©COMPUTERS AND STRUCTURES, INC.

, BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA JANUARY 2002

STEEL JOIST DESIGN
Technical Note
Output Details

This Technical Note describes the steel joist design output that can be printed
to a printer or to a text file. It also documents the design check messages, for
example, CHK#2, that indicate the program is unable to design a particular
joist. All the output data documented in this Technical Note, except for the
summary output data, also appears when the Details button in the Show
Details area of the Interactive Steel Joist Design and Review form is clicked.
See Technical Note Interactive Steel Joist Design for more information.

The program provides the output data in a series of tables. The heading or
title for each piece of output data and a description of the data are provided
in the tables in this Technical Note.

Summary of Steel Joist Output

This output is printed when you click the File menu > Print Tables > Steel
Joist Design command and check the Output Summary checkbox on the re-
sulting form. Similar output also appears on screen if you click the Details
button in the Show Details area of the Interactive Composite Beam Design
and Review form. See Technical Note Interactive Steel Joist Design for more de-
tails on the interactive design.

Table 1 Summary of Steel Joist Output

OUTPUT ITEM DESCRIPTION
Story Level Story level associated with the joist.

Beam Label Label associated with the line object that represents the joist. A
typical label beam would appear as "B23." Do not confuse this
with the Design Section Label, which might be identified as
"16K3."

Design Section The joist section selected as a result of the design process, for
example, 16K3.

Summary of Steel Joist Output Technical Note - 1

Steel Joist Design Output Details

Table 1 Summary of Steel Joist Output

OUTPUT ITEM DESCRIPTION
Maximum Ratio The maximum design ratio for the joist. See Technical Note
Design Checks for Standard Design Steel Joist Design and
Technical Note Design Checks for Envelope Design Steel Joist
Design for a description of how the ratio is calculated.

Ratio Type This is either flexure, shear or LL Deflection, indicating the de-
sign check that produced the Maximum Ratio.

Steel Joist Detailed Output

This output is printed when you click the File menu > Print Tables > Steel
Joist Design command and check the Detailed Output checkbox on the re-
sulting form. Similar output also appears on screen if you click the Details
button in the Show Details area of the Interactive Steel Joist Design and Re-
view form. See Technical Note Interactive Steel Joist Design for more details on
the interactive design.

Table 2 Steel Joist Detailed Output

OUTPUT ITEM DESCRIPTION
Basic Beam Information
Joist The joist section selected as a result of the design process, for
example, 16K3.

Beam Label Label associated with the line object that represents the joist. A
typical label beam would appear as "B23." Do not confuse this
with the Design Section Label, which might be identified as
"16K3."

Story Story level associated with the joist.

Length Length of the joist.

Loc X Global X coordinate of the center of the joist.

Loc Y Global Y coordinate of the center of the joist.

Steel Joist Detailed Output Technical Note - 2

Steel Joist Design Output Details

Table 2 Steel Joist Detailed Output

OUTPUT ITEM DESCRIPTION
Group Name of the design group (if any) to which the beam has been
assigned.

Joist Overwrite Data

LL Deflection Limit The live load deflection limit specified for the joist.

Ignore Similarity This item is Yes if story level similarity (to a master story level)
is to be ignored when designing the joist.

RLLF A reducible live load is multiplied by this factor to obtain the re-
duced live load.

Joist Design Results - Standard Design

Analysis section The joist section used in the last analysis of the structure.

Design section The joist section selected as a result of the design process.

Span used to select The joist span that the program used to select the joist Uniform
capacities TL Capacity and Uniform LL Capacity.

Load type This is either Uniform or Not Uniform, indicating the type of load
assumed by the program. See Technical Note Design Checks
for Standard Design Steel Joist Design for a description of how
the program determines if a load is uniform.

Controlling Ratio The controlling design ratio for the joist. It is the larger of the
Uniform TL Ratio and the Uniform LL Ratio.

Uniform TL Combo The design load combination that produces the largest Uniform
TL (total load) Ratio.

Equivalent Uniform TL The equivalent uniform total load acting on the joist. See Tech-
nical Note Design Checks for Standard Design Steel Joist De-
sign for a description of equivalent uniform total load.

Uniform TL Capacity The specified uniform total load capacity of the joist.

