Modelling and Analysis of Concrete & Steel Structures: E13 - Computer Software Applications in Structural Engineering

CSE E13 - 2018
E13 – COMPUTER SOFTWARE

APPLICATIONS IN STRUCTURAL
ENGINEERING
Modelling and Analysis of Concrete

& Steel Structures
Course Coordinator:
Armin Bebamzadeh, Ph.D.
Instructor:
Armin Bebamzadeh, Ph.D.
Certificate Program in Structural Engineering

Instructor: Armin Bebamzadeh, Ph.D.
Insertion Point
• The insertion point relates the actual position of an object

to the line drawn to represent that object in a model.
• By default, prismatic objects are positioned such that their
centroid and analytical properties align with the line shown in
the computational model.
Certificate Program in Structural Engineering – E13 No. 2

Insertion Point

Insertion Point
Connecting
lines
Top surface of
beam is located at
connecting line

Insertion Point
1.5k/ft
24’
Both supports are pinned to fix axial load.
Bending Bending
moment on moment with
tension side insertion point
top center
Insertion Point
Centroid to centroid
12’
24’

Insertion Point for Columns
Cardinal Point:
Top Center
Cardinal Point:
Bottom Center
Insertion Point
Larger moment
M33

Insertion Point for Beams
Cardinal Point:
Top Center

Insertion Point for Beams

Rigid End Offsets
• Rigid End connections to model

large joints
• Automated end offset evaluation
and assignment
Certificate Program in Structural Engineering – E13

Rigid Zone Factor

Rigid Zone Factor = 0 Rigid Zone Factor = 1
• Rigid Zone Factor
Rigid Zone Factor = 0.5

Half of the joint link is rigid,
Concrete frame usually have RGF = 0.5
Panel Zone
• Panel zone creates rotational springs connects beam to the

column

Offset and Panel Zone
Beams insertion point top Rigid Zone Panel zone,

center, left columns bottom Factor = 1 is same property
center and right columns top applied to of columns
surface columns and
Certificate Program in Structural Engineering – E13 beams
No. 14
Offset and Panel Zone

Adding Braces
Chose section Choose connection

Choose type of brace

Add Braces
Released at both ends no moments

Braces
Continuous Beam
6’
2’ 2’
6’

Braces
X Braces Inverted V V Tension – Compression only

Concentric Eccentric Eccentric Backward Forward
Don’t forget this

support

Braces

Area Section

Area Section
• The Shell element is a type of area object

that is used to model membrane, plate,
and shell behavior in planar and three-
dimensional structures.
• The Plane element is used to model

plane-stress and plane-strain behavior in
two dimensional solids.
• The Asolid element is used to model

axisymmetric sol ids un der axisymmetric
loading.

Shell

Mesh Examples Using the Quadrilateral Area Element

Membrane and Plate Behavior F22

F12
F11
3
2
V23
1 M22 V13
M11
M12

Membrane and Plate Behavior F22
3
2
1

Shell Behavior
• Shell = Membrane (in-plane) +

Plate(Bending and out-of-plane shear)
Plate : (both have the transverse shear forces) but
– Thin : thin-plate formulation follows a Kirchhoff application, which

neglects transverse shear deformation
– Thick: thick-plate formulation follows Mindlin/Reissner, which
does account for shear deformation.
Shear deformation tends to be important when shell thickness is greater than

approximately 1/5 to 1/10 of the span of plate-bending curvature.

Shell Section Data
To apply cracked values,

….

Example – Diaphragm
100mm thickness
under 5kN/m2 load
10m including dead load
10m

Meshing Shell

Meshing Shell

Assigning Load to Shell
Two options for

uniform load

Shell Results
Forces
Stresses

Shell Results – Two Way Slab
M11 V13

One Way Slab
One Way along 1 – about 2

Shell Results – One Way Slab
M11 V13

Shell Results – One Way Slab
Rotate local axis, 90o

Shell to Beam Connection
• By default, ETABS and SAP2000 automatically add joints to

beam/frame elements for connectivity whenever adjacent
area elements are meshed.

