How to add own designed section in the robot

[avadhprakash2023]

Hi I started to learn this program for metal building. so I am trying to make the A frame structure made of 2.5"x2.5"x0.125" hollow steel tube. on top I want to add the purlins which is 1.5" hat channel but in ROBOT database there is no hat channel provided. So I was trying to make it in autocad and importing that .dxf file into the ROBOT but it was not showing up in robot. so how to make it work or any other ideas?

[Rafacascudo · Accepted solution]

You can build or import custom sections on Tools/Section definition

[avadhprakash2023]

So I made the section in auto cad and imported the Dxf file. But now my question is purlin and beam are intersecting but in real world purlins sit on the top of the beams. So how to do that? and if I will do that than purlin and beams will ne connected or disconnected with node. and i attached the file in which you can see the connection. is this ok or i have to make something for the connection.

[Rafacascudo]

If you want to really mimic real life beam- purlin position, you can use offsets or rigid links to do that.

If purlins are not continous ( or even if they are) , you can model them all ,beams and purlins at the same level and apply the appropiate releases on purlin ends. That's what I would do

[avadhprakash2023]

Ok thank you rafael. I only drop the pinned releases on both th side of the all purlins. So sorry for disturbing you again but my whole building is 2.5"x2.5" square hollow tube section so i attached the photo showing the connection at beam and column but you can see it is connected to that node only. So i don't have to make it look like perfect in RSA right. When it's connected to a node it will tranfer the loads from beam to column.

[Rafacascudo · Accepted solution]

don´t worry about the apperance. It is just graphics to give you an idea on how it looks in a solid representation of the structure. There should be just one common node for the 3 bars on that connection. If the bars are not connected, there will be large displacements and maybe instability warnings when you run the model and then it will be easy to notice it