What Are The Parameters For Deflection Check in STAAD - Pro?
What Are The Parameters For Deflection Check in STAAD - Pro?
What Are The Parameters For Deflection Check in STAAD - Pro?
The design parameters are described in the STAAD.Pro Technical Reference Manual
chapter 2.4.
The DFF parameter is used to assign the allowable ratio of span/deflection. The default
value for DFF is zero, which implies that no deflection check is desired. In other words,
if this parameter is not specified as an input, a deflection check will not be
performed. The trigger to invoke a deflection check on any member is to assign that
member a non-zero DFF parameter.
The DJ1 and DJ2 parameters are used to identify the nodes at the extreme ends of the
member to be evaluated for deflection. This is used to define the span length to be
considered when evaluating the deflection of members, such as girders, that consist of
multiple beam members connected by intermediate nodes. Identifying the ends of the
member also allows the program to net out any displacement of the member ends. In
this way, STAAD.Pro provides a true evaluation of the member deflection.
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.
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 upper-
case "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. 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.