General

Design Code:

Set the Design Code of Practice.  BS 8110 1885/1997 or SABS 0100:1984 or EC2:2004

Schedule:

Set the Schedule code. BS 4466, BS 8666 or SABS 82.

Fy Main Bars and

Fy Links:

Fy Main: the yield strength of the main reinforcement in N/mm2 and the bar type T,Y,R,H,A,B,C.

Fy Links: the yield strength of the shear reinforcement (links) in N/mm2 and the bar type T,Y,R,H,A,B,C.

The value of Fy for main bars and shear links can be set to 250, 410, 425, 450, 460 & 500 to cater for UK and non-UK design. 

MasterSeries Customisation allows you to add or remove grades from this list. From the MasterSeries front screen go Utilities > Customisation > Design codes. Values are a 3 digit number and a letter separated by semicolons.  250R; 500H; 460T; 425Y etc

The number is the strength and the letter is the labelling letter eg 2-H16.

High yield bar type:

d-1 : Deformed type 1

d-2 : Deformed type 2 (Std in the UK)

pln : plain

fab : Fabric or Mesh

Beams

Fcu:

Characteristic cube strength of the concrete at 28 days in N/mm2. Or cylinder/cube strength for EC design.

Maximum X/d ratio:

When designing doubly reinforced beams by hand you visually choose the limiting X/d ratio from the design chart (0.3, 0.4, 0.5). The program needs you to choose this ratio, usually 0.5, and it will then reduce it accordingly if there is any moment re-distribution. 

Support Width:

When no supporting columns are present in the analysis model, such as continuous beams, then this value is used as the nominal support width at supports for curtailment of bars and links.

Tip:          Should you wish to use varying support widths on continuous knife edge beams then this is best done as follows:

1.Create a single level multi-story frame with say 1 m high columns and Fixed bases.

2.Set column widths to desired support widths.

3.Release the upper end of each column using “Member End Releases” in the Restraints menu. 

Ten limit k’

In calculating the Moment Capacity of a section, MasterSeries will use all bars it finds (including bars in the compression zone). Whilst this gives the highest moment capacity, it does cause problems with link spacing. 

To counter this we can tell the program the M/(b*d2*fcu) or k’ limit to start considering the compression bars at.

K’ = 0.000 = Always consider compression steel

K’ = 0.156 = Only when you reach the tension only limit

K’ = 9.999 = Never consider compression steel

Max of Analysis and Design Torsion:

Use the maximum of the analysis and design torsion. Check this option when you have used 'Torq Ecc' during analysis, otherwise the torque could be applied twice.

Restrain simple ends

Assume simply supported ends are curtailed and detailed as restrained ends in accordance with the ISE Detailing Manual page 78.

Ignore long span l/d

Do not modify the basic l/d value for long spans over 10m in accordance with BS 8110 Pt1 cl 3.4.6.4 or for spans over 7m in accordance with Concise EuroCode2 cl 15.7.

Use slab comp modification factor

Use the deflection compression modification factor for deflection from BS 8110 Pt1 table 3.11.

Minor Axis Moments

Beam design is for major axis bending only.

This is a set of switches to ignore all minor axis moments or only if below a certain value or ratio of the major moment.

These moments are listed on the output and noted that they are ignored.

Use optimised Cot-Theta value

Optimise Cot-Theta value to maximise shear capacity. Otherwise use the specified Cot-Theta value (EC2 only).