Project: HiCAD Steel Engineering

Batten Plates

"Civil Engineering" docking window > Steel Engineering > Macros > Gusset plate

Batten plates are generated using the settings of the Batten plates and Material tabs.

Proceed as follows:

1. Activate the Gusset plates function.
2. Activate the Material tab and make the necessary entries.
3. Switch to the Batten plates tab. Choose the desired options and enter the required data.
4. Choose OK to exit the tab.
5. Next, HiCAD asks you to identify the main direction (2x for double beams) and, if applicable, to specify the reference point for the plate fitting.
6. The batten plates are fitted if the standard catalogue has the corresponding plate thicknesses which are identified automatically via the distance between the beams. If this distance does not match a standard plate size, the next smallest beam thickness is automatically chosen. Use the middle mouse button to end the batten plate fitting.

Double L beam with batten plates, (1) Main direction

Please note:

• The bolting specification is made via the default file DefaultScrewJoint.INI in the HiCAD SYS directory. This is automatically configured if you use the New bolting 3-D function to define templates for bolt connections (Settings tab).
• The batten plate is positioned using the definition of a reference point. If this reference point is defined with a relative point option by specifying a distance, the y-value is not evaluated due to the automatic fitting.
• The batten plate thickness is automatically calculated from the offset of the beams. If the plate thickness does not match, the next smallest thickness is automatically used.
• The actual sizes of the batten plate are determined from the beam size, the bore pattern (rows and columns of bolts) and the beam offset

The appearance of the batten plates is defined via the Batten plate and Material tabs (for Main direction)

Settings on the 'Material' tab

• Plate material
  Choose the desired material from the list box.
• For:
  Main direction must be selected here for batten plates.
• Bolt type
  Select the bolt type. The template which you assigned to this type via the New bolting function is used for the bolt connection.
• Strength class and Diameter
  Choose the bolt diameter and the strength class from the corresponding list box here.
• Bolting Offset
  The offsets of the bolting can either be copied from a table or entered directly into the fields, with e1 being the distance to the egde in force direction to the first bore for the bolting and e2 the corresponding offset perpendicular to the force direction. p1 is the hole offset in force direction/skew to force direction, p2 the hole offset perpendicular to the force direction.

Bolting offsets

The values that you enter on this tab will be the default settings the next time you call the function!

Settings on the 'Batten plate' tab

• Positioning
  The plates can be fitted individually or divided between the beams. If the Divide option is active, the batten plates are distributed evenly across the entire beam length.
• Division
  The offset of the division is calculated over the distance between the standard boltings and does not exceed the specifiable offset. If values e, p, w are taken from a table, the iw-value of the beam applies automatically.
  If several flanges have been fitted in a beam main direction, the offset between the bolts of the flanges is taken into account and the required division calculated. The automatic batten plate procedure takes into account the complete beam direction of the main direction. If no gusset plates with boltings have been fitted at the ends, the first position of the batten plate is determined via the specifiable offset. (The program takes into account the fitted flanges by searching for fitted bolt axes and determining the existing distance according to criteria for the individual plates described below.)

Parameters in the batten plate, (1) Division

The offset can be calculated automatically or specified explicitly.

• Bore pattern
  The bore pattern defines the number of bolts in horizontal and vertical direction, thereby influencing the size of the batten plate.
• w1/w2/w3
  Values w1, w2 and w3 are determined via the beam and define the distance of the bolting to the edge of the beam. In the case of equilateral beams, values w1 and w3 are identical.

The values can either be taken from the standard table or entered directly. Standard table here refers to the table defined for the beam in the standard catalogue. You can use the catalogue editor to define new catalogues and tables

If you use series beams, i.e. derive the beams from 2-D parts , you can also assign parameters w1, w2, w3 to the 2-D figures. In this case, the values assigned to the 2-D part are used for fitting batten or gusset plates. The Detect in table checkbox needs to be active in this case.

Further Connections + Construction Aids (3-D SE) • Connections + Variants (3-D SE) • Steel Engineering Functions