Shear Wall Loading

[eftyss]

Hi,

I have modeled a shear wall in SAP2000 (9 m height and 12 m length - x & y directions). I have treated the wall as a plate element. The wall is 0.4 thick in z direction and a non-uniformly distributed horizontal load (wind) is applied to one side of the wall (y & z direction). Usually the loads in a plate element are applied into each particular element of the mesh. In this case the load is not applied to the mesh. Does anyone know how can a distributed load be assigned in a plate element. I will appreciate any of your help.

Thank you

 

[Guest262653]

Hi,

First of all, you need to use either membrane or sheel elements, as plate elements don't have any in-plane stiffness.

Regarding load application, you can either create a dummy frame with a very low stiffness and assign a frame distributed load or insert point loads directly at the joints.

Hope it helps.

 

[Guest262653]

"Shell" elements and not "sheel", of course.

Damn dyslexia...