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Copyright 2012 by Bentley Systems, Inc.

VERSION 7.0 REVISION 1

FREEBODY
1.0 INTRODUCTION
This program is designed to calculate loads from members and applied loads, including reactions, at a single joint or set of joints (substructure) in order to:
1. Check equilibrium for the joint set, and
2. Provide the user with detailed information concerning the loads applied at each joint in local member, global and user-selected coordinate systems.
All loads presented are applied at the joint rather than on the member ends.
1.1 INPUT FILE
1.2.INPUT FILE SETUP
There are five lines for input to the Freebody program. These lines are specified in the following table and on subsequent pages.
INPUT LINE

DESCRIPTION

SUB
JNTSL

Substructure joint selection

Individual joint selection

LCSEL

Load case selection

CONN

Connecting member selection

END

End of input data

Note: Model input for the program is supplied via a SACS model file and an analysis common solution file. The common solution file is created
by running the SACS structural analysis.

1.3 SAMPLE PROBLEM

The following describes an example Freebody analysis. Freebody input consists of a SACS model file, the common solution file, and a Freebody input file.
The SACS input file follows:

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The Freebody input is as follows:

The first line selects joint 2 for equilibrium checking. All results will be posted in local member coordinates. The local members to be used are 2-3, 2-6 and
2-10.
Thus the results will display the member forces/moments at joint 2 for each member selected. The third line selects joint 9 for equilibrium checking. Results
will be
posted in the member coordinates for member 9-10. Being as joint 9 is part of 5 members, forces/moments for each of these members will be displayed.
Output
from the Freebody analysis is shown on the following page.
Note: In each JNTSL line the ALL option was implicitly used. In general the ALL option should be used when there are few load cases.
With many load cases the MAX option displays the maximum load case value for each force/moment.

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RIGID
2.0 INTRODUCTION
The Rigid Body program module was originally designed to compute the rigid body mass properties of structures. It has subsequently been expanded to also
calculate modal load vectors. The program accessed the modal data and mass data created by the Dynpac program from the mode and mass files respectively.
The following is a list of the functions performed by the rigid program:
1. Calculates the 6X6 rigid body mass matrix about any specified center.
2. Calculates nodal force vectors for rigid body translational and rotational accelerations.
3. Calculates the gamma variables for the 3 directions for all modes. The gamma variable is the
summation of the mass matrix times the mode shape for each of the three directions1.
4. Calculates the modal force vector corresponding to the gamma variables.
5. Calculates the modal force vector for modal accelerations.
(1) Kallaby, Joseph and Millman, David N.: Inelastic Analysis of Fixed Offshore Platforms for Earthquake Loading, paper OTC 2357
presented at the 7th Annual Offshore Technology Conference, Houston, Texas May 5-8, 1975.

2.1 ANALYSIS PROCEDURE

Before the Rigid Body program module can be used, the dynamic characteristics must have already been calculated and the file containing the modal
characteristic
and the mass data must be available. The following files must be available from Dynpac:
MODEFIL Contains the modal characteristic of the structure.
MASSFIL Contains the mass data calculated by the Dynpac module.
Once these files are created using Dynpac, the Rigid Body module can be executed. The Rigid Body module requires an input file and produces an output
print file
and an output load file containing load vectors compatible with the SACS load data.

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2.2 INPUT FILE

The Rigid program requires a Dynpac mass file and mode shape file along with input data specified in the Rigid input file. Before creating the Rigid input file,
the user should be familiar with the basic guidelines for the use of input lines. These guidelines are located in the Introduction Manual.
2.2.1 INPUT FILE SETUP
The table below illustrates the input lines used, their function and the order in which they should appear in the Rigid input file.
INPUT LINE

DESCRPTION

CENTER

Defines the mass center of the structure

ACCL

Specifies structural acceleration components

MASS

Generates rigid body mass matrix

EQLOAD

Generates load vector according to mass distribution

COMB

Generates load vectors by combining modal vectors

SRSS

Generates load vectors baded on combine directives

MORA

Convert data in a MORA SIFO file to SACS IV loads

END

Endo fo input data

2.3 COMMENTARY
2.3.1 RIGID BODY MASS PROPERTIES
The center of gravity and the rigid body 6X6 mass matrix is calculated based on the elemental mass matrices generated by Dynpac. Load vectors can
also be calculated using any combination of angular and translational accelerations.

