Structural Concrete Software

A Division of Bommer Coleman, Inc.

611 NW 41st Street Seattle WA 98107 Phone 425-482 0978 Fax 425-482 6238 Website www.concsoft.com

Floor Technical Note #7 SCS MESHER Utility

23 July 2001
Updated 12 December 2001 for FLOOR 1.05 and MESHER 1.03

Introduction
MESHER is a free program developed by Structural Concrete Software. It generates finite
element meshes that can be used by FLOOR. MESHER communicates with FLOOR through the
Windows clipboard. Reference lines with special names are copied from FLOOR to MESHER and
finite elements are copied from MESHER to FLOOR.

MESHER will be incorporated into FLOOR in version 2.

Defining the Model

MESHER needs a definition of a structure in order to create a mesh of finite elements that
represent the structure. This structure definition is created in FLOOR using reference lines. The
reference lines must be given special names (such as slab/10/0/1/4000 psi or
columnbelow/12/0/9/32 MPa) so MESHER can understand their meaning.

There is a Mesher Reference Line Plan in the FLOOR default files that is intended for drawing
these reference lines.

Importing a DXF file and snapping the reference lines end points to points in the DXF file is the
fastest way to create the structure definition. See the FLOOR manual for DXF file information.

Columns Below the Slab

Columns below the slab are defined with reference lines whose names start with columnbelow
or cb. The reference line name must be in the form columnbelow/depth/width/height/concrete,
where
columnbelow or cb shows that this is a specification for columns below the slab
depth is the depth or diameter of the column (units specified in MESHER)
width is the width of the column (units specified in MESHER), if zero, the depth
parameter is considered to be the diameter.
height is the height of the column (units specified in MESHER).
concrete the name of the concrete mix (may be omitted if so, omit last / also).

MESHER will place a column below the slab at any location where two columnbelow reference
lines with exactly the same name cross. A grid of 3 horizontal columnbelow reference lines and
two vertical columnbelow reference lines with the same name that intersect in 6 locations will
create 6 columns below the slab. MESHER will ignore intersections of columnbelow reference
lines that do not have the same name.
Columns Above the Slab

Columns above the slab are defined the same way as columns below the slab, except that the
reference line names start with columnabove or ca.

Walls Below the Slab

Walls below the slab are defined with reference lines whose names start with wallbelow or wb.
The reference line name must be in the form wallbelow/thickness/height/concrete, where
wallbelow or wb shows that this is a specification for walls below the slab
thickness is the thickness of the wall (units specified in MESHER)
height is the height of the wall (units specified in MESHER).
concrete the name of the concrete mix (may be omitted if so, omit last / also).

MESHER will place a line of wall elements along every wallbelow reference line.

Walls Above the Slab

Walls above the slab are defined the same way as walls below the slab, except that the
reference line names start with wallabove or wa.

Slab Areas

Slab areas are defined with reference lines whose names start with slab or s. The reference line
name must be in the form slab/thickness/elevation/priority/concrete, where
slab or s shows that this is a specification for a slab area
thickness is the thickness of the slab area (units specified in MESHER)
elevation is the surface elevation of the slab area (units specified in MESHER)
priority is the priority of this slab area specification over other slab area specifications;
the slab area with the higher priority number controls.
concrete the name of the concrete mix (may be omitted if so, omit last / also).

MESHER will find all slab reference lines with the same name and determine polygon shapes
from them by connecting their end points. Multiple slab areas with identical reference line
names can be used as long as they each form separate polygons that do not touch at any
corner.

Where slab areas overlap the area with the higher priority will control. This can be used to
define a general slab thickness for the entire slab, and then override that thickness specification
(at column capitals, beams or other areas) with additional slab areas with higher priority values.

If a controlling slab area has a thickness of zero, no slab elements will be placed in that area
and a hole in the slab will result.

