Wall Beam Zone

The design parameters for a wall beam zones are defined in the properties area. An example layout is shown below.

To navigate through the options, hover the cursor over the area and use the mouse wheel to scroll up or down. Alternatively, click and hold the left mouse button with the cursor over right side scroll bar and move the scroll bar up or down.

The Wall Beam Zone properties give inputs to control the geometry of the coupler beam, including its position either locally or globally, parameters to control the design, and inputs to manually define the reinforcement.

Each area of the design parameters is outlined below.

General

The general input area allows each wall beam zone to be individually named. This can be done by simply selecting the input area and overtyping the default coupler beam name.

The Parent FE surface notes the FE surface the wall beam zone is associated with. A wall beam can be associated with any of the FE surfaces within the plane of the wall. That means that the wall beam need not be defined to lie wholly or partly within the parent FE surface, though in must lie within the same plane set of FE surfaces as the defined parent FE surface. The setting out coordinates of the FE surface are defined relative to the selected parent FE surface – see the Geometry input area.

The parent FE surface can be changed by selecting the input line for the Parent FE surface, which will display an  icon.

Clicking on the icon, the parent FE surface can then be selected by moving the cursor over the required FE surface and selecting with the left mouse button. When a new parent FE surface is selected, the name of the Parent FE surface will update, as will the setting out coordinates in the Geometry properties area.

Geometry

The Geometry parameters area gives tools to assist in the definition of the wall beam setting and overall dimensions. The typical layout for a wall beam zone is shown below.

Horiz. Anchor to Node – defines whether or not the wall beam is defined by basic nodes

Start x(m) – local surface x coordinate for start of coupler beam

End x(m) - local surface x coordinate for end of wall beam

Vertical placement – sets whether the height of the pier is set by local or global coords

Bottom y(m) – local surface y coordinate for bottom of wall beam

Top y(m) – local surface y coordinate for top of wall beam

If the Horiz. Anchor to Node option is set to Yes, the options change to give inputs for the start and end node numbers.

By anchoring to nodes, this means that in the event that the wall geometry is amended, the wall beam dimensions will automatically update to remain associated with the nodes after the amendment of the model. Anchoring is not affected by node renumbering, as the node numbers mapped to the new numbering, which means the coupler beam is anchored to node positions rather than the specific numbering. Only basic nodes can be used for anchoring; that is, the nodes which are part of the basic wireframe model and are present before the FE surfaces are meshed.

The vertical placement selection gives four options to define the vertical height of the wall beam. These can be selected by selecting the input line which then gives a drop-down list with four options.

The four options are:-

yCordLocal – positions the top and bottom of the wall beam relative to the bottom of the parent FE surface

yCordGlobal – defines the top and bottom of the wall beam using the global coordinate system

Level – defines the top and bottom of the wall in terms of the defined floor levels (set in the Loads>Floor and Roof panels>Default Loading and Construction Per Level menu area)

Node – similar to anchoring the horizontal nodes, allows the coupler beam to be defined vertically using basic nodes. When anchoring to nodes, additional offset dimensions can be added to control the vertical positioning of the pier.

Design Method

The Design Method area provides inputs to control the design of the coupler beam. Some parameters apply to cases where the wall beam is designed ausing beam theory, while other options apply to the strut and tie design.

A typical layout for a wall pier is shown below.

The design options are:

Use compression rebar – considers compression reinforcement in the compression zone when designing using beam theory

Strut Tie Bearing Multiple  – defines the width of the strut and tie bearing at the ends of the coupler beam as a multiple of the wall thickness

Auto Design – controls whether the coupler beam design will be included in the auto design

Note: the design of the coupler beam is done using either beam theory, or by using the strut-and-tie method. The determination of which method to use is based on the coupler beam geometry, based on the span to depth ratio, but also based on the forces on the coupler beam and whether or not the software can define a tension and compression zone.

Bars

The Bars menu area provides input to control the reinforcement within the coupler beam. The inputs allow the top and bottom horizontal bars, side reinforcement bars and vertical shear bars to be defined.

A typical layout for the Bars area is shown below:

Each of the input areas can be expanded by clicking on the left-hand arrow. The expanded area contains additional inputs to define the diameter of the reinforcing bars, and an input to define either the number of the bars (top, bottom, and side bars) or the bar spacing (shear bars).