Concrete Slab Analysis and Design

[Hercul3s]

I had a few of questions regarding ETABS and SAFE:

1. Is it safe to rely on ETABS alone to analyze/design concrete slabs in building?

2. If you use SAFE for the slab design, being that column locations in a concrete building are rarely on a straight line, is it necessary to draw Design Strips in "segments" from column point to column point, instead of a straight line? If I draw them on a straight line will SAFE do meshing and capture the stresses properly? (Note that in this case what is a column strip at one column location may be middle strip at the next column location).

3. When should I import column rotations into a Flat Plate slab design (in SAFE), to account for added (localized) bending stresses into the slab? (Some people say the rotations are minimal, don't add much stress, and can be ignored).

Thanks in advance!!

 

[Hercul3s]

Could anyone post a screen shot (snippet) View of Design Strips with their widths showing, in a small building?

Thanks again!