***ATIR***

BEAMD
for

Windows
Version 10.0
Reinforced Concrete Beam
Design & Detailing
TUTORIAL
&
DEMO
- Metric units -

October 2001

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Disclaimer
The BEAMD programs have been written by a team of highly qualified engineers and programmers and have
been extensively tested. Nevertheless, the authors of the software do not assume responsibility for the validity
of the results obtained from the programs or for the accuracy of this documentation.

The following examples demonstrate various program options

used for defining the geometry and loads for reinforced
concrete beams and for detailing the reinforcement. These
examples were designed as teaching aids only and should not
be considered as a guide for accurate design and detailing of
similar beams

The authors remind the user that the programs are to be used as a tool for structural design, and that the
engineering judgement of the user is the final arbiter in the development of a suitable model and the
interpretation of the results.

The user must verify his own results

Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp.

AutoCAD is a registered trademark of Autodesk Inc.
Acrobat is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Inc.

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Table of Contents
1 General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.1
Beams, projects and directories (folders) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.2
Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.3
Select spans/supports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1-1
1-2
1-2
1-2

2 Demo examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3

2.1
Demo 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3

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1 General
BEAMD is a program for the analysis, design and detailing of reinforced concrete continuous beams according
to the following Codes:
ACI 318 - 99
CSA A23.3 - 94
BS 8110 - 99
Eurocode 2
IS:456 - 2000
NBr 6118
The end product of the program is a complete engineering drawing, including a beam elevation ,with all
reinforcement drawn and labeled according to the standards, as well as a complete bar schedule.
The beam design is carried out in the following stages:
Geometry and load definition
Moment and shear calculation
Main reinforcement and link/stirrup calculation
Automatic detailing of reinforcement
User revisions to the detailing
Addition of sections, text, details, etc
Drawing layout
Creation of bar schedule
the final engineering drawing - plot, print or write to a DXF/HPJ file.
Beams designed by the STRAP Structural Analysis Program Concrete Postprocessor may be detailed in
BEAMD. Refer to the STRAP Users manual for more details.
The procedure is represented by the following flow chart:

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1.1

Beams, projects and directories (folders)

All beams designed in BEAMD may be saved. Each beam is saved in the current directory, displayed at the
top of the main screen. An option is available to change the current directory.
In addition, the beams in any current directory may be organized in groups; each group is called a "Project" by
the program. You may switch from directory to directory, and from project to project as often as you wish.
Note:
Up to 10 Projects can be created in every BEAMD working directory.
The sum of the number of beams in the 10 Projects in a working directory
cannot exceed 999.
A Project serves as the basis of a drawing. All of the beams in a particular
drawing must be located in the same Project.
All existing beams are referred to by their title as defined in Geometry.
File management is internal.

1.2

Help

BEAMD provides the user with extensive on-line Help; the entire User's Manual is an integral part of the
program and may be displayed at any time.
BEAMD Help uses the standard Windows Help format; a window containing the Help is displayed on the right
half of the screen.
There are two ways to call Help while running the program:

press the

click the Help option in the menu bar at the top of the screen and select Contents in the pull-down
menu: The Table of Contents of the full BEAMD User's Manual is then displayed; select any topic in the list.

1.3

key: Help for the current option will be displayed.

Select spans/supports

To select a span/support when defining geometry or loads, or when designing the beam:
Move the adjacent to the span/support to be selected so that it is highlighted with the small .
Click the mouse to select; the span/support will then be highlighted with the large .
Continue selecting spans/supports as described above.
Click the End selection button when all required spans/supports have been selected.
Click the Select all button to select all the spans/supports in the beam.
Example: span selection:

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2 Demo examples
Note that the results may be slightly different for other Codes, different Setup options, etc.

2.1

Demo 1

This example demonstrates the basic flow of the program, showing only a small percentage of the many options
available:
definition of geometry and loads
design of main and shear reinforcement
automatic bar detailing
automatic section generation
drawing layout
automatic bar schedule generation
Design and detail the following continuous beam:

New Project
If you have just installed the program, define the name of the first project in the current directory:

Enter the project name (maximum 60

characters).

Main Menu

Click

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Geometry

Enter the span lengths

Enter the typical support width

Specify Pinned supports at both ends

Titles

Revise Support title or Span titles.

Note that all support names are
automatically updated in the Beam
title below.
Click the

button

Section:
Select the section shape:

Click the

rectangle option

Define the dimensions:

Enter the dimensions (according to the Units)

Click the

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The program now displays the geometry as defined:

Click any of the icons in

the side menu to correct
the geometry (if
necessary)

Click the
continue
definition.

