STRUCTURE INSTITUTE

(EPBONITA Engineering Training Center)

Structural Modeling, Analysis and

June 2018

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Course: SI-SAB
Duration: 25 hrs total
Lecture and Hands-On

Contents:
Day 1: June 10 2018 Morning
- Introduction to ETABS
- What ETABS Can Do?
- Hands-on Modeling of Steel and Concrete Building
Day 1: June 10 2018 Afternoon
- Course Project: Ten (10) – Story Reinforced Concrete Building
- Modeling Techniques
- Assign Building Properties
Day 2: June 17 2018 Morning
- Analysis Input for Earthquake (static and dynamic)
- Analysis Input for Wind (ASCE 7 method)
- Modal Analysis, Base Shear Scaling, Building Indicators
Day 2: June 17 2018 Afternoon
- Code Serviceability Check
- Code Based Design of Structural Members (NSCP, ACI 318)
- Compilation of Course Project

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Introduction
Welcome to ETABS: What ETABS can do?
- Easy to model buildings compared to general purpose
program.
- ETABS can easily handle:
1. Multi-story commercial, residential and office buildings,
warehouses, etc.
2. Parking garages
3. Buildings with curve beams
4. Buildings with steel, concrete, composite or joist floor
framing
5. Projects with multiple towers
6. Buildings subjected to any number of vertical and lateral
load cases and combinations. Including automated
Seismic and Wind loads.
7. Etc…

Overview of the Modeling Process

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- Story Definition
Defined on a floor-by-floor basis or story-by-story basis
A story level represents a horizontal plane cut through a
building at a specified elevation
Single floor can be replicated at all stories.
- Towers
ETABS allows multiple towers to be defined
Multiple buildings on a common podium
- Units
ETABS works on 4 basic units: force, length, temperature, time
Any units may be used at any time while working on the
model.
Example: inch units for beam sections while feet units for grid
layout
Distinction between Mass and Weight:
Mass is used for calculating dynamic inertia, loads caused
by ground acceleration only.
Weight is a force that can be applied like any other force
load.
Notes on units:
When you start a model, you will be asked to initialize with
either U.S. or Metric base units.
This option controls which units are used internally.

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Coordinate Systems and Grids
- All locations in the model are ultimately defined with respect
to a single global coordinate system.
- The 3 axes X, Y, Z satisfy the right hand rule.
- ETABS always considers the +Z direction as upward, gravity
acts in the –Z direction.
- Drawing operations tends to “snap” to the gridline
intersections.
- Use “snap options” to ensure the accurate modeling, to
avoid “gaps” between objects, causing errors in model’s
connectivity.
- Each object has its own local coordinate system.
- The axes of each local coordinate system are denoted 1
(red), 2 (green), 3 (blue).

Structural Objects
- Joint Objects
Are automatically created at the corners or ends of all other
types of objects.
- Frame Objects
Are used to model beams, columns, braces and trusses
- Shell Objects
Are used to model walls, slabs
- When Run, ETABS automatically converts your object based
model into element based

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Groups
- A collection of objects
Used for:
Quick selection
Defining section cuts
Grouping for same design
Selective output

Properties
- Assigned to each “object” to define the structural behavior
- Materials and section properties
- Other properties: frame releases or joint restraints are
assigned directly to objects.

Load Patterns
- A spatial distribution of loads upon the structure is called
load pattern.
- Typically separate load patterns may be defined for DL, LL,
EQ, WL

Vertical Loads
- Can be applied to joint, frame and in –Z direction.
- Examples: DL, SDL, LL, RLL

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Automated Lateral Loads
- Lateral loads (EQ) are based on the weight defined by the
masses assigned or calculated from the property definitions.
- Lateral loads (WL) may be applied to diaphragms at what
ETABS calculates to be the geometric center.

Functions
- Used to describe how a load varies as a function of period,
time or frequency: not used for static analysis.
- Two (2) Types of Functions
Response Spectrum:
Is a pseudo spectral acceleration versus period functions.
Assumed to be normalized, unitless.
Units are associated with the scale factor that multiplies the
function.
Time History:
Are loading magnitude, the loading values are ground
acceleration.

P-Delta
- Refers to the nonlinear geometric effect that gravity loads
have upon the lateral stiffness of buildings.
- Option, NONE: No P-Delta is included.
- None Iterative: an efficient but approximate P-Delta
technique computed automatically from story mass.

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 - Iterative: computationally robust approach, based on a user
specified combination of loads.

Modal Analysis
- A modal case defines the type and number of modes to be
extracted from the model.
- Each modal case results in:
Set of modes
Each mode consists of mode shape (normalized deflected
shape).
Set of modal properties: period, cyclic frequency
The dynamic modes of the structure are calculated using:
Eigenvector analysis: determines the undamped free-
vibration mode shapes and frequency of the system.
Ritz-Vector analysis: generated by taking into account the
spatial distribution of the dynamic loading.

Load Cases
- Defines how loads are to be applied to the structure, and
how the structural response is to be calculated.
- Static: loads are applied without dynamic effects
- Response Spectrum: calculation of the response caused by
acceleration loads.
- Time History: time-varying loads are applied
- Buckling: calculation of buckling modes under loads

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 - The results of Linear analysis may be superposed, example
added together after analysis. While the results of Nonlinear
cases normally should not be superposed.

Load Combinations
- Results from one or two loads cases can be combined.
Linear Add: results from load cases and load combinations
included are added.
Envelope: results from load cases and load combinations
included are enveloped to find the minimum and maximum
values.
SRSS: the square root of the sum of the squares from the
results included in load cases and load combinations.
Design is always based on combinations, not directly on load
cases.

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