Reading the checks

Transcript

Reading the checks in ILX Calcs.

The status bar

A calculation is only as useful as your check of it, so let's read one that fails. This W16X31 spans 30 feet, with braces every 10 feet. The status bar reads Not adequate, with total load deflection governing at 1.375, and three checks not met. The inputs that matter to a failing check carry a red mark with the clause.

Four states

There are three states, and tools have a fourth. Adequate: every check is met. Not adequate: at least one is not, and the results are still calculated, so you can see by how much. Not feasible: the inputs describe something that cannot be calculated. Calculated: a tool with no pass or fail.

The checks table

Below the drawings, All checks lists every check, with the required value, the available value, the ratio, the load combination that governs it, and the clause. Flexure needs 197.7 kip-feet, and has 144.5, a ratio of 1.368. The buttons above the table show all the checks, only the failed ones, or only the strength checks. Sort by ratio to put the highest first.

The steps

Select a row. Every equation appears, with its values, its result and its clause. Read them as you would a hand calculation. The end of the steps states the comparison, and How to fix says what to change. Here: use a deeper or heavier shape, or brace the compression flange more often.

Show inputs

Show inputs takes you to the inputs that check depends on, so you can make the change right there.

Loads and combinations

Open Loads and combinations above the results. Enter service loads, each with its type. The program applies the ASCE 7-22 combinations of those types, and reports the governing one for each check.

Code compliance

Code compliance, the next tab, lists the limits and recommendations that are not strength checks. Read it as well: a design can pass on strength, and still not meet a limit.

Clauses to confirm

A clause marked, to confirm against the code text, is one this version has not yet confirmed. Read that clause yourself.

Not feasible

Now a plate girder left on A992 steel, which the AISC Manual does not list for plates. The banner says Not feasible, names the problem and its reference, and gives the fix. Show takes you to the input. There are no results to trust until you fix it.

Documented deviations

One more word you will meet is deviation. It belongs to the testing, not to your calculation. When ILX Calcs differs from a published example by more than the tolerance, the difference is listed, with its reason, on the verification page, and in the verification notes of the manual chapter. Some are on the less conservative side, and the entry says so. Read them for the types you use.

What a ratio does not tell you

A ratio under 1 means the checks this type performs are met for the inputs you gave. It says nothing about the checks it does not perform. So read each chapter's limitations. You remain the engineer of record.

Now you can read every result, and know what to change. Questions? Select Support in the app, or write to us at services@ilxstudio.com.