units

[smsengr]

a software program is providing results using the units inch-Kips per inch. I'm not sure how to translate the units of moment per inch into a usable moment to finalize the design.

Can anybody define or explain the difference between inch-Kips and inch-Kips per inch?

Thanks

 

[JedClampett]

At the risk of giving you enough rope to hang yourself, if the units of inch kips per inch are used, it's probably a plate element. Most analysis programs give results in kip-in/in for moment, kip/in for shear and tension, etc. You pick the width of the piece you want to design, multiply the width times your results in kip-in/in and you have a design moment. Sometimes you can design a 1 inch section, so your answer is simple. Sometimes you need to add stiffeners, so you'd want to multiply by your stiffener spacing. For concrete, you normally design one foot wide sections, so multiply by 12.
Does that make sense? The important thing is to keep your units consistent. If the units are something per inch, your going to have to multiply by a length to get rid of the denominator.

 

[ToadJones]

pay attention to direction as well! In other words, make sure the width you are multiplying by is in the correct direction.