Timber member design groups

Why use timber design groups?

Timber beams, columns and braces are put into groups for two reasons:

For editing purposes - individual design groups can be selected and displayed graphically so that their properties can be changed as a group in the properties window.
For design -
1. to standardize designs,
2. to reduce the volume of output created,
3. to speed up the design process, particularly so in the case of medium to large size models.

When groups are used for design:

An envelope of group design forces is passed to a single Tedds calculation.
User can manipulate design options, member size, material etc.
Any changes are applied to each member in group.
Each individual member of group is checked against individual loads without any further user interaction.

Note: Although timber members are automatically grouped for ease of editing, the use of groups for design is optional and can be deactivated if required: From the Design tab, click Settings> Design Groups, then select or unselect the member types to be designed in groups.

Activating timber member design groups

Timber beam, column and brace design groups are activated as follows:

From the Design tab, click Settings> Design Groups
Select Timber Beams, Timber Columns, Timber Braces as required.

Group management

Automatic Grouping

Timber beams, columns and braces are grouped automatically according to a fixed set of requirements, including section size, grade, and member length.

In Model Settings > Grouping the user defined maximum length variation is used to control whether elements are of sufficiently similar length to be considered equivalent for grouping purposes.

Manual/Interactive Grouping

After assessing the design efficiency of each group, you are able to review design groups and make adjustments if required from the Groups tab of the Project Workspace.

See: Manage groups in the Project Workspace

Note: When manually adding members to a group, the order in which they are added will incrementally affect the average length within the group, (which is then compared to the maximum length variation). Therefore, if members are not being added as you expect, try adding them in a different order.

Regroup Members

If you have made changes in the model that impact on grouping of a specific member type, you can update the affected groups from the Groups tab of the Project Workspace by right-clicking Timber Beams, Timber Columns, or Timber Braces as required and selecting Regroup Members.

Note: Any manually applied grouping will be lost if you elect to re-group!

Regroup ALL Model Members

If you have made changes in the model that impact on grouping, you can update all affected groups accordingly from the Groups tab of the Project Workspace, by clickingRe-group ALL Model Members. (Located at the top of the Groups tab.)

Note: Any manually applied grouping will be lost if you elect to re-group!

Timber design group requirements

Timber member design groups are formed according to the following rules:

Member type	Design group rules
Timber beam	A beam may be in only one design group. All beams in the group must have an identical cross section. All beams in the group must have an identical grade. All beams in the group must have an identical number of spans. Individual span lengths must be the same across the group.
Timber column	A column may be in only one design group. All columns in the group must have an identical cross section. All columns in the group must have an identical grade. All columns in the group must have an identical number of stacks. Any splices must be located in the same stacks for all columns of the group. Individual stack lengths must be the same across the group.
Timber brace	A brace may be in only one design group. All braces in the group must have an identical cross section. All braces in the group must have an identical grade. All braces in the group must have an identical span length.

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