Quickstart

This guide builds a single-bay portal frame, applies two load cases, solves it and reads the moments. The frame is small enough to check by hand, so your first result is one you can verify.

What you will build

A pinned-base portal, 12 m span, 6 m to eaves, with a horizontal wind load:

            w = 5 kN/m
       ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
10 kN → ┌───────────────┐          rafter — IPE 400
        │               │
        │               │  6 m     columns — HEA 300
        │               │
        △               △          pinned bases
        |──── 12 m ─────|

1. Create the project

Sign in and create a new project. Choose the 2D Frame model type: the frame lies in the XZ plane and cannot move out of it, so each node has three degrees of freedom and nothing out of plane needs restraining. Pick the unit system and the design code now. All three can be changed later, but the code decides which combination rules and checks are offered.

2. Decide where the nodes go

For a frame this small, type the coordinates: (0, 0), (0, 6), (12, 6), (12, 0). Typed coordinates are exact. Approximately right is where mechanisms come from.

On a real job you would import the architect's DXF and snap to it instead. See Drawings and snapping.

3. Draw the frame

Draw three beam members:

Members drawn to the same point share a node automatically, so the frame is continuous at the eaves with no further action.

4. Assign sections and material

Assign HEA 300 to both columns and IPE 400 to the rafter, in S355 steel. Sections are defined once and reused: changing the rafter section later updates every member that uses it, with no re-drawing.

5. Support it

Give each base node a Pin support. In a 2D Frame it holds both translations and leaves the rotation free, which is exactly a pinned base.

6. Load it

Create three load cases, one action each:

• Self-weight, generated from the members' density and section.
• Dead — a uniformly distributed load of 5 kN/m along the rafter.
• Wind — a 10 kN horizontal point load at the left eaves node.

Keep them separate. Combining them by hand here would stop the code combinations from factoring each one properly, and it would spoil the hand check in step 9.

7. Combine

Put the two permanent cases in a permanent load group and wind in a variable one. On Pro, generate the combinations from the design code: for a first pass the ULS set from EN 1990 6.10 is enough, and it includes the variant where the permanent load is favourable. See Automatic combinations.

On the free plan the generator is locked, so write the same two by hand as linear combinations:

The second one governs the uplift side of the wind case and is the one people forget.

8. Solve

Press Solve (top right), or F5. On a frame this size the analysis finishes in a few milliseconds.

9. Read the result

Switch the viewport to the bending moment diagram for the Dead load case: the case, not a combination, so the numbers are unfactored and free of self-weight.

For a pinned-base portal under uniform rafter load, expect:

• Hogging at the eaves, sagging at mid-span of the rafter.
• Zero moment at both bases, by definition of the pinned support.
• A mid-span sagging moment somewhat below the simply supported $w{L}^2/8$, because the columns restrain the rafter at the eaves.

The last check is the one that matters. The simply supported bound, and the split the portal formula predicts with $I_b=23130{\text{cm}}^4$ (IPE 400) and $I_c=18260{\text{cm}}^4$ (HEA 300):

10. Check and report

Run the steel design check on the three members and open one utilisation ratio. It names the governing combination, the clause and the substituted formula. Then export a report: see Exporting a report.

Next

Tour of the workspace covers the interface properly now that you have seen the loop, and Your first analysis goes deeper into load cases and how to judge a result.