Create the Structural Axis and Stories

Learn how to create a structural axis as the basis for the column grid and how to add stories for the levels
of the building.
1. Start a new project using the Building Design Template.
2. Click Tools >

(Preferences).

3. In the Preferences dialog, in the Languages area, set the Regional settings to Eurocode, as shown
below.

4. Click Tools > Job Preferences, and then select Metric as the default units system.
5. In the Menu Bar, select Geometry >

(Axis Definition).

6. In the Structural Axis dialog box, on the X tab, set the Position to 0, No. of
repet. to 8, Distance to 6 (m) and Numbering to A B C and then click Add. On the Y tab, set
the Position to 0, No. of repet. to 5, Distance to 6, and Numbering to 1 2 3 as shown below.

7. Click Apply and close the dialog box. The new axis displays as shown below.

8. In the view window, click the View tab to change to the 3D view. By default, there are Base and Story
1 levels as shown below.

9. In the Menu Bar, click Geometry > Stories >

(Stories).

10. In the Stories dialog box, select Define manually.

11. Select the existing Story 1 and click Delete. The Reference level reverts to 0.
12. Set the No. of repet. to 5, the Height to 4, and the Numbering to Story 1,2, (as shown below) and
then click Add.

13. Click Apply and then close the dialog box. The stories display as shown below.

14. Save the project as Structure-Seismic.rtd.

Add Columns
Learn how to add columns, and how to copy them to additional places.
1. Return to the Plan view.
2. In the Menu Bar, click Geometry >
click

(Columns) or in the Structure Model toolbar,

(Columns).

3. In the Column dialog box, set the Section type to RC column and the Section to C 45x45. Verify that
the Height is set to 4.00.
4. Click the intersection of Grid A6 to add the column as shown below.

5. You can continue clicking on the intersections at which you want to add columns or copy the first
column to additional places.
6. To copy the column, select the first column and in the Menu Bar, click Edit > Edit >
Copy).

(Move/

Note: You can also access the edit commands using a toolbar. On the Standard toolbar,
click

(Edit) to open the Edit toolbar. In the Edit toolbar, click

(Move/Copy).

7. In the Translation dialog box, set the Edit mode to Copy and type the Number of repetitions that you
want to make, in this case 8.
8. Place the cursor in the Translation vector box, click the intersection A6 to indicate the origin of the
vector, and then click the intersection B6 to indicate the direction of the vector.
Note: Alternatively, enter the following coordinates in the Translation vector box: 6.00, 0.00, 0.00.
9. To copy the group of columns to the rest of the locations, right-click and select Select and then select
all of the copies that you just created.
10. Set the Number of repetitions to 5 and pick two points going down.

11. The columns are placed as shown below.

12. Click the View tab to display the columns in a 3D view.

13. In the Display Shortcuts bar, click

below.

(Section Shapes) to display the full size column as shown

14. Save the project.

Add Beams, and Walls

Learn how to add beams, and walls. You also learn how to select and filter elements so that you can
delete any unneeded columns.
1. Return to the Plan view.
2. In the Menu Bar, click Geometry >
click

(Beams) or in the Structural Design toolbar,

(Beams).

3. In the Beam dialog box, select the Section type RC beam and the Section B 30x50

4. Draw the Beams from 3D to 3F and 4D to 4F as shown below.

5. In the Menu Bar, click Geometry >

(Walls) or in the Structural Design toolbar, click

6. In the Wall dialog box, set the Thickness to TH12_CONCR, the Height to 4, and
the Orientation to Down. Draw the walls shown below.

7. Close the Walls dialog box. You will now remove any unneeded columns.
8. Select the walls and columns in the center of the building, but not the beams.
9. Switch to the 3D view.

(Walls).

10. In the Selection toolbar, click

(Bar Selection).

Note: The Selection toolbar (shown below) is typically docked directly below the Standard toolbar.
Some tools are only available when elements are selected.

11. In the Selection dialog box, expand the Bar drop-down list and select Panel. Then select None. This
removes all of the panels (walls) from the selection set without removing the columns as shown
below.

12. Close the dialog box and press <Delete>.

13. In the Deleting a structure fragment dialog box, select No, delete only the selected bars (you do not
want to delete the connecting beams) and then click Apply.
14. Save the project.