2.3.2 MODAL LOAD VECTOR CREATION

There are three modal load vector creation options as follows:
a.

Load vector based on all degrees of freedom having mass properties and accelerations.

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b.

Load vector based on masses and accelerations in a user selected global coordinate direction.

c.

Load vector based on an Earl & Wright OTC Paper No. 2357 (See Reference). This paper calculates the modal
vector as follows:

where

and

where the terms are defined as follows:

Mn
Akn
ink
mik

=
=
=
=

Generalized mass
Acceleration
Modal displacement
mass at joint i for direction k

2.3.3 MODAL LOAD VECTOR COMBINATIONS

The Rigid Body program allows the use to combine the created load vectors linearly, square root of the sum of the squares, or complete
quadratic combination (CQC).

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JOINT MESH
3.0 INTRODUCTION
3.1 OVERVIEW
The purpose of this document is to provide a guide to the SACS joint mesher. The joint mesher allows the user to create a high quality 3D mesh of a joint
that consists of many tubular connections.
The software automatically creates a 3D representation of the joint by performing a number of solid modeling operations that identify the tubular intersection
curves of the joint and subsequently meshes the resulting surfaces with triangular plates. The chord members and brace members are automatically identified
along with a brace hierarchy.
By default, only a minimal amount of interaction is required between the user and the software. Alternatively, advanced options may be specified in a joint
mesh input file, which results in a customized mesh.

3.1.1 DEFAULT MODE OF OPERATION

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The simplest way to access the joint meshing functionality is to use the default options presented by the SACS 5.3 Executive. Assuming that a joint has
been identified for meshing in an existing SACS model file, the following procedure may be employed:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Click on the Utilities tab of the Program Launcher.

The joint mesher is invoked by dragging the icon of a SACS model file over the Mesh Joint icon. A Mesh Tubular Joint dialog box will appear.
Ignoring all other options, type the name of the joint in the Joint Name field.
Press the OK button.

If the user input is correct and the joint geometry is suitable for automatic meshing, an output structural data file (SACOCI file) is produced.
This output file contains the plate elements that represent the meshed joint. Those sections of the beam model that previously represented the joint will have
been removed and replaced with 3D triangular plate elements.
In addition, another file called the Mesh Output file is produced. This file contains various data that can be viewed using a text editor. The data contains
information on the number of joints and plates that have been created as well as information about automatic chord and brace identification.
If a problem occurs during the meshing or solid modeling process, the nature of the problem as well as a geometric identifier is written to the Mesh Output
file.
Note that with the default behavior of the joint mesher, the length of the portion of a member that can be meshed is calculated automatically
and that also the target plate size cannot be controlled by the user. The automatic calculation of the target plate size is discussed further
in Section 2.2.
3.1.2 MESH PROPERTIES
The resulting mesh demonstrates some interesting properties:

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i. The unmeshed portions of the original members are redefined as truncated versions of the original members. The portions of those members that
have been meshed are automatically removed.
ii. The chord (or through member) has been automatically identified.
iii. The meshed portion of a member has been attached to the unmeshed portion of brace using plate offsets. The offsets occur in the plates at the end
of the meshed section. These plates contain joints that have been offset from the start joint of the unmeshed portion of the member.
iv. The plates that are produced by the joint mesher are placed in groups that correspond to the member groups of the original unmeshed members.
More specifically, the original member wall thicknesses are inherited by the plates. The same is true for material properties.
v. For the cases in which braces overlap, a brace hierarchy has been identified, in order to establish which members are through braces.

3.2 CUSTOMIZATION OF THE MESH

3.2.1 OVERVIEW
The previous section introduced the simplest method that can be used to create a joint mesh. The meshed length of both the chord and brace were
calculated automatically, as was the target plate size.
The following section describes how it is possible to alter the target plate size of a mesh by using the mesh intensity option. Additional options for
customizing the mesh are introduced in the joint mesh input file.
3.2.2 DEFAULT TARGET PLATE LENGTH
The default target plate length is calculated by considering the minimum brace outside diameter, Rmin and the chord outside diameter Rmax. The default
plate length, E is given by;

This formula is used in order to capture the fineness of element size required for the braces of smaller diameter, without generating too many elements
on the chord or the braces of larger diameter. If necessary, the user may also set the target plate size directly by using the ELMSIZ line in the joint mesh
input file. This is explained further in Section 3.4.
3.2.3 MESH INTENSITY
The Mesh Tubular Joint dialog box, which was discussed in Section 1.2 can be used to set a quantity called the Mesh Intensity. The mesh intensity provides
a method of controlling the fineness of the plate mesh. A finer mesh has more elements and therefore allows the geometry of the joint to be better modeled.
The effect of the mesh intensity M, is to divide the default target plate length by M. The new target plate length is E/M, which upon meshing results in
roughly
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M2 times as many elements as the default case.

