The Eurocodes have become the design standards for the structural and civil engineering world. One of these 10 standards is Eurocode 8 for the design of structures for earthquake resistance. Buildings and other civil engineering works located in regions with high seismic hazard need to be checked in accordance with the provisions of this code.
With this in mind, Nemetschek Scia joined forces with the Greek company 3π-Penelis Software ltd (subsidiary of Penelis Consulting Engineers SA), a structural design office with projects in many countries with high seismic risk. Their software, called ECtools, has been extensively tested within the design office as well as in many universities and its predecessor, eTools, has been in use since 2002 in Greece and Cyprus.
The main purpose of the link with ECtools is to perform capacity checks according to EC8 of R/C structures modelled in Scia Engineer.
Furthermore, for the seismic analysis of tall buildings it is the common practice of EC8 to look at the core and shear wall as a continuous vertical element. However, in Scia Engineer, the walls are modelled as separate 2D finite elements in order to obtain more accurate results. With ECtools, the user is able to do this recognition-conversion automatically, using a 3D integration of 2D shell element stresses to internal forces on the corresponding complex cross-section. By achieving that, the seismic analysis is performed according to the principles of EC8. This approach gives the user more insight into the results.
ECtools uses the analysis results of Scia Engineer and can be used in the following cases:
• Seismic Design of Reinforced Concrete Buildings
• Checking/Reviewing the Design of Reinforced Concrete Buildings
• Seismic Assessment and Retrofitting of existing Reinforced Concrete Buildings
• Seismic Design of Composite Buildings with Concrete Cores
• Seismic design of Unreinforced Masonry Buildings
• Seismic Assessment and Retrofitting of existing Unreinforced Masonry Buildings
Scia Engineer and ECtools: a winning match for the safety of your designs! |