Dear Dlubal Support Team,
I currently have a problem with the design of a steel connection in RFEM 6.
The following error appears:
"ER9003 – Error | Design situation type for stress-strain calculation"
Additionally, it shows:
"This design situation type is not allowed" as well as "η = Not designable."
The error occurs as soon as I use an earthquake/SEIS combination or a combination of the type:
"GZT (STR/GEO) – Exceptional"
for the stress-strain verification.
I would greatly appreciate a brief explanation or recommendation on the correct procedure.
Thank you very much in advance.
Best regards,
Mzabi
Hi Mzabi2025,
In the design situation of the earthquake type, additional rules apply that are currently not considered in the steel connection design.
Furthermore, for steel connections, only result combinations of the type "Superposition" are currently possible. However, for this type, load cases with a calculation type other than "Static Analysis" cannot be used. "Modal Analysis" and "Response Spectrum Analysis" are currently not supported for this combination of result combinations.
The steel connection design for earthquake design situations is planned for a future version.
Best regards
Stefan Hoffmann
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Thank you very much for your quick response.
What procedure do you suggest for currently designing steel connections against earthquakes with RFEM 6?
Create two static load cases with horizontal acceleration in X and Y respectively, include them in the combinations, and design the connections accordingly? (So a kind of simplified response spectrum method)
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Hi @H_Hoelscher,
if corresponding equivalent horizontal accelerations can be determined, that is certainly the best option.
If the number of relevant combinations from the envelope of the earthquake response results is relatively small, you could also open the connection in a new model (use connection templates). There you can manually apply the joint loads in the connection and perform a normal load-bearing capacity analysis. The prerequisite is, of course, first to identify which load combination cases are relevant. This is not always immediately derivable for a 3D connection, which is also the reason why seismic design is currently not yet available.
Best regards
Fabian Felber
