Hi MHSpurs
I am currently using safe and etabs.
1. Etabs can analyze slabs but it DOESN'T DESIGN them.
2. Safe designs with BS as well. But the input of the loads is being done manualy (column by column). The auto mesh that it uses is not very accurate so you have to manualy mesh it( something...
jdonville,
So you say that for large mat foundations with heavy loads on top we cannot use the Winkler approach to model the soil-structure interaction? Does this apply only for rock or for any kind of soil?
Vangelis
I work in a company designing and building oil refinaries. One type of our major structures are pipe-racks. When I first started to design the steel and concrete elements (based on the loads of our piping dept) the stress ratios that we were instructed to use was 80-95% (were are talking about...
The whole idea behind the use of FEM is to model complex structures more accuretely than with hand calculations.So you have to balance the triangle of cost-time-quality. If the client is willing to pay for and bare the extra time cost then FEM should be adopted. But the client will for sure...