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Calcs.com makes it easy to link reactions between beams, columns, and foundations as point loads or line loads where applicable. In this way, you can dynamically track loads through a structure. No need to copy and paste reactions between calculations! If the top calculator’s reactions change, the loads being inherited onto the lower calculator will update automatically. This includes all loads such as dead, live, snow, seismic, and wind.
Anywhere you see the chain link icon, you can click to link a load (reaction) from another calculator in your project.
Here’s a short video we recorded of load tracking in action:

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Linking Wall Loads to Beams / Lintels

Are you designing a beam supporting a masonry wall? Do you need to take into account windows or other openings? This can be accomplished through the Calcs.com linking functionality. 67340e1cffb43fc4e2db8b09ca239cd1.png
STEPS*:***
  • Create a Wall analysis calculation, and apply your loads.
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  • The reaction arrows marked in blue are the reactions that will be linked to your beam.
  • Create a “steel beam” or “wood beam” calculator, and click the link icon under “Line Loads”
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  • Then select the wall reaction.
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  • Enter a start and end position. For example, I have a 5m beam below, and the wall is 4m long, so I have centered it to the beam.
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Linking Distributed Rafter / Joist Loads

Did you know that rafters or joists may be linked into a bearer as a line load? This would be useful in the case where regularly spaced beams each will have the same reaction. This may be visualised to the diagram of a floor joist below:
To do this, enter the joist spacing as shown below: Then in your header beam, link the Floor Joist as a “Line Load”: Some things to note:
  • If you make changes to a beam which is linked and bearing onto others, make sure to check those sheets to ensure they are still passing (you can see their status in the sidebar or member schedule)
  • Calcs.com will automatically detect and stop circular references, but it will not allow you to delete beams that are linked to each other. You will be warned that other sheets are linked to this before you delete, and if you proceed you’ll need to go to those sheets and clear the link/point load.

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Sign convention for linked reactions

Calcs.com uses separate sign conventions for loads and reactions. Positive loads act downward (gravity direction); positive support reactions act upward. These conventions coexist and do not contradict each other. See Sign and Axis Conventions. The value passed through a load link is the upstream calculator’s vertical support reaction, taken exactly as it appears in that calculator’s reaction table. For typical gravity loading at a support, positive values are upward. No sign flip is applied at the point of linking, regardless of the relative vertical position of the two calculators. A column sitting below a beam receives the same value, with the same sign, as a hanger picking up that beam from above. If you need the load to act in the opposite sense in the downstream calculator, you’ll need to handle that explicitly, either by reading the reaction table directly or by applying the load manually.
When a linked load doesn’t match what you’d expect, open the upstream calculator’s reaction table and check the sign and magnitude of the reaction you’re linking. That value is what gets carried through verbatim.
Beam support reactions linked to a column as point loads, showing matching D and L magnitudes Linked beam reactions (positive upward at the support) pass through to the column load table with the same D and L magnitudes. Loads on the column are shown acting downward per Calcs.com’s load sign convention.