1212x
000418
2017-12-01

Question

I have only defined one element. If I swap the long and short sides (that is, the thickness becomes the length), the St. Venant torsion constant is, in my opinion, calculated incorrectly.


Answer:

SHAPE‑THIN is (as the program name suggests) a program for designing thin-walled cross-sections. Cross-section properties are determined according to the theory of thin-walled sections. Strictly speaking, this theory only applies if the width-to-length ratio is below approximately 1/10.

SHAPE‑THIN determines the torsional constant according to the expression shown in Image 01. The element thickness t* is included with the third power, explaining the differences for swapped thicknesses.

These It,St.Ven. results obtained with a very great element thickness are therefore useless and should also be evaluated accordingly after the transfer to RFEM/RSTAB.

Thus, you should confirm the query appearing before SHAPE‑THIN shows an incorrectly modeled element (see Image 02).


Author

Mr. Vogl creates and maintains the technical documentation.