How to model plate sat on beams

[DSB123]

Hi All,
Newbie to STAAD. If I have a sqare of four beams modelled which has a plate sat on the top of the beams how do I model the plate sat on the beams?

 

[SethGuthrie]

The important thing to do is add more nodes along the beams where the plate elements can connect to the beam elements and segment those beams at the same nodes. Wherever the plate and beam share a node they will be linked. The more nodes you have, the more continuous the behavior.

 

[hetgen]

As sethGuthrie mentioned above the most important thing is to have shared nodes. If your question is how to align top of beam with top of slab use beam offset specification, which is under General > specification > offset.

 

[ToadJones]

Offset command will not work for what you are doing.
You'll need to add dummy members from the N.A. of the beam up to the top of the beam with infinite stiffness....otherwise STAAD will still treat the plate as if it were attached to the center line of the W members.