I have a Validation > Model > General > “Effective width is greater than automatically calculated value” warning. Why do I get this and how do I resolve it?
Question
I have a Validation > Model > General > “Effective width is greater than automatically calculated value” warning. Why do I get this and how do I resolve it?
Answer
When defining a composite beam the effective width is automatically calculated in accordance with the respective Head code rules.
It is possible following model geometry edits i.e increasing or reducing the composite beam span or the spacing between parallel beams - that the value is greater than the code requirement. When this occurs the validation warning is provided to you as shown in the first screenshot above.
You can double click the Effective width is greater than automatically calculated value or an individual element to locate it in the active scene view. If the item is not in the active scene view then the Structural 3D view is opened and the selected item(s) are highlighted. The selected element properties are also displayed in the Properties window for review and editing.
The Effective width specified in the Properties window under the Floor construction branch is greater than the calculated value that is determined automatically based upon the following rule:
“The effective width of the concrete flange is taken as the lessor of the beam span /8 or half the width to the adjacent beam each side”.
So in this example:
Left side: 3 / 8 = 0.375m or 3 / 2 = 1.5 m. Thus, the effective width of concrete flange on left side = 0.375m
Right side: as left side in this example = 0.375 m
Effective width = left + right = 0.375 + 0.375 = 0.75 m
To remove the warning you can click on the Calculate effective width … to update the Effective width value with the automatically calculated value. Alternatively, you could manually input a value that is not greater than this automatic value.
Once the Validate command has been run again the warning is no longer displayed.