Recent content by fracture_point

The lateral load of 25% axle load has to be considered in either lateral direction. Yep, I've kept it to L/500 which is client's requirements (treating it as simply supported whereas it will be continuous). It's long and continuous. The 8000lb/ft is for trailing cars I believe, so you would...

An E80 train set, so the two loading situations I need to consider are below (whichever causes critical loading).

I'm working on a project where we are trying to determine how far a 136lb AREMA rail can span between posts. The architect wants to maximize the spacing between posts just using a column cap, but we are trying to assess how far these things can span without have a support W-beam beneath.(see...

Any chance you can share some of your findings? What type of playing around did you have to do? Cheers!

I got the following response from CSI: (I haven't tested it yet)

Interesting. I thought named the feature 'Get' was unusual but the inputs required seemed to make me think this method would draw grids, seeing as though it requires an array of numbers. I have emailed CSI for official confirmation. I'll check back once I have a response.

I'm writing some code to draw gridlines through the API using Python, but for some reason the ETABS model does doesn't reflect the data. There is no error showing in my console so it seems like the code passes. xGrids = [0,5,15] yGrids = [0,5,15] xGridNames = ["1","2","3"] yGridNames =...

What seismic checks is it imposing? Can you share a screenshot?

These are special types of connections that are typically used for seismic design and where areas of plasticity may be expected. You should leave this as 'standard moment connection' unless it is your intent to change them for special connections. You should select the frame members you want to...

I figured it out and thought I would share it here incase anyone else was interested. You can set up the default units for the project within the initialize model method: SapModel.InitializeNewModel(6) The variable 6 sets the model to kN_m_C, leaving this argument blank will default to...

I have tried using both the SetPresentUnits and SetPresentUnits_2 methods in the ETABS API when running my script to draw my framing. It works and places the elements with the correct geometry, however the default viewing units in the model returns to imperial, rather than staying as it has been...

Do you guys have any advice on the following thing: I am trying to get ETABS to draw slab area elements on each floor using Python. I have a list containing point data for each node's XYZ coords on a given story: [[[0.0, 0.0, 3.0], [0.0, 24.0, 3.0], [24.0, 24.0, 3.0], [24.0, 0.0, 3.0]]...

Thank you both for the info, I appreciate how active you both are!

There's a chapter in Chopra's second edition of Earthquake Engineering that covers why you cannot consider the deformed shape of a response spectrum to be accurate. I believe it's called 'avoiding a pitfall' or something similar.

I'm trying to write some code in Python that draws a slab in ETABS. However, API documentation is scarce for Python for this method. An example is given for VB: 'add area object by coordinates ReDim x(5) ReDim y(5) ReDim z(5) x(0) = 50: y(0) = 0 x(1) = 100: y(1) = 0 x(2) =...