Other Considerations

Where a slab edge is at the same location as a wall, you will need to define two reference lines
(with different names) at the same location. FLOOR will allow this, but the editing of the reference
lines may become more difficult. Use the Eyeglasses dialog window to control the visibility of
different types of MESHER reference lines.
Transferring the Model Specification to MESHER

To transfer the reference lines specifying the structure to MESHER, just copy the reference lines
to the Windows clipboard using the normal FLOOR copy command.

Generating the Mesh

SCS MESHER will read the FLOOR reference line information from the Windows clipboard,
generate the mesh and copy the finite elements back to the Windows clipboard. Before the
mesh can be generated MESHER will need some additional information.
Additional MESHER Parameters

The Mesher window allows you to specify some additional parameters that affect the generated
mesh. These parameters are discussed below.

Minimum Element Size This parameter is used solely for error checking. If the mesh defined
by the reference lines would require an element smaller than the given size, an error message
will appear. For example if the minimum element size is 250 mm (10 inches) and there is a
column located less than this distance from the slab edge, an error will occur (note that if the
column was on the slab edge, no error would occur).

Desired Element Size This parameter specifies the target element size used by MESHER.

Various Unit Settings These parameters determine the units for the values specified in the
reference line names.

Running MESHER

After you have specified the parameters in the MESHER window, you can create the mesh by
clicking on the Generate Mesh button.

If MESHER finds any errors it will report them to you. Otherwise it will generate the mesh and put
the generated elements on the clipboard. The time required to generate the mesh will vary
according to the number of elements generated; typically the time will vary from a few seconds
to a few minutes depending upon the number of elements generated and the speed of the
computer.

Putting the Mesh Back in Floor

After SCS MESHER has created the finite elements you can paste them from the Windows
clipboard to FLOORs Element Mesh Plan. You may want to edit a few element parameters
before considering the mesh complete.

The following parameters have not been specified, and are therefore set to a default value by
MESHER:

Concrete Mix All element that did not have a specified concrete mix will have the first
concrete mix available in FLOOR.

Wall Fixity All wall elements generated by MESHER will be hinged top and bottom and
will be considered to be shearwalls.

Column Fixity All column elements generated by MESHER will be fixed top and bottom.

These default values can be edited in FLOOR using the normal FLOOR editing techniques after
the elements are pasted from MESHER to Floor.
Quality of the MESHER Mesh
Meshes generated by SCS MESHER are of lower quality than meshes carefully generated by
hand, but are much better than meshes carelessly generated by hand. You may want to use a
somewhat smaller element size with MESHER than you would use with your hand-generated
meshes to compensate for the lower quality of the MESHER meshes. Appendix B of the FLOOR
manual discusses in detail the effects of different meshes on FLOORs results.

MESHER meshes are composed of a random assortment of triangle and quadrilateral elements
with random orientations. This element randomness may cause the result plots in FLOOR to be
more jagged than the results for a hand crafted mesh, but there will not be a significant
difference in the design section designs.

Below are images of a symmetric structure with the left half of the structure using a MESHER
mesh and the right half of the structure using a hand crafted mesh.

The MESHER-generated mesh is obviously much more random than the hand-crafted mesh, but
the number of nodes is approximately equal.
The bending moments in MESHER-generated mesh and the hand-crafted mesh are almost
identical, but the curves are somewhat smoother in the hand-crafted mesh.
The reinforcement required in MESHER-generated mesh and the hand-crafted mesh are almost
identical, with a maximum deviation of 3% and an average deviation of 1.4%.
MESHER Example
To provide an example of using MESHER, the tutorial slab mesh that is created in Chapter 6 of
the FLOOR Manual is generated below using MESHER. Only the parts that differ from Chapter 6
are outlined (the importing of DXF files is the same in both methods).

Note that snapping should be used for all coordinate entry below; no typing of coordinates need
be used.

Step 1
Open the Mesher Reference Line Plan. Use the Eyeglasses dialog window to show the DXF
information on the plan. Set the snaps to snap to points on other layers (we will be snapping to
the DXF layer). We will be using this plan in steps 2 to 5.

