The evaluation of story drift in a building is crucial to ensure acceptable structural performance by limiting the drift amount. Excessive drift has the potential to induce system instability and may cause damage to nonstructural components such as partitions. This article outlines the procedure for establishing interstory drift according to ASCE 7-22 and the Building Model add-on in RFEM 6.
The National Building Code of Canada (NBC) 2020 Article 4.1.8.7 provides a clear procedure for earthquake methods of analysis. The more advanced method, the Dynamic Analysis Procedure in Article 4.1.8.12, should be used for all structure types except those that meet the criteria set forth in 4.1.8.7. The more simplistic method, the Equivalent Static Force Procedure (ESFP) in Article 4.1.8.11, can be used for all other structures.
The Geotechnical Analysis add-on provides RFEM with additional specific soil material models that are able to suitably represent complex soil material behavior. This technical article is an introduction to show how the stress-dependent stiffness of soil material models can be determined.
This article will show you how to use the Torsion Warping (7 DOF) add-on in combination with the Structure Stability add-on to consider cross-section warping as an additional degree of freedom when performing the stability analysis.
Given that realistic determination of the soil conditions significantly influences the quality of the structural analysis of buildings, the Geotechnical Analysis add-on is offered in RFEM 6 to determine the soil body to be analyzed.
The way to provide data obtained from field tests in the add-on and use the properties from soil samples to determine the soil massifs of interest was discussed in Knowledge Base article “Creating Soil Body from Soil Samples in RFEM 6”. This article, on the other hand, will discuss the procedure to calculate settlements and soil pressures for a reinforced concrete building.
The quality of the structural analysis of buildings is significantly improved when the soil conditions are considered as realistically as possible. In RFEM 6, you can realistically determine the soil body to be analyzed with the help of the Geotechnical Analysis add-on. This add-on can be activated in the model’s Base Data as shown in Image 01.
In RFEM 6, seismic analysis can be done by using the Modal Analysis and the Response Spectrum Analysis add-ons. Once the spectral analysis has been performed, it is possible to use the Building Model add-on to display story actions, interstory drifts, and forces in shear walls.
RFEM 6 includes the Form-Finding add-on to determine the equilibrium shapes of surface models subjected to tension and members subjected to axial forces. Activate this add-on in the model's Base Data and use it to find the geometric position in which the prestress of lightweight structures is in equilibrium with the existing boundary conditions.
This technical article presents some basics for using the Torsional Warping add-on (7 DOF). It is fully integrated into the main program and allows you to consider the cross-section warping when calculating member elements. In combination with the Stability Analysis and Steel Design add-ons, it is possible to perform the lateral-torsional buckling design with internal forces according to the second-order analysis, taking imperfections into account.