I am unable to visualise the theoretical difference between the two supports in STAAD post processing mode for a sway frame with plate assigned at supports. I have tried once with the fixed support and in second attempt with enforced support, but displacement and reactions are same in both the cases. Can anyone please identify the reason and come with the way to how can I be able to see the difference in results by these two supports???
When enforced supports are defined, the software considers these as springs of high stiffness as opposed to fixed supports. It is only essential to define supports as enforced when you have FE models involving plates/solids and for which you need to impose support displacement loads. Analysis results may be exactly same when using either support type.
The following wiki lists differences between these support definitions
https://communities.bentley.com/products/ram-staad/w/structural_analysis_and_design__wiki/21804/difference-between-fixed-and-enforced-support
More details are also available under help section 5.32.8
Answer Verified By: Shuvam Sarkar
Thank you sir for your rich respresponse. I have verified the STAAD output with enforced support type assigned to a plate element subjected to support displacement loads and it explicits the difference between the two.