Step 2 Columns (SI Units)

Double-click on the reference line tool and set the name to cb/300/0/3/30 MPa.
Draw reference line Xs across each column capital by clicking at:
(6.75, 6.75) and (5.25, 5.25)
(5.25, 6.75) and (6.75, 5.25)
(15.75, 7,75) and (14.25,6.25)
(14.25, 7,75) and (15.75,6.25)

Step 2 Columns (US Units)

Double-click on the reference line tool and set the name to cb/12/0/9/5000 psi.
Draw reference line Xs across each column capital by clicking at:
(20.25, 20.25) and (15.75, 15.75)
(15.75, 20.25) and (20.25, 15.75)
(47.25, 23.25) and (42.75, 18.75)
(42.75, 23.25) and (47.25, 18.75)

Step 3 Slab Areas (SI Units)

Double-click on the reference line tool and set the name to s/250/0/1/30 MPa.
Draw reference lines around the entire slab by clicking at:
(0, 0) and (0, 13)
(0, 13) and (19, 13)
(19, 13) and (21, 0)
(21, 0) and (0, 0)
Double-click on the reference line tool and set the name to s/450/0/2/30 MPa.
Draw reference lines around the column capitals by clicking at:
(5.25, 6.75) and (6.75, 6.75)
(6.75, 6.75) and (6.75, 5.25)
(6.75, 5.25) and (5.25, 5.25)
(5.25, 5.25) and (5.25, 6.75)
(14.25, 7.75) and (15.75, 7.75)
(15.75, 7.75) and (15.75, 6.25)
(15.75, 6.25) and (14.25, 6.25)
(14.25, 6.25) and (14.25, 7.75)
Step 3 Slab Areas (US Units)
Double-click on the reference line tool and set the name to s/10/0/1/5000 psi.
Draw reference lines around the entire slab by clicking at:
(0, 0) and (0, 39)
(0, 39) and (57, 39)
(57, 39) and 63, 0)
(63, 0) and (0, 0)
Double-click on the reference line tool and set the name to s/18/0/2/5000 psi.
Draw reference lines around the column capitals by clicking at:
(15.75, 20.25) and (20.25, 20.25)
(20.25, 20.25) and (20.25, 15.75)
(20.25, 15.75) and (15.75, 15.75)
(15.75, 15.75) and (15.75, 20.25)
(42.75, 23.25) and (47.25, 23.25)
(47.25, 23.25) and (47.25, 18.75)
(47.25, 18.75) and (42.75, 18.75)
(42.75, 18.75) and (42.75, 23.25)

Step 4 Wall Lines (SI Units)

Double-click on the reference line tool and set the name to wb/250/3/20 MPa.
Draw reference lines around the entire slab by clicking at:
(0, 0) and (0, 13)
(0, 13) and (19, 13)
(19, 13) and (21, 0)
(21, 0) and (0, 0)

Step 4 Wall Lines (US Units)

Double-click on the reference line tool and set the name to wb/10/9/3000 psi.
Draw reference lines around the entire slab by clicking at:
(0, 0) and (0, 39)
(0, 39) and (57, 39)
(57, 39) and 63, 0)
(63, 0) and (0, 0)

Step 5 Copy Reference Lines to Clipboard

Select all of the reference lines and copy them to the clipboard.

Step 6 Start SCS MESHER

Start the MESHER application.

Step 7 Set the SCS MESHER Parameters

Set the MESHER parameters:
Minimum Element Size: 0.25 m (9 inches)
Desired Element Size: 0.75 m (2 feet)
Member Thickness and Elevation Units: mm (inches)
Support Height Units: meters (feet)

Step 8 Generate the Mesh

Click on the Generate Mesh button.

Step 9 Paste the Elements into FLOOR

In FLOOR, paste the elements into the Element Mesh Plan.
IMPORTANT TIP!
Make sure you do not accidentally erase the reference lines that you have used to define the
structure. You will need them if you ever decide to re-mesh the structure. It is best to turn
reference lines off (using the eyeglasses button) in all plans except the Reference Line Plan.