The default mesh intensity is 1.0. Whilst it is recommended that this value be maintained, an alternative value may be entered by the user. At present, the
maximum
value is 5.0 (extremely fine mesh) and the minimum value is 0.2 (extremely course mesh). If a value outside of this range is entered, then an error message is
displayed in the mesh output file.
3.2.4 ADDITIONAL CUSTOMIZATION
Additional customization of the mesh may be achieved with the joint mesh input file. The joint mesh input file is a text file that contains instructions for
further
altering the mesh.
The user informs SACS that a joint mesh input file should be used by checking the Specify Joint Mesh Input File checkbox in the Mesh Tubular Joint
dialog box. ON pressing the OK button, the user is invited to browse for a joint mesh input file.

The content of the joint mesh input file is covered in the next chapter.
3.3 JOINT MESH INPUT FILE
3.3.1 OVERVIEW
The joint mesh input file allows the user to set;
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.

a default brace mesh length,

a default chord mesh length,
a member mesh length,
a new target plate length,

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v. a member modification tolerance.

3.3.2 DEFAULT MESH LENGTHS
The default mode of operation is subject to the limitation that the amount of any given member that is meshed is calculated automatically. For any intersecting
member, the limit of the mesh is one OD length past the extreme intersection point along the member axis. This is illustrated below:

If a member is insufficiently long to encompass the meshable length, then an error is reported to the mesh output file.
3.3.3 USER-SPECIFIED MESH LENGTHS
Occasionally the default mesh length will be insufficient for the modeling requirement.
This problem may be rectified with the use of some commands to enable the user to specify the amount of the member to be meshed, namely
CHMLEN, BRMLEN and MSHLEN.
Use MSHLEN followed by a length in m. or ft. in columns 8 through 15 in order to specify a meshable length for all members.
Use BRMLEN followed by a length in m. or ft. in columns 8 through 15 in order to specify a meshable length for all members considered to be braces.

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Use CHMLEN followed by a length in m. or ft. in columns 8 through 15 in order to specify a meshable length for all members considered to be chords.
There is also a version of MSHLEN that can be used to override the meshable length for specific members. In this instance the names of the affected
members are added in columns 17:25, 27:35 and so forth up to and including columns 67:75.
Note that the CHMLEN and BRMLEN lines both override the non-specific MSHLEN line. The specific version of MSHLEN overrides the
CHMLEN and BRMLEN lines as well as the non-specific MSHLEN line.
In the following example, the meshable length for member A001-A002 is 0.9 (ft. or m.). The meshable length for the chord members is 0.5.
All other members have a meshable length of 0.8. Note that the '-' in the member specification is not needed but is added for clarity.

3.3.4 USER-SPECIFIED TARGET PLATE LENGTH

The user may specify a target plate length by using the ELMSIZ line. The length is specified in Columns 8 through 15 in either cm. or in., depending
on the unit system of the SACS model file from which the joint is taken. The following example demonstrates the specification of a target plate length of 3 cm.

Under successful operation, the user-specified target plate length will override any mesh intensity specification, as well as the default target plate length.
However, the mesh intensity restrictions of Section 2.3 still apply and a warning message is given in the mesh output file if the mesh intensity that would
result from the specified target plate length would be too high or too low. In this case, the analysis proceeds with the default target plate length being used
in conjunction with the user-specified mesh intensity.
3.3.5 MEMBER MODIFICATION TOLERANCE
When a certain length of a member is meshed, the remainder of the member is redefined as a new member and the original member is deleted. Sometimes,
the new unmeshed member could be considered to have a length that is too small. In this instance the unmeshed portion of the member is also deleted. The
threshold at which the deletion of the unmeshed portion occurs is called the member modification tolerance.

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The default member modification tolerance is 0.1 m. or 0.1 ft., depending on the unit system of the SACS model file from which the joint is taken.
The user may specify a member modification tolerance by using the MEMTOL line. The tolerance is specified in Columns 8 through 15 in either m. or ft.
Assuming that the host SACS model file has the English unit system, the following example demonstrates the specification of a member modification tolerance
of 0.25 ft.

