STAAD Pro - Simple Continuous Beam Analysis

1. Model the Geometry of the Structure

25 KN/m 25 KN/m

10 KN/m

3.2

4.2

4.0

Start STAAD Pro. Go to File > New and Select Plane type structure and enter a File Name and Click Next. In the Where do you want to go? dialog box select Add beam and click Finish.

For this case we will be using the grid systems to model our structure. Since the spans are irregular lets setup the constructions line to irregular. For this purpose an irregular grid system is to be created. On the Snap Node/Beam palette click Create On the Snap Node/Beam palette go to irregular tab and setup the grid spacing. Enter 3.2 4.2 4.0 under X values under the Relative Grid Distance. By default the grid is set to Isometric view. Let us set the view to the conventional front view. (Rotate the view so that it is seen from the from Z+ direction, i.e. Front view)
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Afterwards click on Snap Node/Beam button and click on the Grid line intersection points. Then beam segments will be draw between each nodal point you click. Finally press the Escape key on the keyboard to end the task.

2. Assign Member Properties

On the Main Page controller, click on "General"> "Property" Select the members to assign the property by using the Beam selection cursor and dragging around the beams.

TIP: When it is required to select beams, nodes, plates, etc. the appropriate selection cursor should be selected first.

Next, click on "Define" button on the "Properties" box. Go to the "Rectangle" tab and give the dimensions. In this case, enter the beam size 0.45m x 0.225m, i.e. YD =0.45 and ZD=0.225. Click Assign Then STAAD will assign the sectional properties to the selected members.

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After assigning the properties the model should look like this:

[TIP: To toggle the display of the cross sectional annotations on the beams, activate the modelling window and press "SHIFT" + "X"]

3. Assign Supports
Go to General > Support sub page. Use the nodes cursor and select the nodes to assign the supports.

On the Support Dialog box click on Create and go to Pinned tab Click Assign. This will assign the Pinned Support to the selected nodes

After assigning the Pinned support the model should look like this:

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4. Assign Loads

Go to General -> Loads In the Load dialog box select Load Case Details and click on Add. Next enter a name for the primary load case and click Add.

Then you will see the Load case is listed under the details. Next select that load case title and click Add. This is done to that STAAD knows that you are going to enter loads under that Load Case. Then in the Add New Load Items dialog box under Member Load > Uniform Force, enter -25 as the W1 load value. Then click Add. To add another load value of 10 KN/m, enter -10 and click Add. Finally click Close. Notice that now we have defined two load values under the load case. But the loads a not yet assigned to the members. So next we should to assign the loads to the members; The load 20 KN/m for the first and third member and the 10Kn/m value to the second member. Select first load item (ie. UNI Gy -25 KN/m load item) and then select the first and third beam as shown in the following figure.

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(TIP: to select both the beams, click on the first beam and then while pressing the Ctrl key, select the third beam)

Next select the Assign to Selected Beams option and click on Assign. Similarly you may add the other load value to the middle beam as well. After assigning the load the model should like the following figure.

5. Assign the Type of Analysis and Analyze the Model

Go to Analysis/Print and in the Analysis/Print commands dialog box click on Add and click on Close. On the menu Analysis > Run Analysis In the Select Analysis Engine select STAAD Analysis and click on Run Analysis

After the analysis is completed, select the Go to Post Processing Mode option and click Done

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6. View the Results

To see the bending moment, shear force and axial force of the Beams go to Beam > Graphs

Next select a beam and on the right hand panels it shows the Bending moment, shear force and axial force diagrams. If you want mode details (Bending moment at a given location of the beams etc) double click on the beam and go to Shear Bending tab.

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