IES VisualAnalysis User's Guide
Design Parameters
Design parameters control how unity checks and design searches are performed for a Design Group. You enter this information in the tab after selecting a member or a Design Group in the window. While many of these parameters are specific to the type of material you use, there are some common design parameters across some of the design modules. For example, steel, wood, and cold-form steel design all use similar bracing, size constraints, and deflection criteria.
Members are unbraced by default. See bracing.
Specify the span ratio or absolute limit for allowable deflections. Select the type of deflection to use in the checks: relative or total.
You can specify a live load reduction level for all the members in this design group. Only load combinations utilizing that level of live loads will be checked. You set up live load reduction levels using the .
One common design criteria is limited space. If the architect has mandated a minimum floor to ceiling height, you will probably need to limit the depth of your beams and girders. VisualAnalysis supports this using a size constraints. Size constraints can also dramatically improve the performance of the software when searching for a least-weight member to meet your design criteria.
If you have specified a size constraint, it will also be checked during unity checks of existing members. If a member violates the size constraint, there will be a "flag" on the check and the member will appear differently in the Design View. You will see a note in the fly-over tip regarding the violation or a note in the report.
You do not specify any design material in the Design View or Design Group parameters. Members in your model have a shape and material defined in the Model View, prior to analysis. The material is not changed by design operations, the but shape may be.
Axial parameters provide information about the frame in which the members of this design group reside. You may ignore the axial parameters if designing members without axial loads. You have the option of overriding the effective length factors and can indicate whether the frame is braced or not. The directions referred to on this page are interpreted according to the section axes of each individual member element in the group. This means that if you have a frame that is braced in one direction and not the other, you should not place members whose orientations are different into the same design group.
Sidesway y: Choose yes if the member is part of a sway frame in the plane formed by its section z and local x axes. Choose no if it is part of a braced frame in this plane. If the automatic K factor calculation is on for Ky, the sidesway y parameter will effect the calculation of the Ky value.
Sidesway z: Choose yes if the member is part of a sway frame in the plane formed by its section y and local x axes. Choose no if it is part of a braced frame in this plane. If the automatic K factor calculation is on for Kz, the sidesway z parameter will effect the calculation of the Kz value.
Manual Ky: Ky is the effective length factor for buckling when the member kicks out in its section z direction (normally weak axis buckling). If Set Ky is left set to no, the effective length factor will be calculated automatically based on the relative rigidity of the members framing in at its end points. If Set Ky is set to yes, the Ky value must be entered.
Manual Kz: Kz is the effective length factor for buckling when the member kicks out in its section y direction (normally strong axis buckling). If Set Kz is left set to no, the effective length factor will be calculated automatically based on the relative rigidity of the members framing in at its end points. If Set Kz is set to yes, the Kz value must be entered.