Skip to Main Content
RAM Structural System Ideas

Welcome to the RAM Structural System Ideas portal. The purpose of this site is to post ideas for enhancements and new features. We value your feedback and our team regularly reviews your suggestions for consideration in future releases.

You have 3 options for providing feedback:

  1. Vote for an existing Idea. The popularity of an Idea helps us understand its importance to our users.

  2. Comment on an existing Idea. We want to hear your unique point of view.

  3. Add a new Idea. If no existing Idea describes what you would like, add a new one!

When you Vote, Comment, or Add an idea you will also be subscribed to that Idea and will receive status updates. Please note that we may merge or rename Ideas for clarity. Thank you for your support and feedback, it is always appreciated!

Status Needs review
Created by Guest
Created on Jan 21, 2025

Lateral Drift Load Combinations for Wind

There seems to be a fundamental problem with lateral drift for wind in RAM Frame. Currently, accounting for lateral drift in accordance with ASCE 7, Appendix CC "Serviceability Considerations" requires some juggling. To follow this procedure, one must create a separate load case using the reduced wind speeds for the appropriate recurrence interval (I usually use 10 year) for standard buildings, which is fine. But when creating load combinations there is no set of combinations within the software that are appropriate for the section of the code which uses D+0.5L+Wa. The SERVICEABILITY combination reduces wind loads by 0.6, which only applies to member deflections and not lateral drift. So, I must create my own set of combinations using that formula. It would be helpful to make this less time consuming and confusing for the users.

  • Attach files
  • Admin
    Seth Guthrie
    Reply
    |
    Jan 28, 2025

    There are several places where the code says to check drift on load combinations, but since the drift due to gravity loads is usually small, many users simplify things and check drift on load cases instead.

    Note, you can make your own load combination templates that use custom load factors. There are some instructions in the RAMLoadCombinationGenerator.pdf program manual, or copy and edit one of the existing templates.