Question: How to display load combination factors?

Answer: When defining automatic combinations in SCIA Engineer, these combinations group the results of several linear combinations into one envelope of results. Separating these combinations using the Explode command will allow you to see the linear sub-combinations that are calculated in the background:

However, it is unnecessary to separate any combination envelope; linear sub-combinations are always calculated and displayed if they produce the largest or smallest results. To determine which linear sub-combinations contribute to a specific value, you can look up combination formulas.

Let's take a look at the overview of internal forces below. We see that the sub-combination EN ULS/1 has produced the highest bending moment. In the default environment, the corresponding combination factors are automatically displayed below the table: 1.35EIG + 1.5VERT + 1.5*HOR. Note that this does not correspond to the number of separated linear combinations. In separated combinations, this is combination EN ULS5, so it should be noted that these numbers are not linked, and you always need to refer to the displayed combination factors.

If the table with combination factors is not displayed, you can activate it in the output settings property window.

Starting from version 17.1, there is a new option within the Commands window in the results menu: new combination from combination factors. This option allows you to create any combination (linear, nonlinear, stability) based on the combination factors in the results. This allows you to easily generate nonlinear combinations for all design sub-combinations, generate stability combinations for factors generating the highest compressive forces, or identify which normal and shear forces correspond to the combination that produces the highest bending moment.