Create a floor and floor opening

Learn how to add a floor and then how to add openings in the floor.
1. Return to the plan view.
2. In the Menu Bar, click Geometry >
click

(Floors) or in the Structural Design toolbar,

(Floors).

3. In the Floor dialog box, set the Thickness to TH12_CONCR and select Rectangle.

4. Select the points for the rectangle as shown below and close the dialog box.

5. Click the View tab to display the 3D view. The floor goes through the shafts.

6. Return to the Plan view.

7. In the Menu Bar, click Geometry > Objects >
click

(Objects) and in the Objects toolbar, click

(Rectangle) , or in the Structural Design toolbar

(Rectangle).

8. Draw rectangles inside the walls as shown below for the shaft openings.

9. Save the project.

Copy Elements to Additional Stories

Learn how to use the Object Inspector to copy the content of a story to other stories.
1. Go to the View tab. All of the elements that you have created can be copied to the other stories.

2. In the Object Inspector, right-click on Story 1 and select Stories > Copy contents of the story as
shown below.

Note: If you did not have additional Stories in the project, you could use Copy story and have the
software create the story and copy the contents.

3. In the Copy contents of a story dialog box, set the Geometry to Above and the No. of
repetitions to 4 as shown below.

4. Click OK.The contents of Story 1 are copied to the other stories as shown below.

5. Save the project.

Make Changes to the Top Story

Learn how to select elements using the Object Inspector and other methods and how to change the top
structural columns to steel.
1. In the Object Inspector, double-click on Story 5. The view changes to only display the elements of
Story 5 as shown below.

Note: You can select the story in which you want to work using the Object Inspector or from the
Stories toolbar, or the pop-up list at the bottom of the screen as shown below. If you test this, ensure
that you go back to Story 5 before continuing with the steps.

2. Click the Plan tab and ensure that you are in the plan view of Story 5.

3. In the Object Inspector, expand Story 5 and select Openings as shown below.

4. These openings are no longer needed. Press <Delete> to remove them.

5. Open the View tab to display the change.
6. In the Object Inspector, right-click on Story 5 and select Stories. Clear the Filter structure
stories option so that all of the stories display.

7. Another way to select elements is by doing so in a view. In the Standard toolbar, click
open the View toolbar as shown below.

(View) to

Note: Many of these options are only available in a 3D view.

8. In the View toolbar, click

(3D Projection onto ZX).

Note:

By clicking
(3D Projection onto ZX) rather than
(Projection ZX), all of the elements in
the view are available for selection, not just the one closest to the plane.
Leave the View toolbar displayed if you want to switch between other views than 3D and Plan on a
regular basis.

9. Select all of the columns in Story 5 by drawing a crossing window as shown below.

10. In the View toolbar, click

the walls are selected.

(3D Projection XYZ) to return to the 3D view. The Story 5 columns and

11. To clear the Walls without dropping the columns, in the Object Inspector, expand Story 5 to display
the types of elements that have been used and selected as shown below.

12. Hold down <Ctrl> and click Walls to clear the wall selection.
13. In the Layout drop-down menu, select Properties.
Note: Layouts setup the most useful toolbars and tables for a specific function.

14. In the Structure Definition toolbar that displays, click

(Bar Sections).

15. In the Sections dialog box, select IPE 270 as shown below and click Apply.

Note: If the IPE 270 section does not display, in the Sections dialog box, click
(New Section). In
the New Section dialog box, on the Standard tab, set the Family to IPE and the Section to IPE 270.
Add IPE 330 if needed. Close the dialog box.
16. Close the dialog box.

17. Switch to the 3D view and zoom in to note how the columns have changed as shown below.

18. Save the project.

Add Beams
Learn how to add and copy beams for the roof of the building.
1. Pan until the beams that were copied to Story 5 are displayed. Select and delete them.
2. Change the Layout to Geometry.
3. In the Structural Design toolbar, click

(Beam).

4. In the Beam dialog box, set the Section type to Steel beam and the Section to IPE 270.

5. Zoom out and draw 2 beams as shown below.

6. Switch to the Plan view.

7. Select the long beam and copy it to the other grids. Repeat the process with the shorter beam. The
final building should look similar to the one shown below.

