How meshed walls are represented in solver models
Meshed walls have isotropic stiffness properties and resist loads in all directions.
Wall beam elements
Wall beam elements are inserted into walls primarily to collect slab mesh nodes and line elements. For meshed walls, they are generated along the top of the wall and also at intermediate levels where an object (e.g. slab, beam, truss) is physically connected. A wall beam element is also generated along the bottom edge of the wall if Generate Support is not selected.
Sloping wall beam elements can be generated by sloping top or bottom edges or connected sloping slabs.
Where horizontal wall beam elements are required, they are generated across the entire width of the wall at that level.
Wall beam elements can also be created where certain properties, (e.g. thickness), differ across panel boundaries.
2D solver elements
For meshed walls the type of 2D solver element used will depend on whether the wall mesh type is set to Quad only, Tri only, or, Quad dominant.
Modification Factors
Different modification factors applied to meshed walls in the analysis depending on the Material type that has been applied.
Meshed concrete wall example
Consider the following two stack wall supporting a slab; the wall has different thickness panels aligned to produce a flush surface on one face.
1D and 2D solver elements for each wall panel are always located along the insertion line used to position the wall originally, irrespective of any alignment offsets that have been specified.
Quad only
In this two stack example, when the Wall Mesh Type is set to Quad only, solver elements are formed as shown below:
To see solver elements, solver nodes and 2D elements: open a Solver View, and then in Scene Content check 1D Elements> Geometry, 2D Elements> Geometry and Solver Nodes> Geometry.
Tri only
In this two stack example, when the Wall Mesh Type is set to Tri only, solver elements are formed as shown below:
Quad dominant
In this two stack example, when the Wall Mesh Type is set to Quad dominant, solver elements are formed as shown below:
Wall openings
When wall openings are introduced, the mesh will adjust to form around the openings.
See also: Meshed wall openings analysis model