Loads

Click the

Select the spans the uniform load is applied to:

to

icon to
load

icon in the side menu

Click Select all

Define the load values:

Enter the load values (according to the Units)

Click the

Click the

Select span 2:

button

icon in the side menu

Move the
adjacent to span 2 dimension so that it is
highlighted with the and click the mouse

Click End selection or right-click the mouse

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Define the load values:

Enter the load values (according to the Units) and

the distance from the start of the span
Click the
-

button

The program now displays the loads as defined:

Click Revise or Del in the side

menu to correct the loads (if
necessary)

Click the
icon to
continue to design.

Design
The program now designs the reinforcement and links according to the current Parameters, displayed in the
box at the bottom of the screen:

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Display the moment and shear diagrams:

Click the

Click

Automatic detailing

button in the icon bar

Select

Envelope only

Select

Entire beam

to begin automatic detailing of the beam.

The program initially provides the user with a solution that meets all of the code requirements for anchorage,
curtailment, laps, etc. and provides adequate reinforcement areas through the entire length of the beam.
The user guides the program by specifying a number of detailing parameters before the automatic detailing
begins; the aim of these parameters is to inform the program of user constraints and requirements, e.g.
allowable bar diameters, optimal number of bars, etc.
For example, we will specify that the 25 mm bars are the largest that may be placed in the beam:

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Click the
select 25

button in the Max list box and

Click the

button

The program displays the automatic detailing on the screen:

BEAMD contains many options for modifying the detailing interactively, based on engineering judgement
or drafting considerations. The unique Check option will warn you if the bars no longer comply with the
Code requirements.

For example, lets shorten bar no. 8.

First, zoom in on span 3: click the

in the icon bar and select the two corner points of the rectangle L.L.
and U.R. shown in the screen above by moving the to the points and clicking the mouse. The program
displays the selected area:

Click the

icon and then the

icon

Select the dimension of the bar

segment and click the mouse

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Type in the new segment length

Click the

button

the bar is redrawn as:

right-click the mouse to quit the Edit option

Click the

icon.

Click the

icon.

The program displays the reinforcement coverage diagram and a list of warnings:

Note that bar no. 8 is missing length at both ends and

there is now insufficient reinforcement at support 4 (as
expected!).
Note the detail at the left end of bar 8:

Sections

The program can automatically draft sections at any location along the beam. Just point to any location and
the section will be displayed, including reinforcement, links and labels. The section may be created from a
library template.
-

close the Check window.

click the

Click the

icon.

Click the

icon.

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move the

to any location along the beam and click the mouse:

Enter the section name

Specify

Beam section

the program displays the automatic section:

Click

Select Place together with current beam

Click the

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Move the section to

the correct location
relative to the beam
and click the mouse

Layout

We will now add the beam to the drawing, including the section.

Click the

icon.

Select a drawing:

Click
, type in the drawing name
and select the drawing size/orientation, and
click

Click the

Select the beam:

to continue.

icon.

Click and highlight the beam

Click
-

to continue

Specify the beam parameters:

Select the
display method:

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Place the beam on the drawing:

Drag the beam to

its location on the
drawing and click
the mouse

Bar schedule

Finally, we will create a bar schedule listing the reinforcement for beams on the drawing. Note that additional
bars may be added manually.
-

click File in the menu bar

select Create bar schedule in the pulldown menu.

add the beam to the schedule

Highlight the beam

Select a bar schedule (more than one may be created from a

drawing)
Click the Assign bar schedule... button; 1 will be displayed
adjacent to the beam in the table above
click
-

to continue

The program enters the bar schedule program (BARSW). Select the schedule that you just created:

Highlight the line and click

the mouse

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The program displays the bar schedule. Note that you can modify any of the bar data or the header items.

Scroll down to the bottom of the

list
-

Add a new bar:

click on the blank line at the end of the bar list
Enter the bar data in the cells. In certain cells (bar type,
diameter) the program will display auxiliary menus. Click one of
the options in the menu and the program will write the selection
in the cell

Display the bar schedule:

Select Output in the menu bar and Display schedule in the pulldown menu. The program displays the final
schedule including a summary table of lengths and weight:
click

to close the window

Click File in the menu bar and select Exit in the pulldown menu. Enter a file name if you want to save the
schedule.

You have now completed this demo.

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