Composite beam restraints

Tekla Structural Designer
2019
Tekla Structural Designer

Composite beam restraints

You can independently set both the top and bottom flanges of a composite beam as continuously restrained in the Properties window.

When the beam is initially created the decking direction is unknown until the beam is actually placed and the floor slab and direction are also created. Hence defaults are provided for each eventuality.

The defaults are:

  • for perpendicular decks the deck restrains the beam top flange
  • for parallel decks the deck does NOT restrain the beam top flange
  • for precast decks the deck restrains the beam top flange
  • for all decks the deck does NOT restrain the beam bottom flange

By setting the top flange as continuously restrained and/or the bottom flange as continuously restrained the relevant buckling checks are not performed during the design process.

When not continuously restrained, LTB and Compression restraints are determined from the incoming members described within the Tekla Structural Designer model. The buckling checks are based on these.

By right-clicking a member to edit its properties in the Property dialog , you are then able to edit the restraints. You can indicate continuously restrained sub-beams and also edit length factors.

For composite beams the buckling checks are only performed at construction stage as at composite stage they are always assumed to be fully restrained.

Was this helpful?
Previous
Next