LECTURE:UnderstandingStagedconstructionInBuildingsusingSAP2000

AUTHOR:

DATE:

GOALS:

CarlosFerreira
carlos@csiberkeley.com
30072008

UnderstandingtheSAP2000stagedconstructionanalysis.
LearninghowtodealwithSAP2000stageconstructiondisplacementresults.
RealizingthepotentialofthistolltogetherwiththetimeDependentproperties
andCreepanalysis.

Letsimagineaisolatedconcretecolumn,subjectedtotheconstructionprocesstraditionalin
generalbuildings.

Wewillfornowneglectthetimedependenteffectsandtheinstageconstructionsequence.

Wewillassumethatwehaveatargetstructure,asinthepicturebelow,whereeachcolumnof
length L is in fact a storey of a building, and that in the whole construction process we are
moreinterestedinhavingeachstoreyslabintherigthelevationposition,thenratherhaving
exactcolumnsoflengthequaltoL.

ThestiffnessofthecolumnisEA/L,assumingthatagivencolumnhasLaslength.

Eachcolumnwillbeaddedstagebystage,andaftereachoneisaddedtheloadPisaddedto
thetopofthecolumn.

P1=P2=P3=Pn

Eachcolumntopjointwillhaveajointdisplacement,d.

Thequestionsare:

a) HowcanwepredicttheJointdisplacementsforthestagedanalysis?
b) WhatarethehypothesesusedinSAP2000?
c) Howcanweshortverifytheresults?

Inabriefway,wemustemphasizethatthepurposeofstagedanalysisisexactlytobeableto
represent properly the construction process without having to suffer from accumulation of
unrealisticdisplacementsonthetotalbuildinglength,especiallyforthehighrisebuildings,and
fortheselfweightandsomepermanentloads.

Thereisamajorunderstandingthatneedstobeclarified:

Whenyouaddastoreyasastage,SAPwilltrytoputthenewjointsthatarenottouchingan
oldstructureintheexactpositionoftheunstressedinitialmodel.Thismeansthatoneach
stagewearemorefocusedonthepositionwherethestructurewillbeaddedratherthanthe
exactlengthoftheelements.

So,letsthinkaboutawaytogetthebehaviorofthismodelinSAP2000.

Basedonthispreviousstatementwecanwrite:

(1)

Where
Lkisthereallengthofanunstressedcolumnwhenaddedtothestagek

Listheidealizedlengthofeachcolumn
kisthestageindexforwhichwearecalculatingtherealcolumnlength

Wealsowanttoknowwhatisthejointdisplacementinthetopofacolumn,whenthissame
columnisaddedasastage,andimmediatelyappliedtheloadPatthetop.

Wecanthenwrite:

(2)

Where

dkistheverticaldisplacementinthecolumnwhenthestageandloadisadded
Pistheloadforeachstorey
EAistheYoungModulustimestheAreaofthecolumn
Liiscomputedfromtheexpression(1)

Now,inordertocomputetotaldisplacementforeachjoint,wewanttoknowhowmucheach
jointisdisplacedvertically,whenitisaddedasastage,butalsowhenotherstagesaboveitare
added. Because for instance the first column will be moving downward each time a stage is
added,andofcourse,whentheloadofthefirststageissetalso.

Sowecanthengetanideaofhowmucheachjointdisplacesverticallywhenotherstagesare
addedbywriting:

(3)

Where

dsts,jisthedisplacementofthecolumnjwhenthestagesisadded
dsisascomputedinexpression(2)
Liiscomputedfromtheexpression(1)

Ifwewanttocomputethetotalverticaldisplacementforagivencolumnjwhenthestagenis
added,thenwecanwrite:

(4)
,
,

Where

tdj,nisthetotaldisplacementofcolumnjwhenstagenisadded

djisasinexpression(2)
dstj,iisasinexpression(3)

Ascuriosityweifwewouldneglectthereallengthchangeincolumns,wecouldwriteasimple:

(5)

Soinordertounderstandtheresultsthattheseexpressionscanbringtous,wewillcreatea
realexample:

L=3'columnswith3meters
P=300'kN
EA=30.5*10^6*0.3*0.3'concretewitha0.3x0.3column
nStages=10


Todoso,weuseaverysimpleExcelMacrosandfunctions:

