The structural analysis software RFEM 6 is the basis of a modular software system. The main program RFEM 6 is used to define structures, materials, and loads of planar and spatial structural systems consisting of plates, walls, shells, and members. The program also allows you to create combined structures as well as to model solid and contact elements.
RSTAB 9 is a powerful analysis and design software for 3D beam, frame, or truss structure calculations, reflecting the current state of the art and helping structural engineers meet requirements in modern civil engineering.
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In the current state of RFEM 6, the user must manually define the shear and longitudinal reinforcement for members. This is considered the "Provided Reinforcement" within the Concrete Design add-on. The add-on calculation will then determine the "Required Reinforcement" needed from the analysis and further output the "Not Covered Reinforcement". The user must manually apply additional reinforcement if the "Required Reinforcement" is not met.
For surfaces RFEM 6 can design automatically the reinforcement.
Design of Surface Reinforcement
It is planned for the future to have an automatic design also of the member reinforcement rather than only the manual input option.
The ASCE 7-22 standard provides several types of design spectra. In this FAQ, we would like to focus on the following two design spectra:
The two-period spectrum is implemented in the program as usual. However, based on the data available from the standard, only the horizontal design spectrum / MCER spectrum as well as the modification related to the force and displacement can be offered.
For the multi-period design spectrum, discrete numerical values are specified. ASCE 7‑22 states that these values can be queried on the USGS Seismic Design Geodatabase page. In the current state of development, you have the option to create a user-defined response spectrum with a g‑factor (depending on the mass conversion constant) to use the data from the ASCE 7 Hazard Tool [1], for example.
Please proceed as follows:
Yes, the deformation analysis taking into account the cracked state in the cross-section is included in the concrete design in RFEM 6.
For this, the effective stiffness is calculated for each element in the concrete design according to the existing cross-section state of cracked (state II) or uncracked (state I), and then used in a second FEM calculation for the deformation.
In RFEM 5, this corresponds to the solution in the "RF‑CONCRETE Deflect" add-on module. In RFEM 6, this method is included in the concrete design.
Further information about determining the crack state as part of the deformation analysis can be found in the technical article at the following link.
The Masonry Design add-on allows you to automatically determine the stiffness of your wall-slab hinge. The diagrams were determined as part of the research project DDmaS - "Digitizing the design of masonry structures" and are derived from the standard.
Define a line hinge on the connection line of both surfaces and activate the slab-wall connection.
You can now enter your parameters in the Slab-Wall Connection tab. Then, click the Regenerate [...] button.
The determined diagrams are displayed subsequently.
All members when using the Design Add-ons for serviceability checks are considered supported at the end nodes by default. If the member is instead a cantilever or includes an internal support for a combination of both a cantilever and supported at both ends member type, a new Design Support should be defined under the member details.
The Design Support option can be found under the member dialog box under Design Supports & Deflection tab. Supports can be added to any nodes detected along the member length such as the member start, member end, or internal nodes.
Under the New Design Support dialog box, you can set the type of support from the drop-down including general, concrete, or timber. The "general" will give the program guidance on the deflection member type and which limiting deflection ratio to reference from the Serviceability Configurations whether cantilever (e.g., L/180) or supported on both ends (e.g., L/360). The alternative types "concrete" and "timber" will also influence the deflection design, but have additional strength design options incorporated such as moment and shear internal force modification for concrete design and a stress perpendicular to grain check for timber design.
For additional detailed information on this new setting in RFEM 6 including a "timber" type design support, refer to the webinar listed below under Links at time 51:05.
Some materials have multiple limit stress limits for compression, tension, and so on. For these materials, the limiting stress must be input manually by the user.
The limit stress values are listed under the Material Values tab.
These values can be added in the Member/Surface Configurations under the User limit stress type.
The punching results can also be found in the Results navigator.The results are divided into the design checks "On Nodes" and the reinforcement "On Nodes".The punching loads as well as the distribution of the shear forces at the critical perimeter (smoothed and unsmoothed) are the intermediate results of the design checks and are arranged accordingly in this part of the navigator.
RFEM and RSTAB use a variation of the subgrade reaction modulus method. The relation to stiffness modulus ES is not possible.
In RFEM, a multi-parameter foundation model has been implemented. This can be used to carry out a very realistic settlement calculation.
The problem, however, is to find precise values for the parameters Cu,z, Cv,xz, and Cv,yz. For this, you can use the Geotechnical Analysis add-on (for RFEM 6) or the RF-SOILIN add-on module (for RFEM 5): the subgrade parameters are calculated from the loads and the data of the geotechnical report (stiffness modulus or modulus of elasticity and Poisson's ratio, specific weights, layer thicknesses) for each individual finite element using a nonlinear method. These parameters are load-dependent and influence the behavior of the structure. The results of this iterative process are realistic settlements and internal forces in the structure.
To display the interaction diagram, open the "Design Details" dialog box of Concrete Design.
On the left side of the dialog box, you can then select the "Interaction Diagram". Thus, an additional tab called "Interaction Diagram" appears. You can control the settings for the result display here.