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Time-History Seismic Analysis With SAP2000

This document provides a step-by-step guide for performing a time-history seismic analysis using SAP2000. It outlines downloading an accelerogram from the PEER database, defining the accelerogram as a function in SAP2000, assigning it to an analysis case, running the time-history analysis, and displaying the results in terms of structural responses like forces, moments, and displacements over time.

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pescanova3
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109 views35 pages

Time-History Seismic Analysis With SAP2000

This document provides a step-by-step guide for performing a time-history seismic analysis using SAP2000. It outlines downloading an accelerogram from the PEER database, defining the accelerogram as a function in SAP2000, assigning it to an analysis case, running the time-history analysis, and displaying the results in terms of structural responses like forces, moments, and displacements over time.

Uploaded by

pescanova3
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Time-history seismic analysis with

SAP2000
A step-by-step guide for
BEng/MEng/MSc students familiarizing
with this piece of software

List of Content
Download recorded accelerograms from
the PEER database
Upload a selected accelerogram to
SAP2000
Run the time-history analysis and
display the results

Step #1

DOWNLOAD
ACCELEROGRAMS FROM
THE PEER DATABASE

PEER Strong Ground Motion


Database
The Pacific Earthquake
Engineering Research (PEER),
headquartered at the
University of California at
Berkeley, makes available
online over 10,000 strong
ground motion records from 173
different earthquakes
http://peer.berkeley.edu/

PEER Strong Ground Motion


Database
The database in entirely searchable
http://peer.berkeley.edu/nga/
As an example, we want to download the
accelerogram recorded during the Imperial
Valley 1940 earthquake
Once the event has been selected in the top dropdown list, we must specify to DISPLAY the results
In Table rather than On Map
Then we can SEARCH

Find the accelerogram

By right-clicking on the appropriate record


(NGA0006 in our case), a new page is shown
with all the relevant pieces of information
about this seismic event
If we scroll down, the links to the three components
of the accelerogram (180, 270 and vertical)

Download the time history of the


ground acceleration
By right-clicking on
one of these links
(e.g. the first
horizontal
component, denote
with IMPVALL/IELC180), a new
textual page is
opened with the
corresponding time
history of the

Download the time history of the


ground acceleration

The first four lines contain general pieces of


information about the record, namely:

Location: Imperial Valley


Date: 19th May 1940
Time: 4:39am
Station: El Centro Array #9
Direction: Horizontal, 180
Units of acceleration: g= 9.81 m/s2 (acceleration of
gravity)
Number of time instants: 4,000
Sampling time: t= 0.01 s (f= 100 Hz)

Download the time history of the


ground acceleration
The other lines list the ordinates of the record
(in units of g), which must be read from left to
right, row by row

Download the time history of the


ground acceleration
Importantly,
the web
browser
(Explorer,
Firefox and
etcetera)
allows to save
this page as a
TXT file (you
may need to
manually

Step #2

UPLOAD ACCELEROGRAMS
TO SAP2000

Define the accelerogram in SAP2000


An accelerogram is basically the time-history of the
acceleration experienced by the ground in a given
direction during a seismic event
We need to input the accelerogram as a generic
function defined in SAP2000 starting from a TXT file
Once the mechanical model of the structural system
under investigation has been created, SELECT from the
menu bar:
DEFINE FUNCTIONS TIME HISTORIES...

Define the accelerogram in SAP2000


The accelerogram
must be uploaded
to SAP2000 as
FUNCTION
FROM FILE, an
option which can
be selected from
the drop-down list

Define the accelerogram in SAP2000


We can select:
Name of the function
(e.g. EL_CENTRO_1940)
Location of the file by
using the button
BROWSE...
Number of lines to skip
(4 for the PEER
database)
Number of points per line
(5 for the PEER
database)

Define the accelerogram in SAP2000


By clicking on
DISPLAY GRAPH
we can visually
check the
waveform

Define the accelerogram in SAP2000


In order to be used in a seismic
simulation, the waveform previously
defined must be properly assigned to an
ANALYSIS CASE
To do this, SELECT from the menu bar:
DEFINE ANALYSIS CASES...

Define the accelerogram in SAP2000


The analysis case in presence of accelerogram
is a TIME HISTORY, which can be selected
from a drop-down list after clicking on the
ADD NEW CASE... button

Define the accelerogram in SAP2000


The
appropriate
analysis in
presence of
accelerogra
ms is a TIME
HISTORY
case, which
can be
selected
from the
drop-down

Define the accelerogram in SAP2000


This leads
to a more
complicated
windows, in
which few
parameters
must be
input

Define the accelerogram in SAP2000


In particular:
The load type is an ACCELeration of the ground
(first drop-down list)
For a planar model, the ground shaking is generally
assumed to happen in the X direction, i.e. Load
name U1 (seconddrop-down list)
The records from the PEER website are given in units
of g, so the scale factor would be 9.81 m/s2 or 981
cm/s2, depending on the units selected in the model
of SAP2000
The number of time steps should be given by the
duration of the accelerogram divided by the
sampling time:
In our example: 40 s / 0.01 s = 4,000 steps

Step #3

RUN THE ANALYSIS AND


DISPLAY THE RESULTS

Run the dynamic analysis


Once the accelerogram has been defined in
SAP2000, it is possible to run the time-history
analysis as any other type of analysis

Run the dynamic analysis


Once the
analyses are
complete,
you can read
the pertinent
results from
tables and
diagrams

Display the results


In the next slides the results of the dynamic
analysis are shown in terms of:
Axial Force N (left-had side graph)
Bending Moment M (right-hand side graph)

It is worth mentioning that these blue diagrams


are the ENVELOPE of the corresponding
outputs:
Indeed, in a dynamic analysis we have a value of the
structural quantities of interest (e.g. N and M) for each
time steps
As engineers, we are generally interested in both
minimum and maximum value, i.e. by the envelope

Display the results


We can also display the same structural
quantities in a specific time instant, e.g. at t=
10 s...
In this case, for instance, the red colour in the axialforce diagram means compression, while the yellow
colour stands for tentions

Display the results


In order to show the time history of a
given structural response, e.g. The
horizontal displacement of the top floor,
you mus SELECT from the menu bar:
DISPLAY SHOW PLOT FUNCTIONS...

Display the results


In our
example, we
want to
display the
displacement
along the X
direction of
the joint no.
23, for the
time range
from 0 to 40
s

Display the results


In the window
with the
graph, min
and max
values of the
selected time
history are
also reported

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