×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Modeling soil

Modeling soil

Modeling soil

(OP)
I'm trying to model soil under a 4m x 4m concrete slab foundation in SAP2000. I am using a shell element to model the slab. I know I can use springs to model the soil but am unclear on the specifics of how to do so. There are lots of spring options in SAP2000.

Should I use joint springs or area springs?
If I use area springs, should I use a simple spring (compression & tension, only compression, only tension) or link property?
Should I have springs in all three directions?

RE: Modeling soil

Depends on what you are looking for.

For area springs you enter K in force/cubic length units
for joint springs you enter k in force /linear length units

If you are sure you will not have tension in the soil and linear analysis is fine with you, use simple spring
if you want to get rid of tension then say only compression, but saying that may require you do a nonlinear analysis.
To do links, learn first.

hope this helps

RE: Modeling soil

Area spring is just a quick way for you to assign the spring to the area. At then end, the spring stiffness will be lumped at each joint.

www.structurexpress.com

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources