C h a p t e r VIII

Frame Hinge Properties

You may insert plastic hinges at any number of locations along the clear length of
any Frame element or Cable or Tendon object. Each hinge represents concentrated
post-yield behavior in one or more degrees of freedom. Hinges only affect the be-
havior of the structure in nonlinear static and nonlinear direct-integration time-his-
tory analyses.

Advanced Topics
• Overview
• Hinge Properties
• Default, User-Defined, and Generated Properties
• Default Hinge Properties
• Analysis Results

Overview
Yielding and post-yielding behavior can be modeled using discrete user-defined
hinges. Currently hinges can only be introduced into frame elements; they can be
assigned to a frame element at any location along that element. Uncoupled moment,
torsion, axial force and shear hinges are available. There is also a coupled

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P-M2-M3 hinge which yields based on the interaction of axial force and bending
moments at the hinge location. More than one type of hinge can exist at the same lo-
cation, for example, you might assign both a M3 (moment) and a V2 (shear) hinge
to the same end of a frame element. Default hinge properties are provided based on
FEMA-356 (FEMA, 2000) criteria.

Hinges only affect the behavior of the structure in nonlinear static and nonlinear di-
rect-integration time-history analyses.

Everything in this Chapter applies to Cable and Tendon objects as well as to Frame
elements, although usually only the use of axial hinges makes sense for these
objects.

Hinge Properties
A hinge property is a named set of rigid-plastic properties that can be assigned to
one or more Frame elements. You may define as many hinge properties as you
need.

For each force degree of freedom (axial and shears), you may specify the plastic
force-displacement behavior. For each moment degree of freedom (bending and
torsion) you may specify the plastic moment-rotation behavior. Each hinge prop-
erty may have plastic properties specified for any number of the six degrees of free-
dom. The axial force and the two bending moments may be coupled through an in-
teraction surface. Degrees of freedom that are not specified remain elastic.

Hinge Length
Each plastic hinge is modeled as a discrete point hinge. All plastic deformation,
whether it be displacement or rotation, occurs within the point hinge. This means
you must assume a length for the hinge over which the plastic strain or plastic cur-
vature is integrated.

There is no easy way to choose this length, although guidelines are given in
FEMA-356. Typically it is a fraction of the element length, and is often on the order
of the depth of the section, particularly for moment-rotation hinges.

You can approximate plasticity that is distributed over the length of the element by
inserting many hinges. For example, you could insert ten hinges at relative loca-
tions within the element of 0.05, 0.15, 0.25, ..., 0.95, each with deformation proper-
ties based on an assumed hinge length of one-tenth the element length. Of course,

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C
B
Force LS CP
IO
D E

A
Displacement
Figure 29
The A-B-C-D-E curve for Force vs. Displacement
The same type of curve is used for Moment vs. Rotation

adding more hinges will add more computational cost, although it may not be too
significant if they don’t actually yield.

Plastic Deformation Curve

For each degree of freedom, you define a force-displacement (moment-rotation)
curve that gives the yield value and the plastic deformation following yield. This is
done in terms of a curve with values at five points, A-B-C-D-E, as shown in Figure
29 (page 117). You may specify a symmetric curve, or one that differs in the posi-
tive and negative direction.

The shape of this curve as shown is intended for pushover analysis. You can use
any shape you want. The following points should be noted:

• Point A is always the origin.

• Point B represents yielding. No deformation occurs in the hinge up to point B,
regardless of the deformation value specified for point B. The displacement
(rotation) at point B will be subtracted from the deformations at points C, D,

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and E. Only the plastic deformation beyond point B will be exhibited by the
hinge.
• Point C represents the ultimate capacity for pushover analysis. However, you
may specify a positive slope from C to D for other purposes.
• Point D represents a residual strength for pushover analysis. However, you
may specify a positive slope from C to D or D to E for other purposes.
• Point E represent total failure. Beyond point E the hinge will drop load down to
point F (not shown) directly below point E on the horizontal axis. If you do not
want your hinge to fail this way, be sure to specify a large value for the defor-
mation at point E.

You may specify additional deformation measures at points IO (immediate occu-

pancy), LS (life safety), and CP (collapse prevention). These are informational
measures that are reported in the analysis results and used for performance-based
design. They do not have any effect on the behavior of the structure.

Prior to reaching point B, all deformation is linear and occurs in the Frame element
itself, not the hinge. Plastic deformation beyond point B occurs in the hinge in addi-
tion to any elastic deformation that may occur in the element.

