Angle members in STAAD 1

[WARose]

I hate to double post....but I've gotten no replies in the STAAD forum....so here goes....I've run a model here recently that was all angle members.....and my question is: if I input unbraced length(s), is STAAD doing the proper checks of the minor/principal axis bending? I cannot tell from the output.

I've tended to avoid angle members (except as braces)....so this is new to me here.

Please: only replies from experienced STAAD users.

 

[GC_Hopi]

It has been a while since I used angles in STAAD but here is my experience with aluminum angles. The checks where good for the x and y axis but the z axis was not checked. That was a little disconcerting and put me off to using STAAD for angles.

 

[canwesteng]

Assuming you are using AISC - If you use the track 2 parameter in design, you can see the full design output. It will check yield about both local and global axis, and LTB about both global axis and one local axis. I would check the output from track 2 for a simple member against a manual check once on the project to validate so you are confident in results.

 

[Standard American]

As canwesteng said use track 2 and it prints out a lot more detail in the design output. Also make sure you orientate your angles correctly. Staad automatically puts equal angles in at 45° and unequal angles at angles depending on the length of each leg. You can check the orientation with a right click then structural diagrams then click full sections.

 

[WARose]

Thanks canwesteng. What you are describing is what I am seeing. I'm not sure why it is just checking the one local axis for LTB...but I am doing some manual calcs to validate it all.