Software Verification

PROGRAM NAME: SAP2000

REVISION NO.: 0

EXAMPLE 6-003
LINK – GAP ELEMENT

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION
This example uses a single-bay, single-story rigid frame to test the gap link
element. This link element carries compression loads only; it has zero stiffness
when subjected to tension. The gap element is paced at the bottom of the right-
hand column in the frame. The frame is then loaded with a gravity load P (10
kips) at the center of the beam. Once the full load P is applied, a lateral load V
(20 kips) is applied, pushing the frame from right to left. The compression load
in the gap element after the full load P has been applied and the uplift at the gap
after the full load V has been applied are compared with independent hand
calculated results.

The model is created in the XZ plane. Only the Ux, Uz and Ry degrees of freedom
are active for the analysis. The gap element is modeled as a single-joint link
element at joint 2. This means that one end of the gap element is connected to the
ground and the other end is connected to joint 2. The gap element is oriented
such that its positive local 1 axis is parallel to the positive global Z axis. This is
the default orientation of single joint link elements. Only U1 degree of freedom
properties are defined for the gap element.

All three frame elements have identical properties. The compression stiffness of
the gap element is chosen to be approximately 100 times the axial stiffness of the
frame element directly above it, frame element 2. The initial gap element
opening is zero inches.

The loading is applied as follows. First the full load P is applied. Then, while the
load P is maintained, the full load V is applied. The analysis is run several times
using different types of load cases. Nonlinear static, nonlinear modal time history
and nonlinear direct time history load cases are used. See the subsequent section
titled Summary of Load Cases for more information.

Two different models are used in this example. In Model A the linear effective
stiffness of the gap element is set equal to zero. In Model B the linear effective
stiffness of the gap element is set equal to the nonlinear stiffness of the gap
element.

EXAMPLE 6-003 - 1
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The gap linear effective stiffness is only used for the linear load cases, which in
this example are load cases P, V and MODAL. The gap linear effective stiffness
is not used in the other load cases and thus has no direct effect on them; however,
it does indirectly affect the nonlinear modal
time history cases named NLMHIST1 and Joint Mass kip-s2/in
NLMHIST2 because those cases are solved Joint DOF Ux DOF Uz
using the modes from the load case named
MODAL. 2 0 0.001

The lumped joint masses shown in the table 3 0.3 0.1

to the right are used for the modal and
modal time history analyses. 4 0.3 0.1

GEOMETRY, PROPERTIES AND LOADING

144"
Link Properties (Gap U1 DOF)
P = 10 k Linear Ke (Model A) = 0 k/in
V = 20 k Linear Ke (Model B) = 200,000 k/in
Linear Ce = 0 k-sec/in
3 3 4 Nonlinear K = 200,000 k/in
Nonlinear Open = 0 in
Frame Material Properties
144"

1 2
E = 29,900 k/in2
ν = 0.3
Z G = 11,500 k/in2
1 2
Y Frame Section Properties
Single-joint link element (gap) A = 10 in2
X with compression stiffness I = 100 in4
defined for the U1 degree of Av = 2 in2 (shear area)
freedom
Loading
First apply full load P; then
apply full load V
Active Degrees of Freedom
Ux, Uz, Ry

EXAMPLE 6-003 - 2
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SUMMARY OF LOAD CASES

The following table summarizes the load cases that are used in this example.

Load Case Description

A linear static load case with a 10 kip gravity load applied in the negative
P
global Z direction at the center of frame element 3.

A linear static load case with a 20 kip lateral load applied in the negative
V
global X direction at joint 2.

A ritz-type modal load case with starting loads defined for load P, load V
MODAL
and the link element.

A nonlinear modal time history starting from zero initial conditions and
using a ramp load to apply the load P.
 20 second ramp load rise time.
NLMHIST1  99.9% modal damping for all modes.
 20 output steps and a 2 second output time step (40 seconds of
output total).
 Default values for all nonlinear parameters (tolerances).
A nonlinear modal time history starting from the conditions at the end of
NLMHIST1 and using a ramp load to apply the load V.
 40 second ramp load rise time.
 20 output steps and a 4 second output time step (80 seconds of
NLMHIST2 output total).
 99.9% modal damping for all modes.
 Default values for all nonlinear parameters (tolerances), except in
Model B the Force Convergence Tolerance is reduced from the
default 1E-05 to 1E-11.
A nonlinear static case starting from zero initial conditions and applying
NLSTAT1
the load P. This load case uses default nonlinear parameters (tolerances).