When the hinge unloads elastically, it does so without any plastic deformation, i.e.,
parallel to slope A-B.

Scaling the Curve

When defining the hinge force-deformation (or moment-rotation) curve, you may
enter the force and deformation values directly, or you may enter normalized values
and specify the scale factors that you used to normalized the curve.

In the most common case, the curve would be normalized by the yield force (mo-
ment) and yield displacement (rotation), so that the normalized values entered for
point B would be (1,1). However, you can use any scale factors you want. They do
not have to be yield values.

Remember that any deformation given from A to B is not used. This means that the
scale factor on deformation is actually used to scale the plastic deformation from B
to C, C to D, and D to E. However, it may still be convenient to use the yield defor-
mation for scaling.

When default hinge properties are used, the program automatically uses the yield
values for scaling. These values are calculated from the Frame section properties.
See the next topic for more discussion of default hinge properties.

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Coupled P-M2-M3 Hinge

Normally the hinge properties for each of the six degrees of freedom are uncoupled
from each other. However, you have the option to specify coupled axial-force/bi-
axial-moment behavior. This is called the P-M2-M3 or PMM hinge. See also the
Fiber P-M2-M3 hinge below.

Tension is Always Positive!

It is important to note that SAP2000 uses the sign convention where tension is al-
ways positive and compression is always negative, regardless of the material being
used. This means that for some materials (e.g., concrete) the interaction surface
may appear to be upside down.

Interaction (Yield) Surface

For the PMM hinge, you specify an interaction (yield) surface in three-dimensional
P-M2-M3 space that represents where yielding first occurs for different combina-
tions of axial force P, minor moment M2, and major moment M3.

The surface is specified as a set of P-M2-M3 curves, where P is the axial force (ten-
sion is positive), and M2 and M3 are the moments. For a given curve, these mo-
ments may have a fixed ratio, but this is not necessary. The following rules apply:

• All curves must have the same number of points.

• For each curve, the points are ordered from most negative (compressive) value
of P to the most positive (tensile).
• The three values P, M2 and M3 for the first point of all curves must be identical,
and the same is true for the last point of all curves
• When the M2-M3 plane is viewed from above (looking toward compression),
the curves should be defined in a counter-clockwise direction
• The surface must be convex. This means that the plane tangent to the surface at
any point must be wholly outside the surface. If you define a surface that is not
convex, the program will automatically increase the radius of any points which
are “pushed in” so that their tangent planes are outside the surface. A warning
will be issued during analysis that this has been done.

You can explicitly define the interaction surface, or let the program calculate it us-
ing one of the following formulas:

• Steel, AISC-LRFD Equations H1-1a and H1-1b with phi = 1

• Steel, FEMA-356 Equation 5-4

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• Concrete, ACI 318-02 with phi = 1

You may look at the hinge properties for the generated hinge to see the specific sur-
face that was calculated by the program.

Moment-Rotation Curves
For PMM hinges you specify one or more moment/plastic-rotation curves corre-
sponding to different values of P and moment angle q. The moment angle is mea-
sured in the M2-M3 plane, where 0° is the positive M2 axis, and 90° is the positive
M3 axis.

You may specify one or more axial loads P and one or more moment angles q. For
each pair (P,q), the moment-rotation curve should represent the results of the fol-
lowing experiment:

• Apply the fixed axial load P.

• Increase the moments M2 and M3 in a fixed ratio (cos q, sin q) corresponding
to the moment angle q.
• Measure the plastic rotations Rp2 and Rp3 that occur after yield.
• Calculate the resultant moment M = M2*cos q + M3*sin q, and the projected
plastic rotation Rp = Rp2*cos q + Rp3*sin q at each measurement increment
• Plot M vs. Rp, and supply this data to SAP2000

Note that the measured direction of plastic strain may not be the same as the direc-
tion of moment, but the projected value is taken along the direction of the moment.
In addition, there may be measured axial plastic strain that is not part of the projec-
tion. However, during analysis the program will recalculate the total plastic strain
based on the direction of the normal to the interaction (yield) surface.

During analysis, once the hinge yields for the first time, i.e., once the values of P,
M2 and M3 first reach the interaction surface, a net moment-rotation curve is inter-
polated to the yield point from the given curves. This curve is used for the rest of the
analysis for that hinge.

If the values of P, M2, and M3 change from the values used to interpolate the curve,
the curve is adjusted to provide an energy equivalent moment-rotation curve. This
means that the area under the moment-rotation curve is held fixed, so that if the re-
sultant moment is smaller, the ductility is larger. This is consistent with the under-
lying stress strain curves of axial “fibers” in the cross section.

