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Deflection

The document discusses including deflection checks in steel design using STAAD and describes the parameters that control deflection checking, including: 1) DFF, which specifies the allowable limit for the length to deflection (L/d) ratio 2) DJ1 and DJ2, which determine the length (L) and local deflection (d) used in the L/d ratio calculation 3) The output value of "dff" represents the actual L/d ratio, which is checked against DFF to see if it passes the deflection criteria.

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rony
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736 views

Deflection

The document discusses including deflection checks in steel design using STAAD and describes the parameters that control deflection checking, including: 1) DFF, which specifies the allowable limit for the length to deflection (L/d) ratio 2) DJ1 and DJ2, which determine the length (L) and local deflection (d) used in the L/d ratio calculation 3) The output value of "dff" represents the actual L/d ratio, which is checked against DFF to see if it passes the deflection criteria.

Uploaded by

rony
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 4

Can you provide me with some help

on how I can include deflection


check as one of the criteria in steel
design?
Deflection of a beam or a column can be included as one of the criteria during code
checking or member selection with most steel design codes in
STAAD. The ratio of length to maximum deflection of a beam (L/d ratio) will be
calculated by STAAD. STAAD will then check that quantity against the allowable limit
which the user specifies under the PARAMETERS option.
What are the design parameters which control deflection check ?

1. DFF : This is the value which indicates the allowable limit for L/d ratio. For example, if
a user wishes to instruct the program that L/d
cannot be smaller than 900, the DFF value should be specified as 900. The default
value for DFF is 0. In other words, if this parameter is not
specified as an input, a deflection check will not be performed.
2. DJ1 and DJ2 : These 2 quantities affect the "L" as well as the "d" in the calculated L/d
ratio. They represent node numbers that form the basis for determining L and d.

By default, DJ1 and DJ2 are the start and end nodes of the member for which the
design is being performed, and "L" is the length of the member, namely, the distance
between DJ1 and DJ2. However, if that member is a component segment of a larger
beam, and the user wishes to instruct STAAD that the end nodes of the larger beam are
to be used in the evaluation of L/d, then
he/she may input DJ1 and DJ2 as the end nodes of the larger beam. Also, the "d" in L/d
is calculated as the maximum local displacement of the member between the points
DJ1 and DJ2. The definition of local displacement is available in Section 5.42 of the
STAADPro Technical Reference Manual, as well as in Example problem # 13 in the
STAADPro Examples Manual.

A pictorial representation of DJ1 and DJ2, as well additional information on these topics
is available under the "Notes" section following Table 2.1 in Section 2.8 of the
STAADPro Technical Reference Manual.
What are the results one gets from STAAD for the deflection check?
If the steel design parameter called TRACK is set to 2.0, the L/d ratio calculated for the
member can be obtained in the STAAD output file. The value is reported against the
term "dff". Notice that the expression is in lower-case letters as opposed to the uppercase "DFF" which stands for the allowable L/d.
If "dff" is smaller than "DFF", that means that the displacements exceeds the allowable
limit, and that leads to the unity check exceeding 1.0. This is usually a cause for failure,
unless the RATIO parameter is set to a value higher than 1.0. If "DFF" divided by "dff"
exceeds the value of the parameter RATIO, the member is assumed to have failed the
deflection check.
What are the limitations of this check?
Since the "d" in L/d is the local deflection, this approach is not applicable in the case of
a member which deflects like a cantilever beam.
That is because, the maximum deflection in a cantilever beam is the absolute quantity
at the free end, rather than the local deflection. Check whether STAAD offers a
parameter called CAN for the code that you are designing to. If it is available, set CAN
to 1 for a cantilever style deflection check.
Since the deflection which is checked is a span deflection and not a node displacement,
the check is also not useful if the user wishes to limit story drift on a structure.

In the output for steel design, what


does the term "dff" represent?
"dff" is the value of actual length divided by local deflection. The actual length value is
the distance between the nodes DJ1 and DJ2 which default to the actual end nodes of
the member. The deflection used is the maximum local deflection between the points
DJ1 and DJ2. You can get the Max. Local Displacement value by looking at the output

of the PRINT SECTION DISPLACEMENT command. The definition of DFF, DJ1 and
DJ2 may be found in Table 2.1 of the Technical Reference Manual for STAAD/Pro.The
word PRISMATIC is meant to indicate a section of any arbitrary shape. But the AISC
code does not provide guidelines for design of arbitrary shapes.
Section capacities are dependent upon aspects such as the width to thickness ratio of
flanges and webs, lateral torsional buckling etc. From that standpoint, using an
allowable stress of 0.6Fy for PRISMATIC sections was not always conservative.

I set my deflection limit to L/360, but


the maximum deflection indicated in
the summary of node displacements
in PostProcessing shows a
deflection of 1.5 inches. Isn't this
above the limit that I set?
During steel design per the AISC ASD code, there are two types of deflection checks
you can perform with STAAD. They are
1. Check for local deflection. This is usually applicable to members which are connected at both their
ends to other members.
2. Check for the relative displacements between the nodes such as for a cantilever beam.

LOCAL DEFLECTION is defined as the maximum deflection between the 2 ends of the
beam relative to a straight line connecting the 2 ends of that member in its deflected
position.
If you go to

Help - Contents - Technical Reference - Commands and Input Instructions - Printing


Section Displacements for Members
you will find a diagram indicating this is in figure 5.41.
To obtain more information on the difference between the 2 methods of deflection
checking, please go to
Help - Contents - Technical Reference - American Steel Design - Design Parameters
(which comes after Allowables per AISC code)
It will bring up section "2.4 Design Parameters"
At the end of the parameters table, you will see several notes. Please read Notes items
1 through 4 for the description of the two methods.
As you can see there, the default condition, which is also represented by a value of zero
for the CAN parameter, is to perform the LOCAL DEFLECTION check.
Your question indicates that what you are looking for is a check of the nodal deflections.
The cantilever style check STAAD offers is probably the solution for your problem. If so,
specify the CAN parameter with a value of 1.

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