Uniform TL Ratio The ratio obtained by dividing the Equivalent Uniform TL by the
Uniform TL Capacity.

Table 2 Steel Joist Detailed Output Technical Note - 3

Steel Joist Design
Table 2 Steel Joist Detailed Output
OUTPUT ITEM
Uniform LL Combo
Equivalent Uniform LL
Uniform LL Capacity
Uniform LL Ratio
Joist Design Results - Envelope Design
Analysis section
Design section
Load type
Equivalent uniform
total load
Minimum joist length
Maximum joist length
Controlling Ratio
Maximum Moment
Combo
Table 2 Steel Joist Detailed Output
Output Details
DESCRIPTION
The design load combination that produces the largest Uniform
LL (live load) Ratio.
The equivalent uniform live load acting on the joist.
The specified uniform live load capacity for an L/360 deflection
of the joist.
The ratio obtained by dividing the Equivalent Uniform LL by the
Uniform LL Capacity and then multiplying by a factor to account
for the possibility that the specified live load deflection limit may
be different from L/360. See Technical Note Design Checks for
Standard Design Steel Joist Design for a description of how this
ratio is calculated.
The joist section used in the last analysis of the structure.
The joist section selected as a result of the design process.
This is either Uniform or Not Uniform indicating the type of load
assumed by the program. See Technical Note Design Checks
for Standard Design Steel Joist Design for a description of how
the program determines if a load is uniform.
The equivalent uniform total load acting on the joist. See Tech-
nical Note Design Checks for Envelope Design Steel Joist De-
sign for a description of how this is calculated.
The minimum span for which the joist design section will be
designed by the program.
The maximum span for which the joist design section will be
designed by the program.
The controlling design ratio for the joist. It is the larger of the
Moment Ratio, Shear Ratio and the LL Deflection Ratio.
The design load combination that produces the Maximum Mo-
ment.
Technical Note - 4
Steel Joist Design Output Details

Table 2 Steel Joist Detailed Output

OUTPUT ITEM DESCRIPTION
Maximum Moment The maximum moment acting on the joist.

Moment Capacity The specified moment capacity of the joist.

Moment Ratio The ratio obtained by dividing the Maximum Moment by the
Moment Capacity.

Maximum Shear The design load combination that produces the Maximum
Combo Shear.

Maximum Shear The maximum shear acting on the joist.

Shear Capacity The specified shear capacity of the joist.

Shear Ratio The ratio obtained by dividing the Maximum Shear by the Shear
Capacity.

LL Deflection Combo The design load combination that produces the Maximum LL
Deflection.

Maximum LL Deflec- The maximum live load deflection for the joist.
tion

LL Deflection Limit The specified live load deflection limit for the joist in Length
units.

LL Deflection Ratio The ratio obtained by dividing the Maximum LL Deflection by

the LL Deflection Limit.

Steel Joist Design Check Messages

This output is displayed on the model and in the printed output when the pro-
gram is unable to design a particular joist. The check messages, such as
CHK#2, are a "shorthand" way of indicating the design problem.

In the printed Steel Joist Detailed Output and the output obtained from the
Interactive Steel Joist Design and Review form, descriptive messages are pro-
vided along with the shorthand messages. In the printed Summary of Steel

Steel Joist Design Check Messages Technical Note - 5

Steel Joist Design Output Details

Joist Output and for display on the model, only the shorthand messages are
provided.

Table 3 shows that descriptive messages that correspond to the shorthand

check messages.

Table 3 Steel Joist Design Check Messages

OUTPUT ITEM DESCRIPTION
CHK# 1 Error: No section in the auto select list is adequate for this joist.

CHK# 2 Error: The element is not designed because it is not a joist sec-
tion.

CHK# 3 Error: This joist is not designed because there is negative mo-
ment.

CHK# 4 Error: This joist is not designed because the equivalent uniform
load exceeds 550 plf.

CHK# 5 Error: This joist is not designed because a single concentrated

load exceeds the shear capacity.

CHK# 6 Error: This joist is not designed because no load data exists for
spans this short.

CHK# 7 Error: This joist is not designed because no load data exists for
spans this long.

Table 3 Steel Joist Design Check Messages Technical Note - 6