File Formats: Beam Geometry Library

Description

The geometry of user-defined beams that are based on the beam geometry cross section shapes data (BGL) can be exported as .BXS files using Properties: Import/Export Beam Sections. To create a new beam section library consisting of a large number of beam section data sets, the Utility: Make Library function can be used. To use this function to create a new beam geometry cross section library, a source text file in the format described below is required.

The source text file must be encoded in UTF-8. Floating point data can be entered in either fixed format (e.g., 23.454) or exponential format (e.g., 2.3454E1). The exponent character can be either 'e' or 'E'. The decimal separator can be either a period (.) or a comma (,). Either character can be used as the decimal separator without having to specify it, as long as the file contains one or the other, not both. Both period and comma are allowed in the section and material name fields. Comment lines are allowed and are prefixed by a "/". Data fields are separated by space or tab characters.

There are 28 beam geometry cross section library fields, 10 of which are material-related. The fields are arranged in the following order:

  1. Section name: must be between one and 250 characters long; must be enclosed in double quotes (e.g., "125 × 75 × 6 UA").
  2. Section type: must be one of the following strings (no spaces) - IBeam, TBeam, Channel, Angle, HollowRectangle or BulbFlat.
  3. Section dimensions 1 (see the Section Dimensions table below).
  4. Section dimensions 2 (see the Section Dimensions table below).
  5. Section dimensions 3 (see the Section Dimensions table below).
  6. Section dimensions 4 (see the Section Dimensions table below).
  7. Section dimensions 5 (see the Section Dimensions table below).
  8. Section dimensions 6 (see the Section Dimensions table below).
  9. Section dimensions 7 (see the Section Dimensions table below).
  10. Section dimensions 8 (see the Section Dimensions table below).
  11. Section dimensions 9 (see the Section Dimensions table below).
  12. Section dimensions 10 (see the Section Dimensions table below).
  13. Section dimensions 11 (see the Section Dimensions table below).
  14. Section dimensions 12 (see the Section Dimensions table below).
  15. Section dimensions 13 (see the Section Dimensions table below).
  16. Section dimensions 14 (see the Section Dimensions table below).
  17. Section dimensions 15 (see the Section Dimensions table below).
  18. Section dimensions 16 (see the Section Dimensions table below).
  19. Material Name: must be between one and 250 characters long; must be enclosed in double quotes (e.g., "Structural Steel").
  20. Elastic modulus.
  21. Shear modulus.
  22. Poisson's ratio.
  23. Mass density.
  24. Thermal expansion coefficient.
  25. Thermal conductivity.
  26. Specific heat.
  27. Viscous damping coefficient.
  28. Use shear modulus. If this field contains the text "Shear", the material uses Shear Modulus under the Materials tab instead of Poisson's Ratio (ν).

Any data omitted after the last value of each data set is treated as null (i.e., zero value).

An example of beam geometry cross section library source file with three cross sections is shown below.

Sample

/My custom beam geometry cross sections

/Units: SI

/Designation Type D1 D2 D3 T1 T2 T3 Area I11 I22 J SC1 SC2 SA1 SA2 Material E G nu rho alpha lambda Cp c Mirror GapA GapB CX CY Angle

"Custom - S 610 × 180" IBeam 0.622 0.204 0.204 2.03E-02 2.77E-02 2.77E-02 1.55E-02 1.55E-02 9.6E-03 9.6E-03 0 0 9.462 9.462 0 0 "ANSI Steel" 2.0E+11 7.72E+10 0.3 7.86E+03 1.17E-05 5.1E+01 5.0E+02 0

"Custom - Bulb Flats - 180 × 9.5 × 23" BulbFlat 1.80E-01 3.25E-02 9.50E-03 7.00E-03 2.00E-03 7.00E-03 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 3.00E+01 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 "JSCE Steel" 2.05E+11 7.885E+10 3.00E-01 7.85E+03 1.00E-05 5.00E+01 4.80E+02 0.00E+00

"Custom - Timber I Joist 300 X 63 mm" IBeam 3.00E-1 7.00E-2 7.00E-2 1.0E-2 5.0E-2 5.0E-2 0 0 5.0E-3 5.0E-3 5.0E-3 5.0E-3 0 0 0 0 "Timber - MGP10 (Average Modulus) - AS 1720-1-2010" 1.000E10 6.70E8 0 500 0.0000035 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 0.00E+00 "Shear"

"Custom - RHS 200 × 100 × 10.0" HollowRectangle 0.2 0.1 0.01 0.01 0.015 0.025 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 "Structural Steel" 2.0E+11 7.7E+10 0.3 7850 1.17E-05 50 480 0

Section Dimensions

All 16 section dimensions must be specified for each data set. Not all section types use all six values. Unused dimensions should be set to 0. All length dimensions must be in consistent length unit. The taper/slope angles are specified in degrees. Dimensions do not need to be symmetrical (e.g., top flange of IBeam can be shorter than the bottom flange to specify an asymmetric H section). Dimensions that are not marked on the illustrations are assumed to be symmetrical (e.g., all dimensions of IBeam are assumed to be left-right symmetrical).

Section type Section dimensions Illustrations
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
IBeam D B1 B2 tw tf1 tf2 Rr1 Rr2 Rt1 Rt2 Rt3 Rt4 a1 a2    
TBeam D B Tw Tf Rr Rt1 Rt2 Rt3 a1 a2            
Channel D B1 B2 tw tf1 tf2 Rr1 Rr2 Rh1 Rh2 Rt1 Rt2 Rt3 Rt4 a1 a2
Angle D B tw tf Rr Rh Rt1 Rt2 Rt3 Rt4 a1 a2        
HollowRectangle D B tw tf Ri Ro                    
BulbFlat D B t Rr Rh Rt1 Rt2 Rt3 a              

See Also