CSI ETABS, SAFE, and SAP2000 are all software programs used for structural analysis and design.
CSI ETABS stands for Computer and Structures, Inc. Extended Three-dimensional Analysis of Building Systems, is a software program for building design and analysis, specifically for tall buildings.
SAFE stands for Structural Analysis for Excel and is a software program for foundation design, specifically for mat foundations, spread footings, and combined footings.
SAP2000 stands for Structural Analysis Program with Integrated Analysis of Systems and is a general-purpose software program for civil engineering, specifically for the analysis and design of structures, including buildings, bridges, and towers.
2D and 3D Shear Wall Configurations In ETABS, you can define both 2D and 3D shear walls. As shown in Figure 15, the shear walls on the bottom two floors have been assigned pier and spandrel labels. This 2D shear wall configuration can be taken into an embedded utility in ETABS called Section Designer. Section […]
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Concrete Frame and Shear Wall Design Auto Loading Combinations and Design Groups For concrete frame and shear wall design, ETABS creates load combinations based upon the design code chosen and different load cases defined. To select a specific code for concrete design, go to Options>Preferences>Concrete Frame Design. For this example, choose the ACI 318-05/IBC 2003
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Mass Source Definition In ETABS, the user has the option of choosing one of three options for defining the source of the mass of a structure. Click the Define menu -> Mass Source command to bring up the Define Mass Source form. The following options appear on the form: 1. From Self and Specified Mass:
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ASCE 7-02 Wind Loads and Auto-permutation of Wind Directions Next, we will define the wind load cases to the model. Perform the same operation as discussed earlier to define a wind load case. This time we will apply a wind load in the Y-direction. Give the load case a name of WY, select a WIND
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IBC 2003 Seismic Loads To define earthquake and wind loads to the structure, you must go to Define > Static Load Cases. You can see that there are two default load cases already defined, DEAD and LIVE. Type EQX in the LOAD box, select a QUAKE type case, and then select the IBC 2003 seismic
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Static and Dynamic Loading of Diaphragms Rigid, Semi-Rigid and Flexible Floor Diaphragms Assigning a diaphragm to an area object provides a diaphragm constraint to all of the corner points of the area object and to any additional point objects that are enclosed within the boundaries of the area object. This includes any points (joints) that
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Modeling of Ramp Elements To draw ramp elements in ETABS is very simple. It is basically drawing a regular area element except that at least two of the corner points are located at different elevations. For this model, ramps are located on the underground parking levels, which are floors 6. Go to the plan view
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Meshing of Concrete Floor Systems and Auto Line Constraints During analysis, ETABS automatically meshes (divides) area objects that are assigned deck properties or slab properties with membrane behavior only. For this example, we are using slab type elements; therefore, we must mesh the slabs manually. First, select all of the floor elements (from Select>Area Object
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Modeling of Pier and Spandrel Elements Draw a wall on gridline G between gridlines 6 and 8. To do this, make sure you are in the plan view of Story 12 and the All Stories option is enabled in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. Go to Draw>Draw Area Objects>Draw Walls (plan). Click on
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Model Creation (Floors/Walls, Columns and Beams) As shown in Figure 1, this structure has 2 rounded terraces on the east and west faces that run from the 7th to the 12th floor. It would be difficult to accurately locate the points of these edges. To solve this problem, we will import the terraces and floor
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