RAM Structural System V8i

Two-Way Slabs:

• Concrete slabs can now be specified as either one-way or two-way. Floor systems with or without beams can be analyzed; it is no longer necessary to have a complete “network” of beams. This allows flat slab and flat plate floor systems to be modeled and analyzed. Floor loads are distributed to supporting members based on the type of floor specified.
• Drop caps can be modeled at columns.

3D Viewer:

• Floor and roof decks and slabs are now displayed in the 3D viewer.
• Floor decks can be displayed in different colors for visual representation.
• The Member Show Options command has been enhanced to use images on the tabs.

Transfer Members:

• Columns that terminate on a slab without supporting members are now allowed. Gravity columns can be supported by one-way deck; gravity and lateral columns can be supported by two-way deck. The transfer column loads are automatically distributed via the slab to the structural members.

ACI 318-08:

• The requirements of ACI 318-08 have been incorporated in RAM Concrete.

Australian Codes:

• AS 3600 concrete design in shear wall module.
• AS 4100-1998 steel design and AS 2327.1-2003 composite beam design.
• AS 1170 sections 2 and 4 wind, seismic and response spectra load generators.

Live Load Reduction:

• In addition to the option to specify a maximum limit on live load reduction on beams and columns, there is now an option to specify a particular value to be used. Thus for each member the user can specify that the live load reduction % be based on the calculated value, based on the calculated value not to exceed a specified %, or to use a specified % (overriding the calculated value).

Design Tables:

• Tables of beam, column and brace shapes produced by ArcelorMittal have been added. These shapes are widely available in Europe. Note that the TradeArbed tables previously supplied are no longer included with the program.
• Kingspan MD 146 deck has been added to the U.K. deck table.
• United Steel Deck designations (“USD”) in the U.S. deck table have been modified to indicate the new designations as a result of their acquisition by CMC (“CMC-USD”). For models currently using USD decks it may be necessary to go into the modeler and change the deck properties by selecting the equivalent CMC-USD deck.
• Designations for flat bars in the UK Master steel table have been modified, the superfluous trailing “.0” has been removed from all of the bar designations (for example, “FB75x15” instead of “FB75.0x15.0”). For models currently using the U.K. flat bars it will be necessary to reassign the flat bar sizes.

RAM Manager:

• An Online Resources command has been added to the Help menu. This command provides links to the product web pages, Be Communities blogs and wikis, information on training, events and seminars, and technical support.

Modeler:

Slab openings can now be modeled freeform (not merely as a uniform offset from a beam), and can be given virtually any reasonable shape.

• The PropTable – Decking and PropTable – Loads commands and the Layout – Slab – Deck Assign and Layout – Loads commands have been enhanced. The data listed in the tables can now be sorted by clicking on the column header. The column widths and the dialog box width can now be adjusted.

RAM Steel Beam:

• An option to apply a 0.75 factor to the composite beam Ieff per the AISC 360-05 Commentary using the Criteria – Design Defaults command has been implemented.

RAM Frame:

• Sloping semi-rigid diaphragms are now allowed. Note that this may require that decks be redefined in the modeler; each plane must be modeled as a separate deck polygon.
• Bending (out-of-plane) stiffness of semi-rigid diaphragms can be included in the analysis.
• Two-way slabs that are specified as semi-rigid diaphragms are included in the analysis; dead, live, roof and snow loads are applied to the diaphragm and distributed to the supporting frame members. Gravity walls and columns, not normally included in RAM Frame’s analysis, can be represented by vertical springs.
• The Process – Results – Applied Story Forces command has been enhanced to show the applied gravity loads on two-way decks.
• The Process – Results – Deflected Shape command has been enhanced to show the displaced shape of the diaphragm due to gravity loads on two-way decks.
• Two new reports have been added, gravity loads on two-way decks and spring forces.
• User-specified live load reduction values are applied.
• Deck and drop polygons are considered when meshing the diaphragms.
• The View – Members command has been enhanced to provide options to view vertical springs and the thickness, modulus of elasticity and poisson’s ratio of each semi-rigid diaphragm element.
• Along with the standard RAM Frame 3D view, the more advanced 3D viewer can now be invoked for viewing the model.

RAM Concrete Analysis:

• All floors that contain two-way deck are now automatically meshed and loads on these decks are considered in the finite element analysis of each floor. Two-way load distribution is implemented in RAM Concrete Analysis.
• Displaced shapes are now graphically represented for beam and floor elements.
• User-controlled displacement contour coloring for slab deflections has been added.
• Display of the generated mesh of wall and floor elements is now available.
• Solver options have been extended to allow user choice of in-core or out of core solver and the use of a new advanced (faster) solver.

RAM Concrete Beam:

• The Process – Copy Design command has been greatly enhanced. A tolerance setting has been added to the copy command so that copying may be done between beam lines that do not have identical geometries. Beam section assignments may also now be copied from one beam line to another.
• A new stirrup design option has been added. The user may now select to enforce a maximum stirrup spacing even if stirrups are not required by code (in which case stirrups otherwise would not be placed).

RAM Concrete Column:

• For the ACI 318-08 code, the Chapter 21 earthquake provisions for members “not designated as part of the lateral force resisting system” have been added to the program.
• When assigning shear legs to columns, an option has been added so that the “assign all” command may be applied only to columns with a specific section assignment.
• The “Material Properties” page in the View/Update dialog has been enhanced to display reinforcing steel in the column elevation sketch. Member cross section properties are also now reported on screen.

RAM Concrete Shear Wall:

• Dynamic response spectra load cases are now included in design forces.
• Stress contours are now displayed for selected load combinations in View/Update.

RAM Foundation:

• A third option in the Criteria – Forces command has been added to specify that gravity forces from gravity columns used in the design of the footings can now be obtained from the material-appropriate analysis (RAM Steel forces on steel members, RAM Concrete forces on concrete members).