Bulb-girder cross sections, such as that shown in Figure 1, may be created using the Section Designer.

Figure 1 - Bulb-girder cross section

To model a bulb-girder section, first open the Section Designer, then use polygons to draw the outline of the section without the corner radius, as shown in Figure 2:

Figure 2 - Outline without the corner radius

Next, switch to reshape mode by selecting Draw > Reshape Mode. Click on the section, then right-click on each corner joint to specify a radius where needed, as shown in Figure 3:

Figure 3 - Creating radial chamfers

Figure 4 presents the final bulb-girder cross section. All corners other than those at the extreme fibers are properly modeled with round corners.

Figure 4 - Final cross-section

Attachments

• SAP2000 V14.2.0 model (zipped .SDB file)