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As plastic deformation occurs, the yield surface changes size according to the shape
of the M-Rp curve, depending upon the amount of plastic work that is done. You
have the option to specify whether the surface should change in size equally in the
P, M2, and M3 directions, or only in the M2 and M3 directions. In the latter case,
axial deformation behaves as if it is perfectly plastic with no hardening or collapse.
Axial collapse may be more realistic in some hinges, but it is computationally diffi-
cult and may require nonlinear direct-integration time-history analysis if the struc-
ture is not stable enough the redistribute any dropped gravity load.

Fiber P-M2-M3 Hinge

The Fiber P-M2-M3 (Fiber PMM) hinge models the axial behavior of a number of
representative axial “fibers” distributed across the cross section of the frame ele-
ment. Each fiber has a location, a tributary area, and a stress-strain curve. The axial
stresses are integrated over the section to compute the values of P, M2 and M3.
Likewise, the axial deformation U1 and the rotations R2 and R3 are used to com-
pute the axial strains in each fiber.

You can define you own fiber hinge, explicitly specifying the location, area, mate-
rial and its stress-strain curve for each fiber, or you can let the program automati-
cally create fiber hinges for circular, rectangular, and Section-Designer frame sec-
tions.

The Fiber PMM hinge is more “natural” than the Coupled PMM hinge described
above, since it automatically accounts for interaction, changing moment-rotation
curve, and plastic axial strain. However, it is also more computationally intensive,
requiring more computer storage and execution time. You may have to experiment
with the number of fibers needed to get an optimum balance between accuracy and
computational efficiency.

For more information:

• See Topic “Stress-Strain Curves” (page 78) in Chapter “Material Properties.”

• See Topic “Section-Designer Sections” (page 94) Chapter “The Frame/Cable
Element.”

Default, User-Defined, and Generated Properties

There are three types of hinge properties in SAP2000:

• Default hinge properties

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• User-defined hinge properties

• Generated hinge properties

Only default hinge properties and user-defined hinge properties can be assigned to
frame elements. When these hinge properties (default and user-defined) are as-
signed to a frame element, the program automatically creates a new generated
hinge property for each and every hinge.

The built-in default hinge properties for steel members are generally based on Ta-
bles 5.4 and 5.8 in FEMA-356. The built-in default hinge properties for concrete
members are generally based on Tables 9.6, 9.7 and 9.12 in FEMA-356. You
should review any generated properties for their applicability to your specific pro-
ject.

Default hinge properties cannot be modified. They also can not be viewed because
the default properties are section dependent. The default properties can not be fully
defined by the program until the section that they apply to is identified. Thus, to see
the effect of the default properties, the default property should be assigned to a
frame element, and then the resulting generated hinge property should be viewed.

User-defined hinge properties can either be based on default properties or they can
be fully user-defined. When user-defined properties are based on default proper-
ties, the hinge properties can not be viewed because, again, the default properties
are section dependent. When user-defined properties are not based on a default
properties, then the properties can be viewed and modified.

The generated hinge properties are used in the analysis. They can be viewed, but
they can not be modified. Generated hinge properties have an automatic naming
convention of LabelH#, where Label is the frame element label, H stands for hinge,
and # represents the hinge number. The program starts with hinge number 1 and in-
crements the hinge number by one for each consecutive hinge applied to the frame
element. For example if a frame element label is F23, the generated hinge property
name for the second hinge applied to the frame element is F23H2.

The main reason for the differentiation between defined properties (in this context,
defined means both default and user-defined) and generated properties is that typi-
cally the hinge properties are section dependent. Thus it is necessary to define a dif-
ferent set of hinge properties for each different frame section type in the model.
This could potentially mean that you would need to define a very large number of
hinge properties. To simplify this process, the concept of default properties is used
in SAP2000. When default properties are used, the program combines its built-in
default criteria with the defined section properties for each element to generate the
final hinge properties. The net effect of this is that you do significantly less work

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 Chapter VIII Frame Hinge Properties

defining the hinge properties because you don’t have to define each and every
hinge.

Default Hinge Properties

A hinge property may use all default properties, or it may be partially defined by
you and use only some default properties.

Default hinge properties are based upon a simplified set of assumptions that may
not be appropriate for all structures. You may want to use default properties as a
starting point, and explicitly override properties as needed during the development
of your model.

