SAP OR ETABS

[531234]

We are deciding which program works better for steel design. We are going to use revit modeling and use either SAP or ETABS. Revit model will be exported to SAP or ETABS to do STEEL DESIGN. Which one is better?

 

[wannabeSE]

I suggest you contact CSI and discuss your needs with them. ETABS is tailored for building design while SAP is more general purpose. SAP has additional analysis options that are not available in ETABS. But, I have not looked at ETABS 2013 very much. For instance, SAP was better suited for progressive collapse alternate path analysis than ETABS. But, composite beam design was not very well supported in SAP. ETABS does some things automatically like create elevation views at grids, while in SAP, the elevation views need to be defined. I have not tried the newest link to REVIT, but at

http://www.csiamerica.com/csixrevit

indicates some differences.

 

[PicoStruc]

Note 1 : ETABS include pier/sprandrel labeling that can be used to "extrat" shell element stresses into equivalent beam internal forces.
This is very usefull for shearwall design
SAP2000, don't include that feature

Note 2: SAP2000 include table interactive editing (Excel import/export)
ETABS, don't include that feature

 

[dcarr82775]

Pico,

I don't use ETABS, but FYI you can get the equivalent beam internal forces and such out of shell elements in SAP via section cuts.

 

[johnbridge231]

ETABS = some features of SAP + story related features (eg diaphragms, eccentricities etc)

Analysis and Design of arbitrary cross sections
Reinforcement design to all major codes
Moment Curvature analysis

http://www.engissol.com/cross-section-analysis-design.html

 

[PicoStruc]

dcarr82775

Probably that section cut is equivalent, But i warn you that it is really not user friendly and a really mess to work with.

Pier labeling in ETABS are direct and straightforward !

In my office we have both software and they are used for different kind of projects.

Building-> ETABS
Complex structure or complex analysis (Cable, non-linear) -> SAP2000

 

[dcarr82775]

Pico,

I'll agree, SAP is far from user friendly in most respects, and the Section cuts are explained atrociously by CSI. I had another engineer explain them to me once, and they are really pretty user friendly if you ignore most everything CSI tells you about them

 

[531234]

Pico,
Are you using ETABS 2013? Have you used it with Revit modeling? Our intent is to model the building (i.e, four storey steel building) with revit and then export it to ETABS or SAP, have you done something like this? Our purpose for the software is mainly for steel design as we do our RC design with ADAPT.

 

[PicoStruc]

I never used Revit. Sorry !

 

[jsha811]

We used SAP2000 a lot. But we never use that for steel design. It is only for analysis though the program can do the steel check for you.
If you do mostly steel design, I would recommend RAM Steel.


Moment curvature analysis,reinforced concrete column design and prestressed concrete pile design at

http://www.structurexpress.com

 

[Gumpmaster]

I use SAP, ETABS, and RAM Structural System.

For steel buildings, RAM is definately the best choice as long as you don't need a non-linear analysis (it will do a response spectrum analysis well). The output is definately the best.

SAP is great for an all purpose finite element program. It does steel design well. ETABS is like RAM but less user friendly.

If you have some strange geometries (complex curves) I'd suggest SAP. If the geometries are fairly regular (even circular) I'd recommend RAM. ETABS isn't quite as good at strange geometries as SAP and not as good at regular geometries as RAM.

You might want to also look at RISA.