A nonlinear static case starting from the conditions at the end of NLSTAT1
NLSTAT2 and applying the load V. This load case uses default nonlinear parameters
(tolerances).

EXAMPLE 6-003 - 3
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Load Case Description

A nonlinear static case starting from the conditions at the end of the direct
NLSTAT3 integration time history NLDHIST1 and applying the load V. This load
case uses default nonlinear parameters (tolerances).

A nonlinear direct integration time history starting from zero initial

conditions and using a ramp load to apply the load P.
 20 second ramp load rise time.
 400 output steps and a 0.1 second output time step (40 seconds of
output total).
NLDHIST1  Mass and stiffness proportional damping is used with damping set
to 99.9% at periods of 1 and 3.4 seconds.
 Default values for all nonlinear parameters (tolerances) except for
the Maximum Iterations per Substep and the Iteration Convergence
Tolerance. The Maximum Iterations per Substep item is increased
from the default 10 to 100. The Iteration Convergence Tolerance is
reduced from the default 1E-04 to 1E-06.
A nonlinear direct integration time history starting from the conditions at
the end of NLDHIST1 and using a ramp load to apply the load V.
 40 second ramp load rise time.
 800 output steps and a 0.1 second output time step (80 seconds of
output total).
NLDHIST2  Mass and stiffness proportional damping is used with damping set
to 99.9% at periods of 1 and 3.4 seconds.
 Default values for all nonlinear parameters (tolerances), except for
the Maximum Iterations per Substep and the Iteration Convergence
Tolerance. The Maximum Iterations per Substep item is increased
from the default 10 to 100. The Iteration Convergence Tolerance is
reduced from the default 1E-04 to 1E-06.
A nonlinear direct integration time history that is the same as NLDHIST2,
NLDHIST3 except it starts from the conditions at the end of nonlinear static case
NLSTAT1 instead of nonlinear direct integration time history NLDHIST1.

EXAMPLE 6-003 - 4
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The ramp times for the load cases are selected using the rule of thumb that the
ramp loading time should be approximately 10 times the period of interest. The
period of interest is assumed to be the period of the first mode. The following
table shows the first mode period obtained for the two models.

Gap Effective Stiffness for

Modal (Linear) Analysis Mode 1 Period
Model k/in sec
A 0 3.42

B 200,000 1.90

The load P is applied first and it causes the gap element to always be in
compression. Thus the 1.90 sec period, which is the period when the gap stiffness
is 200,000 k/in, is taken as the period of interest for application of the load P. The
ramp rise time for this load is chosen as 20 seconds, which is approximately 10
times the period of interest.

The load V is applied after load P and it causes the gap element to eventually
uplift. Thus the 3.42 sec period, which is the period when the gap stiffness is
0 k/in, is taken as the period of interest for application of the load V. The ramp
rise time for this load is chosen as 40 seconds, which is approximately 10 times
the period of interest.

Load case NLMHIST2 in Model B requires 200 output steps (800 seconds total)
instead of the 20 output steps (80 seconds total) required in Model A. This occurs
because in Model B the modes are calculated using the gap effective stiffness of
200,000 k/in and the 99.9% damping is applied to those modes. When the gap
opens and the gap effective stiffness becomes zero, the period lengthens. Because
the modal damping coefficient is held constant, the percent of critical damping
increases in proportion to the period lengthening, thus over-damping the system.
This over-damping that initiates when the gap opens is the reason that it takes so
long for analysis to reach its final value in case NLMHIST2 for Model B.

Load case NLMHIST2 in Model B also requires a force convergence tolerance of

1E-11 rather than the default 1E-05. The following equation, which is equation
of motion used to solve nonlinear modal time history analyses, helps explain the
rationale for the change in the convergence tolerance.

