Why does my concrete member fail the Bar Limit Checks when the Link Spacing is within the valid range?

Problem

My concrete beam or column has passed the design for all strength checks, but is still being marked as failing for the Bar Limit Checks.  Right clicking on the member and selecting the "Check Member" option shows that the actual “Link Spacing” for the member has the same value as the “User Minimum Clear Link Spacing”, so why is this marked as a fail?

 

Solution

In the “Check Member” window shown above, the “Link Spacing” value is a centre-to-centre spacing, showing a value of 100mm in this example.  The “User Minimum Clear Link Spacing” however, is a clear spacing distance between bars.

As an 8mm Link Diameter has been used in this example, this means the actual clear spacing here is 92mm, which is less than the “User Minimum Clear Link Spacing”, hence the fail.

There could be a few different ways to get this member to work, but the easiest would be to lower the “User Minimum Clear Link Spacing” value.  This is done by going to the Design ribbon tab > Options > Concrete > Column > Reinforcement Layout > Link Bars > Minimum Bar Spacing, as shown below.

 

Once this setting change is confirmed, the failing member can be checked again, and it should pass the Bar Limit Checks, as shown below.