Shell to Beam Connection
• Turning off the auto mesh, separate the beam from slab

Shell Modifier
Area meshing - Users have the option to mesh shell area elements to make them distribute load one-way as demonstrated below left using
Edit>Edit areas in SAP2000 (Edit>Mesh areas in ETABS). In addition, users can use the modifier option to reduce stiffness in any
direction. The modifier option can be used to specify reduced section for cracking, and/or reduced membrane stiffness if the engineer does
not want to take credit for the slab or deck in-plane resistance to lateral loads.
Reduced bending stiffness of shell to make it behave

like a membrane. Shell will still transfer load only at
meshed joint locations.
Meshing as long strips forces 1-way load distribution with shell type areas

Meshing Shell
SAP2000 and ETABS offer several meshing tools. In addition to the 4X4, 2X8, etc. type of meshing, users can add gridlines or draw
lines to help them more easily mesh area elements. In the example below, gridlines are added and then Edit>Edit areas in SAP2000
to mesh by Intersections of Visible gridlines as shown below right. With ETABS, when meshing floors, use “cookie cut” mesh options
Edit menu>Edit areas in SAP2000. Similar options in ETABS
Add gridlines to help you mesh precisely where needed. Select area(s) to be meshed

Use Set View options to activate Fill Objects to view mesh. Similar options in SAP2000, ETABS and SAFE Instructor: Armin Bebamzadeh, Ph.D.
Select 2 adjacent shell areas
In this example below, only 1 shell area is meshed. Joints are automatically added to perimeter
beams, but adjacent area shells need to be meshed in order to transfer loads at mesh points
Use Edit menu again to mesh by gridlines

In order to assign different loads to different areas, to create openings, to assign a joint load or support, or transfer floor load to
a beam or wall or column, you need to mesh for connectivity. One exception is with floor openings in ETABS. Floor openings in
ETABS are drawn as an area with property “Opening” as shown below and ETABS will automesh. In SAP, floor openings are
created by meshing and deleting areas. Wall openings are created by mesh and delete in both SAP2000 and ETABS
With ETABS, use Edit menu to add reference planes and

reference lines to help mesh vertical shear walls by
gridline. With SAP2000, just add gridlines Mesh by gridlines
Select a meshed
area and press
Del key on
keyboard to create
opening
Select and delete for openings

With ETABS, floor openings are drawn with this property

One important issue to note with regards to meshing is the application of the line constraint (called ‘edge constraint’ in SAP2000). The line constraint
“zips” together adjacent elements which do not share common mesh points using a displacement interpolation numerical technique. By default, the
line constraint is activated in ETABS, but in SAP2000 the edge constraint must be manually assigned. In the example below, we have a wall with a
mismatched mesh. Select adjacent area elements and Assign>Area to activate or deactivate line/edge constraints. If joints of adjacent elements are
reasonably close together, use of these constraints can be a huge time saver compared to manually adjusting the meshes, and it can save users from
having to model transitions using less accurate triangular elements. Conversely, use of line constraints also gives results in a poorly meshed model
which may be misleading, so use engineering judgment.
Edge/Line constraint would solve this problem SAP2000 default
ETABS default

Constraints
• Body Constraint
– A Body Constraint causes all of its constrained joints to move together as a three-
dimensional rigid body. By default, all degrees of freedom at each connected joint
participate. However, you can select a subset of the degrees of freedom to be
constrained.
• Diaphragm Constraint
– A Diaphragm Constraint causes all of its constrained joints to move together as a
planar diaphragm that is rigid against membrane deformation. Effectively, all
constrained joints are connected to each other by links that are rigid in the plane, but
do not affect out-of-plane (plate) deformation.
This Constraint can be used to:

– Model concrete floors (or concrete-filled decks) in building structures, which typically have very
high in-plane stiffness
– Model diaphragms in bridge super structures

Diaphragm Constraint

Constraints
• Plate Constraint
– A Plate Constraint causes all of its constrained joints to move together as a flat
plate that is rigid against bending deformation. Effectively, all constrained joints are
connected to each other by links that are rigid for out-of-plane bending, but do not
affect in-plane (mem brane) deformation.
– Connect structural-type elements (Frame and Shell) to solid-type elements (Plane and Solid);
the rotation in the structural element can be converted to a pair of equal and opposite
translations in the solid element by the Constraint
– Enforce the assumption that “plane sections remain plane” in detailed models of beam
bending

Constraints
• Rod Constraint
– A Rod Constraint causes all of its constrained joints to move together as a
straight rod that is rigid against axial deformation. Effectively, all constrained
joints maintain a fixed distance from each other in the direction parallel to the
axis of the rod, but translations normal to the axis and all rotations are
unaffected.
– Prevent axial deformation in Frame elements
– Model rigid truss-like links
• Beam Constraint
– A Beam Constraint causes all of its constrained joints to move together as a
straight beam that is rigid against bending deformation.