====================================================
DimLAsDouble
DimPAsDouble
DimEAAsDouble
DimnStagesAsInteger
============================================================
'functiontocalculatetheLengthofthecolumnwhenitisaddedtoastage
FunctionL_stage(kAsInteger)AsDouble
L_stage=L+D_stage(k1)
EndFunction
============================================================
'functiontocalculatethedisplacementofthetopofthecolumnwhenitsownstageisadded
FunctionD_stage(iAsInteger)AsDouble
DimsumAsDouble
DimkAsInteger
sum=0
Fork=1Toi
sum=sum+L_stage(k)
Nextk
D_stage=P/EA*sum
EndFunction
============================================================
'Functiontocalculatethedisplacementinthetopcolumnjwhenaddedstagei
FunctionD_stage2(iAsInteger,jAsInteger)AsDouble
DimsumiAsDouble
DimsumjAsDouble
DimkAsInteger
sumi=0
sumj=0
Fork=1Toi
sumi=sumi+L_stage(k)
Nextk
Fork=1Toj
sumj=sumj+L_stage(k)
Nextk
D_stage2=D_stage(i)*sumj/sumi
EndFunction
============================================================
'functionTogetmaxdisplacementattopjointofcolumniatagivenstage
FunctionMax_D(iAsInteger,stageAsInteger)AsDouble
DimkAsInteger
Max_D=0
Ifstage>=iThen
Max_D=D_stage(i)
Fork=i+1Tostage
Max_D=Max_D+D_stage2(k,i)
Nextk
Else
MsgBox("Cannotcalculate")
EndIf
EndFunction
============================================================

MAINEXECUTIONPROGRAM
SubMACRO()

L=3'columnswith3meters
P=300'kN
EA=30.5*10^6*0.3*0.3'concretewitha0.3x0.3column
nStages=10

DimkAsInteger
Fork=1TonStages
Worksheets(1).Cells(k+1,1)=L_stage(k)
Worksheets(1).Cells(k+1,2)=D_stage(k)
Worksheets(1).Cells(k+1,3)=Max_D(k,nStages)
Next
EndSub

TheresultsusingMACROweobtainedintheEXCELworksheetarequiteinteresting:

3.0035
3.003
3.0025
3.002
3.0015
3.001
3.0005
3
2.9995
2.999
2.9985
1

10

RealUnstressedcolumnlengthforthecolumnsofeachstorey

0.0035
0.003
0.0025
0.002
0.0015
0.001
0.0005
0
1

10

Displacementinthetopofeachcolumnwhenaddedasastageandthenitsownload

0.012
0.01
0.008
0.006
0.004
0.002
0
1

Thetotalverticaldisplacementofeachcolumnintheendoffinalstage

10


Aswecanseetheverticaldisplacementintheendofthestageshasaquiteunusualbehavior
ascomparedtothetraditionaldisplacementweareusedtohaveifwedoaddtheentireload
tothewholestructureatonce.

Itisveryimportanttounderstandthisproperlyforseveralreasons:

1 First because Staged construction is a very powerful tool, that has to be used with
confidence, and we should get a complete clear picture of the way it works internally in
SAP2000.

2 If we do add the time dependent properties, we will be adding creep, shrinkage and
eventually relaxation, and these effects because of their slightly complicated and non linear
nature, should be analyzed or compared with a very clear and linear situation that we do
understand, in order to grasp the real time dependent effects. All that we did here is Linear
StaticAnalysis,evenifinsideSAP2000,itisusedthenonlinearenginewhenstagedanalysisis
performed.

3 These effects can be tremendously important in high rise buildings and in buildings with
discontinuous vertical elements. Not using these features can lead to errors that might be
importanttothestructure,ifnotaccountedotherwise.

4Theseeffectsareveryimportantforstudyingandmonitoringtherelativeverticalbehavior
of elements of each storey, that when using time dependent properties and a long analysis
time, like 30 years, can, in a relatively accurate way, predict the eventual cracking or force
distributionthatmaybeneededforULSaccounting.

5Itisnotevidentatthebeginningwhythefloorsthatdeflectmoreareinthemiddle.The
effect of artificial length increase in members and total weight that really deforms structure
areimportantthingstounderstandit.

Justasamatterofcuriosityweplotherethetraditionaldisplacementofthe10storeybuilding
with a linear static normal analysis versus the previous result of the staged construction
analysis:

0.02
0.015
0.01
0.005
0
1

Asyoucanseethedisplacementbehaviorismuchdifferent.

10