8. Save the project.

Set up the Seismic Analysis

Learn how to modify the display to show the stories by color and how to create a new analysis type for
linear static analysis.
1. Navigate to the Tutorials folder, and then open the project Structure-Seismic.rtd. This is similar to
the project you worked on in the previous tutorial, but additional loads have already been added.
Note: The Tutorial files are located in C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\Examples\Tutorials.
2. To help display the modifications to the various stories of the structure, right-click and select Display.

3. In the Display dialog box, select Mark with colors and then select Stories legend by colors and
click OK. Each of the stories displays a different color as shown below.

4. In the Standard toolbar, click

(Analysis Parameters). A variety of loads have already been
applied to this model as shown below. You will now add a linear elastic static analysis type.

5. In the Analysis Type dialog box, click New.

6. In the New Case Definition dialog box, select Seismic (Equivalent Lateral Force Method) and
click OK

7. In the Seismic Analysis dialog box, expand the list of codes in the upper left corner as shown below.
Select EN 1998-1:2004.

Note: Depending on the directions and eccentricities definitions, the series of static seismic load
cases are generated. XY components of direction vectors are understood as additional multipliers for
the calculated horizontal forces in each direction.
8. Continuing to work in the Seismic Analysis dialog box, click Directions and Combinations. For this
project, set the Newmark combination to Group 1 and Group2 as shown below and click OK.

9. In the Seismic Analysis dialog box, click Range of Seismic Load.

10. In this dialog box, you can limit the levels on which the seismic load is distributed and define the
structure height for the fundamental period calculation. The top and bottom stories can be defined
automatically or manually. In this case we are leaving the stories set to Automatic. Click OK to close
the dialog box.
11. In the Seismic Analysis dialog box, in the Method of defining values of fundamental periods area,
select Precise (modal analysis) as shown below.

Note: The fundamental period methods include Approximate (where values are calculated
according to formulas defined by code),User-defined (where values are added manually by the
user), and Precise (which generates an additional modal case preceding seismic cases).
12. Click Modal Analysis Parameters so that you can review the settings in the Modal Analysis
Parameters dialog box and click Cancel.
13. In the Seismic Analysis dialog box, select the Approximate (seismic code) method and
click Seismic Analysis Parameters.
Note: Parameters of the seismic simplified analysis depend on the seismic code.
14. In the Parameters dialog box, next to Direction X, expand the drop-down list, and select RC frame.
Repeat this for Direction Y as shown below.

15. Click OK to close the Parameter and Seismic Analysis dialog boxes to finish the creation of the new
Seismic loads.
16. In the Analysis Type dialog box, the two Load cases for the X and Y directions and the four
combinations generated from them are displayed as shown below.

17. Save the project.

Run and review the analysis

Learn how to display the seismic loads graphically, in a table, and using the Calculation notes.
1. In the Analysis type dialog box, click Calculations.
The calculations might take some time.
Note: Acting forces for the load cases are generated during the structural analysis calculations.
2. When the Analysis is complete, close the Analysis Type dialog box.
3. In the Layout drop-down list, select Results and then select Results diagrams as shown below.

4. To display the loads more clearly, in the View Status Bar, turn off

(Section Shapes).

5. Right-click and select Display.

6. In the Display dialog box, select Loads, and then select Forces generated automatically as shown
below. Click OK.

7. The loads that display are the default DL1 loads. To display the seismic load, expand the Load Cases
drop-down list and select E8:1-2005 Direction X as shown below.

The forces display as shown below.

8. To see information in table form, right-click and select Tables

9. In the Tables Data and Results dialog box select Loads, select Full table, and then click OK.
10. In the Loads table click the Values tab.

11. Right-click on the table and select Table Columns as shown below.

12. In the Loads dialog box select Display loads automatically generated in the program and click OK.

13. The loads now display as shown in part below.

14. Defined parameters and intermediate results of the Seismic Analysis may also be inspected in a
Calculation Report. In the Menu Bar, click Analysis > Calculation Notes > Simplified Note.

15. Scroll down in the window to display the information copied to the report, such as this shown below.

16. Once you have finished reviewing all of the information, save and close the project.