Constraints
• Equal Constraint
– An Equal Constraint causes all of its con strained joints to move together with the
same displacements for each selected degree of freedom, taken in the constraint
local coordinate system. The other degrees of freedom are unaffected.
– This Constraint can be used to partially connect together different parts of the structural
model, such as at expansion joints and hinges
• Local Constraint
– A Local Constraint causes all of its constrained joints to move together with the
same displacements for each selected degree of freedom, taken in the separate
joint local coordinate systems. The other degrees of freedom are unaffected.

– Model symmetry conditions with respect to a line or a point
– Model dis placements con strained by mechanisms

Weld
• Welds
– A Weld can be used to connect together different parts of the structural
model that were de fined using separate meshes. A Weld is not a single
Constraint, but rather is a set of joints from which the program will
automatically generate multiple Body Constraints to connect together
coincident joints. Joints are considered to be coincident if the distance
between them is less than or equal to a tolerance, tol, that you specify.
Setting the tolerance to zero is permissible but is not recommended.

References and Acknowledgements
• SAP2000 , CSi Analysis Reference Manual

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CSE E13 - 2018

E13 – COMPUTER SOFTWARE

Modelling and Analysis of Concrete

Certificate Program in Structural Engineering

• The insertion point relates the actual position of an object

Certificate Program in Structural Engineering – E13 No. 2

Certificate Program in Structural Engineering – E13 No. 3

Certificate Program in Structural Engineering – E13 No. 4

Certificate Program in Structural Engineering – E13 No. 6

Insertion Point for Columns

Certificate Program in Structural Engineering – E13 No. 8

Insertion Point for Beams

Certificate Program in Structural Engineering – E13 No. 9

Insertion Point for Beams

Certificate Program in Structural Engineering – E13 No. 10

Rigid End Offsets

• Rigid End connections to model

Certificate Program in Structural Engineering – E13

Rigid Zone Factor

Rigid Zone Factor = 0.5

• Panel zone creates rotational springs connects beam to the

Certificate Program in Structural Engineering – E13 No. 13

Offset and Panel Zone

Beams insertion point top Rigid Zone Panel zone,

Offset and Panel Zone

Certificate Program in Structural Engineering – E13 No. 15

Chose section Choose connection

Certificate Program in Structural Engineering – E13 No. 16

Released at both ends no moments

Certificate Program in Structural Engineering – E13 No. 17

Certificate Program in Structural Engineering – E13 No. 18

X Braces Inverted V V Tension – Compression only

Don’t forget this

Certificate Program in Structural Engineering – E13 No. 19

Certificate Program in Structural Engineering – E13 No. 20

Certificate Program in Structural Engineering – E13 No. 21

• The Shell element is a type of area object

• The Plane element is used to model

• The Asolid element is used to model

Certificate Program in Structural Engineering – E13 No. 22

Certificate Program in Structural Engineering – E13 No. 23

Mesh Examples Using the Quadrilateral Area Element

Certificate Program in Structural Engineering – E13 No. 24

Membrane and Plate Behavior F22

Certificate Program in Structural Engineering – E13 No. 25

Membrane and Plate Behavior F22

Certificate Program in Structural Engineering – E13 No. 26

• Shell = Membrane (in-plane) +

Plate : (both have the transverse shear forces) but

– Thin : thin-plate formulation follows a Kirchhoff application, which

Shear deformation tends to be important when shell thickness is greater than

Certificate Program in Structural Engineering – E13 No. 27

Shell Section Data

To apply cracked values,

Certificate Program in Structural Engineering – E13 No. 28

Certificate Program in Structural Engineering – E13 No. 29

Certificate Program in Structural Engineering – E13 No. 30

Certificate Program in Structural Engineering – E13 No. 31