I have a Validation > Model > General > “Discontinuous wall supported by unmeshed slab” warning. Why do I get this and how do I resolve it?

Not version-specific

Tekla Structural Designer

Environment

Not environment-specific

Question

I have a Validation > Model > General > “Discontinuous wall supported by unmeshed slab” warning. Why do I get this and how do I resolve it?

Answer

By default a slab is replaced with a diaphragm in the 3D Building analysis (First-Order linear analysis). This means that the wall intended to be supported by the slab is unsupported.

If we hover over one of the problem items a tooltip is displayed “Where a discontinuous wall is supported by a slab, the slab must be meshed in the 3D building analysis and Grillage chase-down.”

We can double click the “Discontinuous wall supported by unmeshed slab” warning or an individual item listed under the branch to highlight the selected items or item with the issue. Alternatively, you can right click and choose Highlight Items from the context menu. Note that when identifying the items the Scene Content > Slabs option is automatically checked On to display the slab mesh.

To resolve the validation warning, you need to include the slab in the 3D building analysis which then includes the stiffness of the slab in the analysis. For further details on why and when you should mesh the slab in a 3D analysis refer to the linked article “When should I use the "Mesh 2-way Slabs in 3D analysis" option?” in the right hand pane.

Assigning the level below the wall to act as a transfer level in the analysis is controlled via the Project Workspace > Structure Window > Levels branch.

Select the individual level i.e. St. 1 (1) in the screenshot below and check the option 'Mesh 2-way Slabs in the 3D Analysis' to mesh just this level.

Once the slab under the wall is included in the 3D analysis the validation warning is no longer issued.