Composed cross-sections

Cross-sections composed of two different materials are quite common in the engineering practice. They provide for the combination of "good qualities" and "advantages" of the combined materials. Probably most often a steel beam is joined together with a concrete slab creating thus the top flange of the cross-section. However, SCIA Engineer allows the user to define materials of the composite cross-section freely.

The procedure for insertion of a composite cross-section into a project is identical with the procedure for any other cross-section type; the user just have to specify the type in the type-selection dialogue, then choose the appropriate shape and size, and oversee or change the required parameters.

As for any other cross-section type, the sectional characteristics such as sectional area, moment of inertia, position of centroid, etc. are calculated automatically by the program. The user may input or modify other cross-section parameters such as material, name, etc.

In addition to the basic sectional characteristics, the program also calculates, designs and displays data such as:

shape of a wall stiffener,

• diagram of warping lines,

• diagram of shear stress distribution over the cross-section for a unit force acting in Y-direction,

• diagram of shear stress distribution over the cross-section for a unit force acting in Z-direction,

• centre lines of the cross-section.

Note: Some of the above mentioned data depend on the shape of the particular cross-section. Therefore, some of the values may not be available for some of the cross-section shapes.

Sample cross-sections