Default properties require that the program have detailed knowledge of the Frame
Section property used by the element that contains the hinge. This means:

• The material must have a design type of concrete or steel

• For concrete Sections:
– The shape must be rectangular or circular
– The reinforcing steel must be explicitly defined, or else have already been
designed by the program before nonlinear analysis is performed
• For steel Sections, the shape must be well defined:
– General and Nonprismatic Sections cannot be used
– Auto-select Sections can only be used if they have already been designed
so that a specific section has been chosen before nonlinear analysis is
performed

For situations where design is required, you can still define and assign hinges to
Frame elements, but you should not run any nonlinear analyses until after the de-
sign has been run.

Default properties are available for hinges in the following degrees of freedom:

• Axial (P)
• Major shear (V2)
• Major moment (M3)
• Coupled P-M2-M3 (PMM)

The details of the assumed default properties are described below.

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Default Concrete Hinge Properties

The following properties are assumed for default concrete hinges.

Axial Hinge
• P y = As f y
. Ac f c¢
• Pc = 085
• The slope between points B and C is taken as 10 % total strain hardening for
steel
• Hinge length assumption for D y is based on the full length
• Tensile points B, C, D and E based on FEMA-356 Table 5-7, Braces in Tension
• Compressive point B’ = Pc
• Compressive point E’ is taken as 9D y

Moment and Coupled Hinge

• The Slope between points B and C is taken as 10 % total strain hardening for
steel
• q y = 0, since it is not needed
• Points C, D and E are based on FEMA-356, Table 6-7. The four conforming
transverse reinforcing rows are averaged
• My is based on the reinforcement provided, if any; otherwise it is based on the
minimum allowable reinforcement
• The PMM curve is the same as the uniaxial M3 curve, except that it will always
be symmetrical about the origin
• The PMM interaction surface is calculated using ACI 318-02 with phi = 1

Shear Hinge
• The curve is symmetrical about the origin
• The slope between points B and C is taken as 10 % total strain hardening for
steel
• V y = 2As f c¢ + f y Asv d
• Points C, D and E are based on FEMA-356 Table 6-18, Item iii, by averaging
the two rows labeled “Conventional longitudinal reinforcement” and “Con-
forming transverse reinforcement”

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Default Steel Hinge Properties

The following properties are assumed for default steel hinges.

Axial Hinge
• Slope between points B and C is taken as 3 % strain hardening
• Hinge length assumption for D y is the length of the member
• Initial compression slope is taken to be same as the initial tension slope
• Tensile points C, D and E based on FEMA-356 Table 5-7, Braces in Tension
• Compressive points C’, D’ and E’ based on FEMA-356 Table 5-7, Braces in
Compression, Item C

Moment and Coupled Hinge

• Slope between points B and C is taken as 3 % strain hardening
• q y is based on FEMA-356, equation 5-1 and 5-2
b 52
• Points C, D and E based on FEMA-356 Table 5-6, for <
2tf F yc

• The PMM curve is the same as the uniaxial M3 curve, except that it will always
be symmetrical about the origin
• The PMM interaction surface is calculated using FEMA-356 Equation 5-4

Shear Hinge
• The curve is symmetrical about the origin
• Slope between points B and C is taken as 3 % strain hardening
• Points C, D and E based on FEMA-356 Table 5-6, Link Beam, Item a

Analysis Results
For each output step in a nonlinear static or nonlinear direct-integration time-his-
tory analysis case, you may request analysis results for the hinges. These results in-
clude:

• The forces and/or moments carried by the hinge. Degrees of freedom not de-
fined for the hinge will report zero values, even though non-zero values are car-
ried rigidly through the hinge.
• The plastic displacements and/or rotations.

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• The most extreme state experienced by the hinge in any degree of freedom.
This state does not indicate whether it occurred for positive or negative defor-
mation:
– A to B
– B to C
– C to D
– D to E
– >E
• The most extreme performance status experienced by the hinge in any degree
of freedom. This status does not indicate whether it occurred for positive or
negative deformation:
– A to B
– B to IO
– IO to LS
– LS to CP
– > CP

When you display the deflected shape in the graphical user interface for a nonlinear
static or nonlinear direct-integration time-history analysis case, the hinges are plot-
ted as colored dots indicating their most extreme state or status:

• B to IO
• IO to LS
• LS to CP
• CP to C
• C to D
• D to E
• >E

The colors used for the different states are indicated on the plot. Hinges that have
not experienced any plastic deformation (A to B) are not shown.

126 Analysis Results