1

E, I
h
P



COLLEGE OF
ENGINEERING

Department of Civil & Geological Engineering

CE 463.3 Advanced Structural Analysis

Lab 6 SAP2000 Geometric Nonlinearity and P- effect

March 27
th
, 2013

T.A: Ouafi Saha Professor: M. Boulfiza



1. P- Effect http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6ZPNb-XIBQ

This example will illustrate how to use SAP2000 to include geometric nonlinearity in a static analysis.
In this case, the deformation due to an applied static vertical load will include second order effects
caused by the eccentricity of the axial load.


E= 200 GPa
h = 3 m
= 10 cm
P = 100 kN
Default Section




i. General Definitions
Choose (kN, m, C) as principal units and a grid system X(0, 0.1), Y(0), Z(0, 3)

ii. Material and Section Definition
Define Material (MAT) having Self-Weight = 0, E = 200 GPa and v = 0.3
Dont define frame section, just draw the model, and then change the default section material to MAT

iii. Drawing the Model
Draw a frame from point p
1
(0,0,0) to p
2
(0,0,3) and finish it in point p
3
(0.1,0,3)

iv. Boundary Displacement Conditions
Assign fixed restraints to the base.

v. Loading Condition
Assign a concentrated load under the DEAD load case to joint p
3
equal to -100 kN in the Global Z axis.

There are two main methods to include P-Delta effects in Sap2000, we will use only one in this
example
2
Menu Define > Load Cases


vi. Analyse the System
Select XZ plane frame in the analysis option to reduce the problem size, then Run the analysis.

vii. Display Output
Open a second display window to see the linear and non linear results on the same screen.
(Small triangle at the top left of the main graphic interface window, see red circle below)


Difference in the Horizontal (U1) Displacement between Linear and non Nonlinear analysis
Select nonlinear
type
Select P-Delta
Add the Dead
Choose a name
for the load case
Choose Static
load case
3
1
0
.
0
0
l
total

Flexural Moment (M3-3),
Constant in the column for the classical linear analysis and
varying according to the deformation shape for the nonlinear analysis.

Note that those values are obtained using a scale of 10 times the actual vertical loading condition.


2. Geometric Nonlinearity http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9dDpBQbUsk

The second example will illustrate how to include large deflections in a static nonlinear analysis for a
typical case of geometric instability.






Material E= 200 GPa, v = 0.3, = 0 kN/m
3

Section A = 4000 mm
4
P = 10 kN
l
total
= 4 m
Run the analysis twice one with
1
= 10 cm and the other with
2
= 5 cm.
For simplicity assume all the nodes to be articulated (truss structure).

To solve this example follow the same steps as usual, the only difference is the definition of the static
nonlinear analysis case, named here NL.

You may need to specify the moment releases of the members.
4


Run the analysis twice, the first run with
1
= 10 cm.


For
1
= 10 cm, there is no inflection (members in compression)

For the second run with
2
= 5 cm, it is better to do a database editing instead of redrawing the whole
structure from scratch again.

Go to Menu Edit > Interactive Database Editing
Select Model Definition > Connectivity Data > Joints Coordinates > Table: Joint Coordinates
Then change the Z coordinate of the appropriate node from 0.1 to 0.05

Static
Nonlinear
P-Delta +Large
displacements
5
E, I
h
P
y
P
x



For
2
= 5 cm, the nonlinear analysis leads to an inflected beam (members in tension) whereas the
linear analysis still shows a compression in the members.

As you can see from these two runs, we ended up with two completely different results for the linear
and the nonlinear analysis.

Additional Example

- Repeat example 1 for the column loaded with vertical and lateral forces.
Try different values of P
y
and see what happens when the vertical load gets close to the critical value
P
cr
(Euler critical load for the first mode).