Hi,
If I have a SERIES of surface elements and I'm defining the support using the "GENERATE" command. Do I type the command for each of the surface element (example: "1 TO 2 GEN FIXED" for the first element, "2 TO 3 GEN FIXED" for the second element, "3 TO 4 GEN FIXED" for the last element) or can I simply type the command "1 TO 4 GEN FIXED" for all three elements? Or both would work? Thanks
You can use 1 TO 4 GEN FIXED for the case you mentioned and it should be the same as using individual generate commands. However if you have a situation where the surfaces are NOT next to each other sharing common nodes, you should NOT generate the supports using a single generate command even if the surface node numbers at the base happen to be continuous.
I was referring to situations when surfaces are not next to each other or in other words they do not share common nodes. For example let's say you have two shear walls which are at the two ends of the building with a gap in between. Their base nodes may be continuously numbered ( say 101 102 for the surface on the left and 103 104 for the surface on the right ). Here you cannot specify 101 TO 104 GEN FIXED. Also for situations where the shear walls are orthogonal to each other, you should use GEN command for each surface separately. Bottom line is, whenever in doubt, go for separate assignments. That always works.