ASDIP CONCRETE is a structural engineering software for design of concrete members. It includes the design of multi-span continuous beams based on the latest ACI 318 provisions.
The design of concrete beams involves the calculation of shears and moments for the factored load combinations, and also the calculation of the beam support reactions. This document shows how to calculate the support reactions in a typical concrete beam using ASDIP CONCRETE.
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Are the support reactions reported graphically?
The screen shot below shows a concrete continuous beam subjected to some uniform and concentrated dead and live loads. Since the concrete members are designed per the Ultimate Strength Design method, the factored load combinations apply. The support reactions are reported graphically in ASDIP CONCRETE for the corresponding factored load combination, as shown below.
How do you get the service support reactions?
Sometimes it’s necessary to know the support reactions under service load combinations, for example to design the foundations, or in the case where the supporting members will be designed per the Allowable Stress Design method (ASD).
Some customers have asked whether the service beam reactions can be calculated in ASDIP CONCRETE. The answer is that this is an existing feature, and the service reactions are being currently calculated and reported in the software. Since this feature has gone unnoticed for some customers, chances are that you have not noticed it either, so this article may help to clarify this issue.
In ASDIP CONCRETE 4 a new section was added to the Condensed tab and to the Condensed report, where the support reactions are shown for both the service and the factored load combinations. The screen shot below shows the “Load Combinations” and the “Support Reactions” sections. Note that the service combinations are represented in dark red hexagons, and the factored combinations are represented in black circles. Two reactions are reported at each support location, one corresponding to the service combinations (dark red numbers), and one corresponding to the factored combinations (black numbers).
Takeaway
ASDIP CONCRETE includes the design of continuous beams, with multiple options to optimize the design easily. This example shows that the beam support reactions for both service and factored load combinations can be obtained directly from the reports.
Detailed information is available about this structural engineering software by visiting ASDIP CONCRETE. For engineering background, see the post Concrete Continuous Beams: A Structural Design Challenge. For our collection of blog posts about concrete design please visit Structural Concrete Design.
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Best regards,
Javier Encinas, PE
ASDIP Structural Software