Member set representatives are templates for member sets having identical properties concerning material, cross-section, and member type and length, as well as member set type. The function corresponds to the possibilities described for members in the Member Representatives chapter.
Representatives are not created manually, but generated automatically by RFEM based on the properties of the member sets available in the model. They are listed in the navigator.
RFEM creates representatives for the following criteria by default:
- member material
- member cross-section
- line type
- member type
- member length
- member set type
- member orientation
The Member Set Representatives Wizard provides the possibility to refine the mentioned criteria. You find the wizard in the 'Member Set Representatives' tab of the 'Model - Base Data' dialog box that you can open with the
button or the 'Member Set Representatives' shortcut menu in the navigator (compare the image
'Member Representatives' - Shortcut Menu
).
You can check the properties of a representative in the 'Edit Member Set Representative' dialog box. Open the dialog box with the Edit shortcut menu function or by double-clicking the navigator entry.
The 'List' provides an overview of all representatives of the model. The 'Member Sets' dialog section shows the numbers of the member sets that have the same properties and are assigned to the selected representative.
In the Main tab, you can check 'Information | Analytical' for the representative concerning the structural analysis. 'Summary' shows, among other things, the total mass of the member sets included in the representative.