I am structural engineer working in a reputed firm in West Los Angeles, Caifornia. I am licensed Civil Engineer in State of California. Please feel free to contact me about any issue related to Structural Engineering specially if you have question related to ETABS, SAFE, SAP2000 and Perfrom3D.
Skip to content
The Structural Engineering: An Art
This blog is about all the Structural Engineering issues which most of structural engineers experience
The Structural Engineering: An Art 
Great blog. simplicity. i’m a civil eng from Romania.
LikeLike
Thank you for the comments.please let me know when ever you are looking for new topic. Z
LikeLike
Hi,
Do you use ETABS for Response Spectrum Analsysis. As SRSS results are without sign (positive), how is it transferred to SAFE?
LikeLike
Yes, I use Response spectrum cases in ETABS but I don’t use these cases for foundation design because of lost of sign. Therefore I use ELF load cases but reduce the reactions by 25% as per ASCE chapter 12, which allows 25% reduction for overturning moment for ELF cases and 10% reduction for RS cases.
LikeLike
Hello friend… Nice site… I am a fresh Civil Engineer, and I have started to work on ETABS, SAFE and SAP2000 professionally…
you can contect me on umar.saeed88@hotmail.com
there are different questions I have regrading ETABS.
I hope you can help me…!
LikeLike
Can you describe where should we define PIER and SPANDREL.
What is the main difference?
LikeLike
Pier labeling for vertical loading in which gives you input taking from upside of wall and results in output from downside of wall in case of reinforcement design; unlikely, Spandrel labeling are for left side to right side consideration.
LikeLike
Is there many structural engineering jobs in Los Angeles these days? I’m a structural engineer from Toronto, but i’m drawn to the Californian climate.
LikeLike
do you use perform3d? how is it in comparasion with etabs?
you can caontact me by email or msn:teodor.cojanu@live.com or yahoo id:teocojanu
thanks
LikeLike
Hi…
Your blog is awesome 🙂
Btw, have you ever posted about core wall (shear wall) which is not parallel to building principal axes, let’s say 45 deg.
I’m facing this condition. Fortunately, the 1st and 2nd modal shape are translation in normal and parallel to the core walls, instead of X and Y axis.
Do i have to change the principal axes?
Thank you
LikeLike
Hello,
I would like to introduce new website to you: https://designforms.net.
This site is designed for engineering calculations. We are trying to create open community web which will provide online engineering calculations according to EuroCode, BS, DIN, AISC etc. to users all over the world.
Web contains certified templates developed by our experts as well as community content created by our users. Anybody can add his/her content for free and contribute to the library of calculations.
Since our start in September 2016 we have already 450+ users. We are working hard to deliver the best service to all engineers all over the world. We would be very happy if you review our site and help us with our effort.
If you need more details or assistance for our side, please let me know.
With kind regards
Ing. Petr Slepicka
Design Forms CEO
LikeLike
Dear Engineer
Recently for one of my structural designs, the Authority engineer asked me to check the structure for torsional eccentricity. The structure is only 8 floors and is almost regular. I informed the engineer that as per clause 12.9.5 of the ASCE 07 code regarding Horizontal Shear Distribution, the amplification for torsion per 12.8.4.3 is not required where accidental torsional effects are included in the dynamic analysis Model. He stated that this is true only for Flexible diaphragms. Since Etabs does not have the option for Flexible diaphragms, we assign the slabs as Semi Rigid Diaphragm. Then we need to check and design for torsional eccentricity.
Its not clear how the clause 12.9.5 is made as applicable to Structures with Flexible Diaphragms only.
Can you kindly clarify this?
LikeLike
Sorry for late reply, I was not able to update my blog for sometime due to some issues.
Back to your question, if you assign the diaphragm with small out of plane stiffness then it will act like a Flexible diaphragm and by assigning the Semi Rigid option you will be able to get the distribution due to torsion eccentricity. You should be able to confirm the results by performing hand calculation. Please let me know how did you resolve this.
Thanks.
LikeLike