Applies To
	Product(s):	STAAD.Pro
	Version(s):	ALL
	Environment:	ALL
	Area:	Modeling Solutions
	Subarea:	Geometry
	Original Author:	Sye Chakraborty, Bentley Technical Support Group

 

How can I model corrugated steel plates in STAAD.Pro ?

 

First of all, if the purpose of modeling the corrugated plate is to account for it’s weight or to distribute a pressure loading applied on it, you may as well use floor loads for that without even modeling the plate. However if the purpose is to account for the stiffness due to the plate, you can model it using plate elements ( and NOT Surface elements ). Stiffness of plate elements can be controlled by varying either the plate element thickness or by defining/assigning a material with an appropriate E value. By doing so, if it is possible to represent the stiffness of the corrugated plate with a plate of equivalent uniform thickness, it would be simplest in terms of modeling. If you would like to do a detailed stress analysis of the corrugated plate, only then you will need to model it exactly. You will need to use a mesh of plates and model one segment and then do a translational repeat to generate the full plate. In STAAD.Pro, plate mesh can only be generated on a flat area. So you will need to generate the plate mesh in parts such that each time you are meshing on a particular plane.