Concrete Settings
In the Concrete Settings tab, you can make special adjustments to the concrete properties. They affect not only the determination of the creep coefficient and shrinkage strain, but also the structural design checks of the components to which the concrete is assigned.
If necessary, adjust the "maximum aggregate size" dg. This is included in the detailed design of the user-defined reinforcement.
In the "Aggregate type" list, you can select various types of aggregate. The same applies to the "Cement class" (S, N, or R); it has a great impact on the concrete hardening. In the "Concrete type" list, you can also adjust the manufacturing process of the structural component (monolithic or precast).
Concrete Design
In the Concrete Design tab, you find the standard parameters of the material that apply to the design.
Among other things, there are the partial safety factors of both the concrete and the reinforcing steel, as well as a list of the minimum concrete cover for various exposure classes. These values are relative to the Norm that you have defined in the general data of the model. For EN 1992‑1‑1, for example, you can find the parameters of the National Annex here; for ACI 318, the values are taken directly from the standard.
Reinforcing steel
Once you activate the concrete design, an additional tab appear in the "Edit Material" dialog box for concrete materials, where you can adjust the properties of the reinforcing steel. The general description of this dialog box can be found in Chapter Materials of the RFEM manual.
Steel Settings
Use the lists to specify the "classification" of the reinforcing steel (Class N or X) and the "production type"' (hot-rolled or cold-rolled). These properties affect the ductility behavior. Among other things, they are required for the fire protection design.