Physical Member Interface

Purpose
STAADwillallowgroupinganalyticalpredefinedmembersintophysicalmembersusinga
specialmembergroupPMEMBER.
PMEMBERdefinesagroupofanalyticalcollinearmembers,withsamecrosssectionand
materialproperty.
TomodelusingPMEMBER,oneneedstomodelregularanalyticalmembersandthestart
groupingthosetogether.
WhilecreatingaPMEMBER,thefollowingaretheprerequisites,
1.Existenceoftheanalyticalmembersinthememberlist.
2.Selectedmembersshouldbeinterconnected.
3.Theselectedindividualmembersarecollinear.
4.Localaxisoftheindividualmemberscomprisingthephysicalmembershouldbeidentical
(i.e.x,yandzarerespectivelyparallelandinsamesense).
5.AmemberinonePhysicalMemberGroupshouldnotoccurinanyotherPhysicalMember
Group.

Description
PMEMBERcanbecreatedeitherinmodelingmodeorSteelDesignermode.Modelingmode
andSteelDesignermodePMEMBERswillbelabeledasMandDrespectively.Modeling
modePMEMBERwillallowvariablecrosssections.SteelDesignermodewillallowimporting
PMEMBERscreatedinmodelingmode.
FollowingSTAADcommandsrelatedtoPMEMBERwillbeimplemented.
DEFINEPMEMBER
PMEMBERPROPERTY
PMEMBERCONSTANT
PMEMBERLOAD
PRINTPMEMBERFORCE

TodefineaPhysicalMember,thefollowingcommandisusedaftertheMEMBER
INCIDENCECommand:
DEFINEPMEMBER
{Memberlist}PMEMBER(pmemberno)
Example:
JOINTCOORDINATE
1000610.000
MEMBERINCIDENCE
1125
DEFINEPMEMBER
1TO5PMEMB1

TodefinethememberpropertyofaPhysicalMember,thefollowingcommandis
used:
PMEMBERPROPERTY
{Pmemberlist}PRIS

ThePhysicalMembersupportsalltypesofmemberpropertiesavailableinSTAAD.
Ifmultipledefinitionsofmemberpropertiesforaparticularanalyticalmemberis
encountered(e.g.analyticalmemberpropertiesisdefinedtwice,oncevia

PMEMBERPROPcommandandagainviaMEMBERPROPcommand,thenMEMBER
PROPcommandwilloverridePMEMBERPROPdefinition.
TodefinetheMaterialconstantsofaPhysicalMember,thefollowingcommandis
used:
PMEMBERCONSTANT
ECONCRETEpmemberlist
DENCONCRETEpmemberlist

Anymember,whichisapartofanyPMEMNERisnotallowedtobeassigned
constantsexplicitly.
Atpresent,aPhysicalMembercanbeloadedwithUniformlyDistributedLoadand
Moment,ConcentratedLoadandMoment,andTrapezoidalLoad.Thecommand
syntaxisasfollows:
PMEMBERLOAD
{PmemberList}UNI/CON/UMOM/UCON/TRAPf1f2f3f4

Aftertheanalysis,thePostAnalysisresultsofaPMEMBERcanbeseenbyusingthe
followingcommand:
PRINTPMEMBERFORCE

Thiscommandwillproducememberforcesforalltheanalyticalmembersinthe
group.