THE VALUE OF E FOR MEMBER NNN DOES NOT SEEM RIGHT. What does this mean?

The steel design output for several members is accompanied by the following warning message :

WARNING : THE VALUE OF E FOR MEMBER 21 DOES NOT SEEM RIGHT.

WARNING : THE VALUE OF E FOR MEMBER 22 DOES NOT SEEM RIGHT.

WARNING : THE VALUE OF E FOR MEMBER 23 DOES NOT SEEM RIGHT.

During steel design, there is a check for ensuring that the Modulus of Elasticity (E) specified for the member is within the range that is normal for steel. This is because, E is a crucial term that appears in many equations for calculating section capacities and the program wants you to know if the value appears to be abnormal.

In STAAD, you specify E either explicitly under the CONSTANTS command block or through the DEFINE MATERIAL block, as in the examples below.

Example 1 :

UNIT KIP INCH
CONSTANTS
E 29000 ALL
DENSITY 0.283E-3 ALL

Example 2 :

UNIT METER KNS
DEFINE MATERIAL START
ISOTROPIC STEEL
E 2.05e+008
POISSON 0.3
DENSITY 76.8195
ALPHA 1.2e-005
DAMP 0.03
END DEFINE MATERIAL
CONSTANTS
MATERIAL STEEL MEMBER 101 TO 121

So, if you are specifying an E value which is significantly different from that for steel, such as say, Aluminum, and then later asking the member to be designed according to a steel code, as in the following example, the above-mentioned warning message will appear.

UNIT FEET POUND
DEFINE MATERIAL START
ISOTROPIC ALUMINUM
E 1.44e+009
POISSON 0.33
DENSITY 169.344
ALPHA 1.28e-005
DAMP 0.03
END DEFINE MATERIAL

CONSTANTS
MATERIAL ALUMINUM MEMBER 21 TO 30

..
..
PARAMETER
CODE AISC
CHECK CODE MEMBER 21 TO 30