I'm new to using Ram and I'm a college student working on a senior project and have a question regarding gravity members. It seems like you need to select which members will be only using gravity loads and which ones may be seeing lateral. This goes for beams and columns. We have a simple rectangular building that is a single story but 20' in height and I have no idea what members will be seeing lateral forces until it applies the wind loads to the structure. From what I've seen so far, it's almost like you design it as a simple structure with only gravity loads applied and take an educated guess as the which members will be lateral resisting.
You start in Ram modeler and assign all your gravity loads and member types including telling it if it is a gravity or lateral.
You then go into beam and design your beams using only the gravity loads. But this only designs the members which are not lateral.
You then go into column and design the columns on only gravity loads. But this only designs the columns that are not lateral resisting.
You then go into frame and you apply all of your load combinations including wind. At this point do you go back and change member sizes smaller or bigger depending on your results and then go through the steps above again?
What do you look for to tell you that you need bracing or should turn a column 90 degrees?
Thank you