3.4 ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS

3.4.1 OVERVIEW
The following sections contain a few more technical details about the operation of the joint mesher.
3.4.2 CHORD IDENTIFICATION
The joint mesher attempts to identify a chord automatically. The calculation procedure is as follows:
i. From all the members that are attached to the joint, identify the member with the largest OD.
ii. From all the remaining members, identify a secondary member with the largest OD that is within 5 degrees of the member with the largest OD.
If the above procedure fails, then an error is displayed in the mesh output file to indicate that a chord could not be automatically identified.
If a primary and secondary chord member have been successfully identified, then the chord mesh will be represented by elements that have hybrid properties
of both chord members. The physical and material properties are averaged and the chord direction will be taken from the unattached end of the primary chord
member to the unattached end of the secondary chord member.
3.4.3 CHORD/BRACE HIERARCHY
The chord/brace hierarchy determines which member acts as a through member at the point of the intersection of the two members. The chord members
are always at the top of the hierarchy. The remainder of the hierarchy is determined by comparison of OD. The member with the larger OD is deemed to
be the through member. In the event that the two members have equal OD's, then the through member is determined to be the one with the higher wall
thickness.
3.4.4 LIMITATIONS
i. Currently, only members with tubular or double tubular cross-sections can be meshed.

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ii. Only the first segment of a member will be meshed. Specifications for member mesh lengths beyond the first member will be ignored and the
resulting mesh will have a length that is limited by the first segment length.
3.5 COMMANDS FROM THE JOINT MESH INPUT FILE

The following table summarizes the lines currently available in the joint mesh input file.
Command
ELMSIZ

Description
Set the target plate length

CHMLEN

Set the meshable length for chord members

BRMLEN

Set the meshable length for brace members

MSHLEN
MEMTO

Set the meshable length for specific or all members

Set the member modification tolerance

SACS REPORT GENERATOR

4.0 INTRODUCTION
The SACS REPORT generator module allows user control of report content and allows the user to output reports in standard, html, comma delimited or space
delimited formats. The module also allows the user to include user defined report titles, page control and page headers and footers, report units selection.
Reports can be generated for selected elements, element groups, joints and load cases.
4.1 INPUT FILE
The example below shows a typical input for Report Generator utility. The report generator options line REPOPT designates a standard report format with
100 characters per output line and 1 line is to be skipped between report lines. The page set line PGSET defines manual pagination with the use of ML option
in columns 11-12. The page header and footer lines PGHEAD and PGFOOT respectively, define headers and footers and the justification for the headers and
footers. The page break line PGBRK designates a header without a page break using option 'H' in column 7. The report titles are defined on the TITLE lines
with the title location (justification) and the number of lines to be skipped before and after the title in columns 6, 7 and 8 respectively. The TEXT line defines
the text to be inserted into the report. The UNITS line designates the global output units to default to English units. The report name and report comments are
defined on the RPNAM and RPCOM input lines respectively. Reports are to be generated for loads selected on the load case select LCSEL line and for
selected member groups on the MGRPSL line. Member reports corresponding to the critical internal load and also member details are requested on the
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RPTMEM input line. Each report is followed by a page break using the PGBRK input line. The member reports are followed by a request for a joint
deflection report corresponding to the maximum deflection using the RPTJNT input line. The units for the joint deflection are selected as millimeters using the
UNITS input line.

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4.1.1 INPUT FILE SETUP

INPUT LINE

DESCRPTION

REPOPT

Overall report specification Input

PGSET

Page set line

PGHEAD

Page heading line

PGFOOT

Page footer line

PGBRK

Page break line

TITLE

Report title input line

RPNAM

Report name input line

RPCOM

Report comment line

TEXT

Report text input line

UNITS

Units selection input line

LCSEL

Load case select line

UCPART

Unity check partition input line

JNTSEL

Joint selection input

MGRPSL

Member group selection input

MEMSEL

Member selection input

PGRPSL

Plate group selection input

PLTSEL

Plate selection input

SGRPSL

Shell group selection input

SHLSEL

Shell selection input

RPTJNT

Joint report selection

RPTMEM

Member report selection

RPTPLT

Plate report selection

RPTSHL

Shell report selection

END

Endo fo input data

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