Automatically calculate and report Distributed wall reactions
Distributed line (force/ unit length) reactions are now automatically calculated and reported for all wall types; Meshed, Mid-pier, Bearing and General. A new button for these has been added to the Reactions group of the Results Ribbon as shown below. This distributed reaction is a more useful way of communicating foundation loads for foundation design.
Distributed wall reactions are:
- A continuous line reaction along the length of the bottom of the wall
- Available for all structural wall types and all Head Codes
- Applicable to the vertical (Fz) component of the discrete analytical wall reactions of meshed walls
- Available for all result types except Envelopes and Seismic RSA
- Reported only for the horizontal bottom levels (analytically) of self-supported walls
- Derived from elastic theory formulae which are used to calculate stress/unit length based on the total moment and vertical force acting at the centroid of the reaction line.
- (This assumes that the wall and foundation material are sufficiently homogeneous and isotropic to allow for load distribution according to the Saint-Venant's Principle)
Graphical Results - Distributed wall reactions can be viewed in the Results View as follows:
- The new Distributed wall reactions filter button is active only when Fz is selected in the reaction type drop-down list (Fz, Fxyz, Total).
- When active, the discrete vertical reactions of the wall (1D and 2D) supports are hidden. Note also that the distributed reaction is not displayed for walls in a core when Core reactions are active.
- The cursor tooltip gives the reaction length and the force/length values at each extreme.
- The graphical representation of the distributed reaction is typically the same colour as other reactions. An orange colour indicates a high nodal force concentration - more information on this is then listed in the tooltip.
Drawings - Distributed wall reactions can be included in the Foundation Reactions drawing as follows:
- A new Layer Settings option is added in Draw > Settings > Layer Configuration for the Foundation Reactions drawing - “Foundation Reaction values” in the set of controls for Walls (on by default).
- A new summary table of Distributed wall reactions can also be included, the borders, text and notes for which are controlled by the existing “Notes” and “Tables” Layer Configuration options.
- Note the text colour and size of the reaction values in the drawing is controlled by the “Foundation Reaction Values” Layer Styles item for the Foundation Reactions drawing.
- New options are also added to Draw > Settings > Options > Planar Drawings > Foundation Reactions > Walls to control their inclusion as shown below.
A summary table of reaction values can be included (see picture below).
Vertical reaction values can be shown on each wall, the options for these being:
- Distributed (maximum): Maximum value UDL,
- Distributed (Average): Average value UDL,
- Distributed (Extremes): Calculated linear UDL/VDL extreme values
- Total - Integrated total
Note that the new Layer Configuration options described above will be active by default in new models - for existing files you can load the new default settings by selecting the Load… button in the Drawing Settings dialog.