This tutorial walks you step by step through designing a connection in the SkyCiv Connection Design module.
The design UI has five main tabs:
- Details
- Montage
- Armaturen
- Ladingen
- Resultaten
Work through them in order. Each one feeds the next, and the 3D model re-renders as you go, so you can see what you are building before you solve it.
Details
The Details tab is where you record your project information. None of it affects the calculations, but it carries through to the report, which is what makes a set of designs traceable months later:
- Naam van het project
- Project-ID
- Bedrijf
- Ontwerper
- Cliënt
- Projectnotities
Montage
The second tab is where you build the connection itself.
Kolom
Start with the supporting member, usually a column. Pick the section size from the dropdown next to the Section label, then the material grade. The common grades are in the list; for anything else, type your own Fy and Fu into those fields. Check the units shown against each field before you type.
Straal
Next comes the beam. Supply its section size and material grade the same way. This tab also holds cope dimensions and beam clearance. Add a cope where the beam frames into a supporting beam of similar depth and the top flange has to be cut back, since the coped section governs a check the uncoped one does not.
uit AISC-specificatietabel D3.1
Last come the connecting components: grades, diktes, widths and lengths for the plates or angles. Where a connection has both a flange and a web component, remember to switch between the two sub-tabs and fill out each one. A moment connection typically carries the moment through the flanges and the shear through a separate web plate, so both need setting up.
Once the fields are filled for each tab, the model renders the 3D figure automatically. You can try this in the free tool without an account.
Armaturen
The Fixtures tab holds the sub-groups of fixtures, numbered, with a short description under each tab name.
Start by choosing the fixture type. Er zijn er twee: bolted and welded. On some connections the type is pre-selected and locked, because the configuration only works one way. If the type you want is not available, stuur een functieverzoek aan het ondersteuningsteam van SkyCiv.
Bout
For a bolted fixture you supply:
- Materiaal
- Diameter
- Boutafschuiving en treksterkte
- Hole type
- Regeling
- Rijafstand
- Kolomafstand
- Randafstand
Most of these are dropdowns, and there is a tooltip on Edge Distance explaining what it measures from.
Once the required fields are filled, the bolts render in the model. Change the bolt size or open up the spacing and the connection updates as you watch, which is the quickest way to find out whether a bolt group actually fits before the detailing checks tell you it does not.
Lassen
A weld fixture takes fewer inputs than a bolted one:
- Materiaal
- lassterkte:
- Grootte
The 3D model updates once the weld fixture is set.
For more on what the module does with these, see the documentation on bouten en lassen.
Ladingen
Type the design loads straight into the cells of the loads table. Which columns you get depends on the connection type: a shear connection takes shear alone, a moment connection takes axial, schaar en moment, and a brace connection takes axial.
Match your loads to the design method you chose. Under LRFD, enter factored loads and the module compares them against design strength. Under ASD, enter service loads and it compares them against allowable strength. Entering factored loads into an ASD design, or service loads into an LRFD one, gives you a utilization ratio that means nothing, and the software cannot tell which you typed.
Resultaten
With everything supplied, run the design checks. Results come back as a table and as graphics, with a utilization ratio and a pass or fail against each check, and the governing check called out at the top.
Detailing runs before the strength checks: afstanden van de boutranden, spatiëring, tool clearances, plate dimensions, and clash detection between plates, verstijvers, bolts and welds. A connection that cannot be built fails here, before any capacity is calculated, which is usually what you want.
Vanaf dit tabblad, View Calculation Report opens the step-by-step calculations with every formula and clause reference, and Download PDF or Download HTML saves it. View Detailed Drawing opens the CloudCAD 2D detail sheet, with plan and elevation views, lasmarkeringen, boutschema's en afmetingen, which you can edit in-app and export.
Start vandaag
Ready to try it? Kies een verbinding, enter your sections and loads, and see every check. It runs in the browser, with nothing to install and no account needed to start.
SkyCiv-verbindingsontwerp
SkyCiv-verbindingsontwerp covers over 80+ pre-configured connection types, designs to AISC 360-16 in LRFD and ASD and to AS 4100:2020, and shows every formula and code reference in full. A free account lets you save and reload your connection files.
Verbindingsontwerp standalone
U wilt alleen de verbindingsontwerpmodule gebruiken? Klik op onderstaande knop voor de losse prijzen.
