How to change direction of seismic load in STAAD Pro?

Hello everyone,

I'm trying to understand the Seismic Loads using SRA in STAAD.

The Code Goes:

STAAD SPACE
START JOB INFORMATION
ENGINEER DATE 28-Jul-16
END JOB INFORMATION
INPUT WIDTH 79
UNIT METER KN
JOINT COORDINATES
1 0 0 0
2 0 5 0
3 5 0 0
4 5 5 0
MEMBER INCIDENCES
1 1 2
2 3 4
3 2 4
DEFINE MATERIAL START
ISOTROPIC STEEL
E 2.05e+008
POISSON 0.3
DENSITY 76.8195
ALPHA 1.2e-005
DAMP 0.03
TYPE STEEL
STRENGTH FY 253200 FU 407800 RY 1.5 RT 1.2
END DEFINE MATERIAL
MEMBER PROPERTY AMERICAN
1 TO 3 TABLE ST W10X30
*1 TABLE ST W8X15
CONSTANTS
MATERIAL STEEL ALL
SUPPORTS
1 3 FIXED
DEFINE UBC LOAD
ZONE 0.075 I 1 RWX 3 RWZ 3 STYP 1 NA 1 NV 1
SELFWEIGHT -1 
LOAD 1 LOADTYPE Seismic TITLE LOAD CASE 1
UBC LOAD X -1
LOAD 2 LOADTYPE Seismic TITLE LOAD CASE 2
UBC LOAD X 1
LOAD 3 LOADTYPE Dead TITLE LOAD CASE 3
SELFWEIGHT Y -1 
LOAD 4 LOADTYPE Seismic TITLE EZ AUTO RESPONSE SPECTRUM
SELFWEIGHT Y 1 
SELFWEIGHT X 1 
SELFWEIGHT Z 1 
SPECTRUM SRSS X -1 ACC SCALE 9.8 DAMP 0.035
0 0.1188; 0.1 0.2931; 0.45 0.2931; 1.2 0.1178; 2 0.0733; 2.8 0.0623;
3.6 0.0575; 4.4 0.0527; 5.2 0.0478; 6 0.043;
LOAD COMBINATION 11
4 -1.0 
PERFORM ANALYSIS
FINISH

The thing is on Load Combination 11, i wanted to get a value of the EQ Load opposite the direction of Load 4,
but it just simply negated the resultant values

I also tried Changing the X Factor from 1 to -1 in the spectrum but to no avail. How can I make Seismic Load opposite the direction of Load 4.

I'm using SS4.

Thank you,
Regards.

  • The response spectrum loading represents seismic acceleration applied at the base of the structure and this dynamic loading would vibrate the structure in both directions. The nature of RSA is such that the responses are all absolute maximum responses. So you don’t need to apply it in the positive and negative direction as you would typically do for a static seismic case. You should rather define two combination loads to combine these with the gravity loads as shown below

    LOAD COMB 100 DL + EL

    3 1.0 4 1.0

    LOAD COMB 101 DL - EL

    3 1.0 4 -1.0



  • That was my initial assumption too. But applying a negative factor for the Seismic L/C in the Load Comb only negates the results of the Seismic L/C, I'd expect that the Load Comb 100's deflection would just be the opposite direction of Load Comb 101's Deflection along the X-Axis, but no, it also negated the deflection of the horizontal beam, I know I just could use the negative Y reaction in Load Comb 101 and pair it with Load Comb 100 to provide the tension-compression couple forces, but my real problem is this...

    What if the frame of my structure is assymetrical? and Locating the Point of Rotation of the structure would be difficult, How would I know which column would be in tension, and which would be in compression?

    Also I've tried Modeling a simple frame with induced failure in the member to have a predictable outcome, and the result was not as I expected, if you change one column to a smaller section, you'd expect the structure to deflect that way, but that was not the case, the deflection would always go to the positive X-axis regardless which column was smaller.

  • Hi I too have the same question.  Any update in your query??