For the design of 2D objects, you can use both surfaces and surface sets. The design checks are carried out in the same way as for member sets. However, no special design features need to be observed.
Design Surface or Surface Set
You can design surfaces that are part of a surface set either as a surface or using the surface set. To avoid contradictory entries and results, the associated surfaces for the steel design are automatically deactivated in the case of design as a surface set. If you define the surfaces for the design, the higher-level surface set is deactivated accordingly. You can check this rule in the Objects to Design input table by listing the objects in the “Not Valid / Deactivated” column.
After the design, the Not Valid / Deactivated result table (see chapter overview) displays a note for all surfaces that have been designed using a surface set and thus deactivated. Similarly, surface sets are marked with a note if they have not been designed.
Set Smoothing
For the design of surface sets, the smoothing settings that you have defined in the global settings for the surface results come into effect. With the default setting Continuous Within Surface Sets, Otherwise Within Surfaces, smoothing takes place across the common surface boundaries as soon as a surface set is available.