2.

I am performing concrete design for a beam per the ACI code and
I encounter an error message : "LOCATION FOR DESIGN FOR SHEAR AT
START OF MEMBER 2 IS BEYOND THE MIDPOINT OF MEMBER. DESIGN FOR
SHEAR AND TORSION NOT PERFORMED." How can I get around this
situation?
STAAD performs concrete design for shear and torsion at locations
defined by
(d + SFACE) from the start of the member
and
(d+EFACE) from the end of the member
respectively. The basis for this assumption can be found in
Section 11.1.3.1 of ACI 318-99.
If these locations are beyond the mid-point of the member, that
triggers the error message you encountered. In case you are not
familiar with the parameters SFACE and EFACE, you will see in
Chapter 3 of the Technical Reference Manual in Table 3.1 that
these are values which the user may specify to convey to STAAD how
far the face of the member is from the nodal point of the member.
The default value for SFACE and EFACE is 0.0. "d" is the effective
depth of the member.
So, this is what you can do. You can set the values for SFACE and
EFACE to be negative quantities equal in magnitude to "d". That
will result in (d+SFACE) and (d+EFACE) becoming zero, which means
that the design will be performed at the nodal points of the
member, thereby avoiding the situation of the design point being
beyond the mid-point of the member.
So, in your input file, under the START CONCRETE DESIGN command,
specify these parameters along the following lines:
START CONCRETE DESIGN
CODE ACI
SFACE -d MEMB 110
EFACE -d MEMB 110
DESIGN BEAM 110
END CONCRETE DESIGN

where "d" is the effective depth of the member.

END.
9. A floor slab has been modeled using 4-noded plate elements. The
elements are subjected to pressure loading in the vertically
downward direction. A concrete design has been performed on the
elements. (See below for the reinforcement report for many of
those elements.)
Why is it that the moments as well as reinforcement are appearing
on the top and not on the bottom of the plates?
The reinforcement report for many of those elements looks like the
following:

ELEMENT

LONG. REINF MOM-X /LOAD

(SQ.IN/FT)
(K-FT/FT)

TRANS.
MOM-Y /LOAD
REINF
(K-FT/FT)
(SQ.IN/FT)

134 TOP :

5.944

1474.13 /
12

6.914

1679.58 /
12

BOTT:

1.296

0.00 / 0

1.296

0.00 / 0

Solution: In the above output, the word TOP and BOTTOM refer to
the "local" top and bottom surfaces of the individual elements,
and not in the global axis sense. The local top and bottom
surfaces depend on the way an element is defined in its incidence
statement.
TOP is defined as the surface which coincides with the positive
side of the local Z axis. BOTTOM is defined as the surface which
coincides with the negative side of the local Z axis.
Shown below are two examples in which the element incidence is
numbered in two contrasting ways.
In the first figure, the local Z axis of the element points in the
vertically upward direction. Consequently, the local top and
bottom surfaces have the same sense as the global top and bottom.

In the next figure, the local Z axis of the element points in the
vertically downward direction. Consequently, the local top and
bottom surfaces have the opposite sense as the global top and
bottom.

You can verify the direction of the local axes of the elements in
your model by doing the following. Click the right mouse button
and select Labels. Under the Plate category, switch on Plate
Orientation. The local axes will be displayed as shown in these
figures above.
END.

12. In concrete design per the ACI code, if the size of the
concrete beam
member which I am designing is limited and I need to have 2 rows
of reinforcement in the top or the bottom of the beam, how do I
input this request? Or Does Staad automatically output the data
with the second row? have been trying to find this in the Manuals.
I have seen LEVELS BUT IT DOES NOT SAY WHAT I NEED.
You do not have to input any special request. As long as the
section can be designed as a singly reinforced section
(reinforcement in the tension zone only), STAAD will try to fit
the bars in upto 2 layers. For each layer, the distance from the
bottom of the section is reported. The number of bars required for
each layer too is reported. It reports a failure only if more than
2 layers are required.
END.
13. In concrete design per the ACI code, what does the following
expression in the STAAD output file mean: BAR SIZE CAN NOT BE
MATCHED TO MEET ALL REQUIREMENTS
This means that though the program is able to come up with the
value of area of steel required, it is unable to comeup with a bar
arrangement which will satisfy the area requirement. Usually, this
is because either because the MINMAIN and MAXMAIN limits might be
too restrictive, or because the resulting bar spacing violates the
minimum spacing requirements of the code.
END.