3 panels

4 panels

Mt bng dm sn v
hot ti s dng (kPa)

8 panels

7200

7200

7200

6000

6000

1300
800
1300

6000

1100

6000
1100

7200

7200

7200

6350

5900

6325

1300

1300

400450

450450

450450

400450

500500

450450

400

1300

800
450

500

600

200
400
300

500

Modeling slabs with variable thickness, loading and soil

subgrade modulus
To model slabs with
variable thickness and
loading in SAFE, it is
best to create a base
slab which spans the
entire floor, then draw
slabs of variable
thickness over the base
slab to adjust local
geometry and loading.
Contained-area slabs
drawn over the base slab
will take precedent. This
applies to every area
object except droppanels. To apply variable
loading, assign NONE
properties to containedarea slabs, then select
Assign > Load Data to
specify load magnitude
and direction.

How is the depressed portion of a slab modeled such that elevation

varies?
Answer: Slab elevation may be set by right-clicking on the slab which will be
depressed, then within the Assignments tab, adjust the vertical offset relative to the
top of the slab. Positive adjustment raises the slab, whereas negative depresses.

How do I assign one-way slab behavior?

ANSWER: Stress is distributed according to the relative rigidity of supports. For
example, when parallel walls connect to either side of a continuous slab, one-way
action results. To enforce one-way action, assign small m11 or m22
stiffness modifiers to the slab. These modifiers, available through Assign Area >
Stiffness Modifiers, should be applied relative to the local axes and the desired
direction of one-way action.

Thin vs. Thick shells

What is the difference between thin and thick shell formulations?
Answer: The inclusion of transverse shear deformation in plate-bending behavior is
the main difference between thin and thick shell formulation. Thin-plate formulation
follows a Kirchhoff application, which neglects transverse shear deformation, whereas
thick-plate formulation follows Mindlin/Reissner, which does account for shear
behavior. Thick-plate formulation has no effect upon membrane (in-plane) behavior,
only plate-bending (out-of-plane) behavior.
Shear deformation tends to be important when shell thickness is greater than
approximately 1/5 to 1/10 of the span of plate-bending curvature. Shearing may also
become significant in locations of bending-stress concentrations, which occur near
sudden changes in thickness or support conditions, and near openings or re-entrant
corners. Thick-plate formulation is best for such applications.
Thick-plate formulation is also recommended in general because it tends to be more
accurate, though slightly stiffer, even for thin-plate bending problems in which shear
deformation is truly negligible. However, the accuracy of thick-plate formulation is
sensitive to mesh distortion and large aspect ratios, and therefore should not be used
in such cases when shear deformation is known to be small.
In general, the contribution of shear deformation becomes significant when ratio
between the span of plate-bending curvature and thickness is approximately 20:1 or
10:1. The formulation itself is adequate for ratio down to 5:1 or 4:1. In that this ratio is
dependent upon the projected span of curvature, shell thickness may be greater than
the actual plan dimensions of a shell object.

Stiffness for pure-bending deformation

The statement that thick shells tend to be stiffer than thin shells applies only to the
bending components of shells, and to models in which meshing is too coarse.
When meshing adequately captures bending deformation, thick-shell elements are
more flexible because of the additional shear deformation that is not captured
through thin-shell formulation. Given pure-bending deformation, however, the thinshell element is slightly more accurate, therefore the thick-shell element may be
stiffer for coarser meshes. This effect diminishes as the mesh is refined.
Stresses may be of greater concern than deflections. When shear deformation is
expected to be important, we recommend the thick-shell element because it will
better capture the stress distribution. This is the case not only for thicker shells, but
also for regions near openings and other geometric discontinuities in which
transverse shear deformation develops.