
load according to the specified Code.
Load Cases
The Load Case tab contains the dialog used to initiate a new load case (primary load, moving
load, or load combination) and assign it a case number.
When creating a Primary Load Case, the Loading Type list can be used to associate the load case
with one of the Building Code definitions of Dead, Live, Wind, and so forth.
Materials
The Materials dialog is used to define and assign materials to entities in a model.
Creating Design GROUPS
To make this design more realistic, the member sizes should be fairly uniform. At present, the
SELECT command has optimized the size of each member individually, so practically every
member in the model has a unique cross section
Steel Design
Check Code is a request to determine if the member properties that the user has provided are
adequate to carry the forces that are applied to the members. One application for Check Code is
in situations where existing construction is being evaluated. If the Code Check finds members
that are inadequate, you will be responsible for finding a new set of members to replace the
inadequate ones.
By contrast, Member Selection is a request to have STAAD.Pro indicate the minimum weight
cross section that is sufficient to carry the design loads safely. In a Member Selection, STAAD.Pro
finds the lightest acceptable section while incorporating any specified constraints, such as
minimum depth or sections of a particular size category.
Steel Design Parameters
Yield Strength
One common example of the use of parameters is to correctly set the yield
strength of the different members in the model.
Code Checking
Now that design parameters have been assigned to the model, the Check Code command can be
used to determine if the members are adequate to carry the applied forces.
Warning: Remember, if the Code Check finds members that are inadequate, you will be
responsible for finding a new set of members to replace the inadequate ones.
The STAAD Output Viewer has two panes. If there is any kind of problem in the file, the left pane will
display horizontal bars labeled Error or Warning.
There may also be a Results bar if the program was able to proceed through the analysis far enough to
generate some results.
There are two types of messages: error messages and warning messages. An error message indicates a
condition which must be corrected in order for a successful analysis to be performed. A Warning
message indicates that the program encountered an unexpected or abnormal condition, but it was still
able to perform an analysis while warning that the output results should be checked carefully.
Concrete Design
Defining Member Properties
◦ Ensure that the file named Concrete Design 1.std is still open.

Note: It may be more convenient to set the input units to inches {millimeters}.
◦ Click the General tab in the Page Control. The Property sub-tab is active by default.
◦ Click the Define button in the Properties-Whole Structure dialog. This dialog provides a method to
specify the section dimensions for members of common cross-sectional shapes, and to associate a
selected set of material properties to a shape if desired.
◦ Click the Rectangle item in the Property dialog.
◦ Enter 18 {450} in the YD field and in the ZD field.
◦ Leave the Material checkbox toggled on, and leave the Material list item set to CONCRETE. This
associates the properties of the material named CONCRETE with the rectangular (square) section being
defined.
Defining Member Properties
◦ Click the Add button.
◦ Enter 20 {500} in the YD field and 16 {400} in the ZD field.
◦ Keep the Material checkbox toggled on, and leave the Material list item set to CONCRETE.
◦ Click the Add button.
◦ Click the Circle item in the Property dialog.
◦ Enter 18 {450} in the YD field.
◦ Keep the Material checkbox checked, and keep the Material list item set to CONCRETE.
◦ Click the Add button.
◦ Click the Close button.

Note: Three member properties now appear in the Properties window. The next step is to assign
the properties to the appropriate members in the model.
◦ Click the Rect 18.00x18.00 CONCRETE {Rect 0.45x0.45 CONCRETE} item in the section list.
Defining Member Properties
◦ Click the Menu Bar item Select > Beams Parallel To > Y to quickly select all columns.
◦ Verify that the Assignment Method is set to Assign To Selected Beams, and then click the Assign button.
◦ Click Yes in the pop-up dialog to confirm the assignment.
◦ Ensure that the Highlight Assigned Geometry checkbox is selected in the Properties dialog.
◦ Click the Rect 20.00x16.00 CONCRETE {Rect 0.50x0.40 CONCRETE} item in the section list.
◦ Click the Menu Bar item Select > Beams Parallel To > X, and then click the Menu Bar item Select >
Beams Parallel To > Z to select all beams.
◦ Verify that the Assignment Method is set to Assign To Selected Beams, and then click the Assign button.
◦ Click Yes in the pop-up dialog to confirm the assignment.
◦ Click the Cir 18.00 CONCRETE {Cir 0.45 CONCRETE} item in the section list in the Properties - Whole
Structure dialog.