Member Tension And Combination Load
Cases [TN]
Applies To
Product(s): STAAD.Pro
Version(s): All
Environment: N/A
Area: Technotes
Subarea: Member Tension
Original Author: Bentley Technical Support Group
Overview
I understand that one should use the REPEAT LOAD command and not the LOAD COMBINATION
command when analysing a model for cases where the MEMBER TENSION or MEMBER
COMPRESSION command has been used. Talking about load combinations, in Section 5.35 of the
STAAD Technical Reference Manual, notes Item (2) mentions that the LOAD COMBINATION
command is inappropriate for a PDELTA analysis, and that one should use REPEAT LOADs instead.
This appears to be true for NON-LINEAR analysis also. Why?
Primary Load Cases
A primary load case is one where the load data is directly specified by the user in the form of member
loads, joint loads, temperature loads, element pressure loads, etc. It is characterized by the fact that
the data generally follow a title which has the syntax
LOAD n
where "n" is the load case number. For example,
LOAD 3
MEMBER LOAD
2 UNI GY -3.4
JOINT LOAD
10 FX 12.5
LOAD 4
ELEMENT LOAD
23 PR GY -1.2
LOAD 5
TEMPERATURE LOAD
15 17 TEMP 40.0 -25.0
Combination Load Case
Here, the user does not directly specify the load data, but instead asks the program to add up the
results of the component cases - which are defined prior to the combination case - after factoring them
by the user specified factors. It is characterized by the title which has the syntax
LOAD COMBINATION n
where "n" is the case number of the combination load case.
LOAD COMBINATION 40
3 1.2 4 1.6 5 1.3
REPEAT LOAD Type
A Repeat Load type is a Primary load case. That is because, when the program runs into this
command, it physically creates the load data for this case by assembling together the load information
from all the component load cases (after factoring them by the respective load factors) which the user
wants to "REPEAT". Thus, when you specify
LOAD 10
REPEAT LOAD
4 1.4 5 1.7
STAAD creates a physical load case called 10 whose contents will include all of the data of load case 4
factored by 1.4, and all of the data of load case 5 factored by 1.7.
If we use the same data used in the definition of the primary load case above, STAAD internally
converts the REPEAT LOAD case 10 to the following :
LOAD 10
ELEMENT LOAD
23 PR GY -1.68
TEMPERATURE LOAD
15 17 TEMP 68.0 -42.5
What is the difference between a REPEAT
LOAD case and LOAD COMBINATION?
The difference lies in the way STAAD goes about calculating the results - joint displacements, member
forces and support reactions. For a load combination case, STAAD simply ALGEBRAICALLY
COMBINES THE RESULTS of the component cases after factoring them. In the example shown
above, it
gathers the results of load case 3, factors them by 1.2,
gathers the results of load case 4, factors them by 1.6,
gathers the results of load case 5, factors them by 1.3,
and adds them all together. In other words, in order to obtain the results of load 10, it has no need to
know what exactly is it that constitues load cases 3, 4 and 5. It just needs to know what the results of
those cases are. Thus, the structure is NOT actually analysed for a combination load case. With a
REPEAT LOAD case however, the procedure followed is that which occurs for any other primary load
case. A load vector {P} is first created, and later, that load vector gets pre-multiplied by the inverted
stiffness matrix.
[Kinv] {P}
to obtain the joint displacements. Those displacements are then used to calculate the member forces
and support reactions. Thus, the structure IS analysed for that load case {P}.
Why should the difference in the way STAAD
treats a REPEAT LOAD case vs. a
COMBINATION LOAD case matter?
Normally, if you are doing a linear static analysis - which is what a PERFORM ANALYSIS command
does - it should make no difference whether you specify REPEAT or COMBINATION. However, if you
are doing a PDELTA analysis, or a NONLINEAR analysis, or cases involving MEMBER TENSION and
MEMBER COMPRESSION, etc., it matters. That is because, in those situations, the results of those
individual cases acting simultaneously IS NOT the same as the summation of the results of those
individual cases acting alone. In other words,
(Results of Load A) + (Results of Load B) is not equal to (Results of Load (A+B))
Take the case of a PDelta analysis. The P-Delta effect comes about from the interaction of the vertical
load and the horizontal load. If they do not act simultaneously, there is no P-Delta effect. And the only
way to make them act simultaneously is to get the program to compute the displacement with both
loads being present in a single load case. A REPEAT LOAD case achieves that. A COMBINATION load
case does not.
