The structural analysis software RFEM 6 is the basis of a modular software system. The main program RFEM 6 is used to define structures, materials, and loads of planar and spatial structural systems consisting of plates, walls, shells, and members. The program also allows you to create combined structures as well as to model solid and contact elements.
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All members when using the Design Add-ons for serviceability checks are considered supported at the end nodes by default. If the member is instead a cantilever or includes an internal support for a combination of both a cantilever and supported at both ends member type, a new Design Support should be defined under the member details.
The Design Support option can be found under the member dialog box under Design Supports & Deflection tab. Supports can be added to any nodes detected along the member length such as the member start, member end, or internal nodes.
Under the New Design Support dialog box, you can set the type of support from the drop-down including general, concrete, or timber. The "general" will give the program guidance on the deflection member type and which limiting deflection ratio to reference from the Serviceability Configurations whether cantilever (e.g., L/180) or supported on both ends (e.g., L/360). The alternative types "concrete" and "timber" will also influence the deflection design, but have additional strength design options incorporated such as moment and shear internal force modification for concrete design and a stress perpendicular to grain check for timber design.
For additional detailed information on this new setting in RFEM 6 including a "timber" type design support, refer to the webinar listed below under Links at time 51:05.
Both support forces and loads are assumed for the calculation with warping torsion in the centroid. Accordingly, an asymmetric cross-section would automatically receive torsion; see the image.
The warping of a cross-section can be displayed in the "full mode". For this, it is reasonable to increase the display factor for torsional warping in the control panel; see Image 01.
Furthermore, you can select the value of the local deformation ω [1/m] in the Results navigator; see Image 02.
After activating Torsional Warping in the Base Data, you can define warping springs and warping restraints. For this, select the Transverse Stiffeners option in the "Edit Member" dialog box; see Image 01.
In the "Transverse Stiffener" tab, you can create several transverse member stiffeners and define the necessary parameters using the "New Transverse Member Stiffener" button. For the "End plate" stiffener type, the resulting warp spring is determined automatically; see Image 02.
In addition to other variants, you can also define a rigid warping restraint or user-defined warping spring stiffness under the "Warping restraint" stiffness type.
As an alternative, you can create member transverse stiffeners using the Data navigator or the menu bar "Insert", "Types for Members", "Member Transverse Stiffeners". In this case, you can use the select function in the "New Member Transverse Stiffness" dialog box to assign them to the corresponding members.
You can also define structural modifications in a load case of the Modal Analysis type. Thus, you can access the stiffness modifications of the individual objects and deactivate the selected objects, if necessary.
In order to display the mode shapes of your dynamic analysis, you have to create a load case of the Modal Analysis type and specify your settings for the modal analysis there.
After the calculation, you can evaluate your results in the Results navigator. You can see further information in the table.
You can adjust the display of the mode shape normalization directly in the Results navigator. If the setting is changed, no recalculation is necessary.
Depending on the setting, the largest displacement or deformation represents the reference value 1, to which the other results are scaled.
Releases for warping are at each member end by default. Splitting members leads to a warping release.
If you do not want to have a warping release there, but rather continuous warping, you need to define a member set. When activating the "Torsional Warping" add-on, the warping is transferred automatically. If this is not desired for the member set, select the "Discontinuous torsional warping" option; see the image.
To perform an earthquake analysis, you need a modal analysis and then a load case of the Response Spectrum Analysis type.
After you have performed your modal analysis, create a new load case. Here you will find the usual settings from the previous program generation.
In the Response Spectrum tab, you can define your response spectrum as usual. If you want to use a response spectrum according to the standard, make sure that the desired standard is selected in the general data of Standards II.
In the Selection of Modes tab, you can select the mode shapes and filter them, if necessary.
After the load case has been calculated, you obtain the results.
In the modal analysis settings, you can set the minimum axial strain for cables and membranes in order to apply an initial prestress to the objects and thus improve the convergence of the calculation. The initial prestress is applied to the objects in a simplified approach.
If you compare this setting with a surface load of the Axial Strain load type, you should pay attention to the fact that the two approaches differ. With the surface load, you perform a calculation in such a way that the actual prestress can deviate from the specified prestress. The calculation also takes into account other boundary conditions, such as the Poisson's ratio of the material.
You can easily check this if you vary the Poisson's ratio of the material. A Poisson's ratio other than 0 causes the deformation to interact in the x- and y-directions of the surface, which no longer results in a constant stress/strain over the entire surface.
If the Poisson's ratio is 0, you obtain the same results.