EXAMPLE 6-003 - 5
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. ..
KLu(t) + KNu(t) + Cu(t) +Mu(t) + rN(t) = r(t) + KNu(t)

In the preceding equation KL is the stiffness of all the linear elements, including
the linear degrees of freedom of the link elements; KN is the linear effective
stiffness matrix for all link element nonlinear degrees of freedom; C is the
proportional damping matrix; M is the diagonal mass matrix; r is the vector of
applied loads; and rN is the vector of forces from the nonlinear degrees of
freedom of the link elements that is computed by iteration at time t.

In the preceding equation, if the KN term is very large compared to the other
terms, the relative force convergence tolerance needs to be very small to capture
an accurate representation of rN. This is why the 1E-11 force convergence
tolerance is required for load case NLMHIST2 in Model B.

The nonlinear direct integration load cases need the maximum number of
iterations per substep set to 100 rather than the default 10 and the iteration
convergence tolerance set to 1E-06 rather than the default 1E-04. Reducing the
iteration convergence tolerance to 1E-06 eliminates the slight fluctuations (high
frequency chatter) in the results.

For this particular example, increasing the maximum allowed number of

iterations per substep to 100 decreases the running time of the problem by several
orders of magnitude. Using the default 10 maximum iterations per substep causes
the program to have to cut the time steps from the initially specified 0.1 second
to as low as approximately 1E-07 second to solve the problem. When 100
maximum iterations per substep are allowed, the program does not have to
reduce the time step size below 0.1 second to solve the problem.

TECHNICAL FEATURES OF SAP2000 TESTED

 Gap element links
 Force-controlled nonlinear static analysis
 Nonlinear modal time history analysis
 Nonlinear direct time history analysis
 Frame point loads
 Joint force loads
 Joint mass assignments
 Ramp loading for time histories

EXAMPLE 6-003 - 6
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RESULTS COMPARISON
Independent results are hand calculated using the unit load method described on
page 244 in Cook and Young 1985. The results are presented separately for
Model A and Model B

Results for Model A (Gap Ke = 0 k/in)

Output Percent
Parameter Load Case SAP2000 Independent Difference

Link force after NLMHIST1 -4.534 0%

full load P is
applied NLSTAT1 -4.534 -4.534 0%
kip NLDHIST1 -4.534 0%

NLMHIST2 3.917 0%
Link
NLSTAT2 3.917 0%
deformation
after full load
NLSTAT3 3.917 3.917 0%
V is applied
NLDHIST2 3.917 0%
inch
NLDHIST3 3.917 0%

EXAMPLE 6-003 - 7
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Results for Model B (Gap Ke = 200,000 k/in)

Output Percent
Parameter Load Case SAP2000 Independent Difference

Link force after NLMHIST1 -4.534 0%

full load P is
applied NLSTAT1 -4.534 -4.534 0%
kip NLDHIST1 -4.534 0%

NLMHIST2 3.917 0%
Link
NLSTAT2 3.917 0%
deformation
after full load
NLSTAT3 3.917 3.917 0%
V is applied
NLDHIST2 3.917 0%
inch
NLDHIST3 3.917 0%

COMPUTER FILE: Example 6-003a, Example 6-003b

CONCLUSION
The SAP2000 results show an acceptable comparison with the independent
results both for Model A where the gap linear effective stiffness, Ke, is 0 k/in and
for Model B where the gap linear effective stiffness, Ke, is 200,000 k/in. The
comparison is exact when sufficiently small convergence tolerances are used.

This example illustrates that solution of nonlinear problems using gap elements
can be sensitive to the convergence and iteration tolerances that are used. For this
verification example, it is easy to determine if the tolerances used are sufficient
because the hand calculated results were available. In other situations it is helpful
to run the analysis two or more times using tolerances that are different by an
order of magnitude or more and verify that the results are the same. This is a
good check that the tolerances used are sufficient.

EXAMPLE 6-003 - 8
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HAND CALCULATION

EXAMPLE 6-003 - 9
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EXAMPLE 6-003 - 10
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EXAMPLE 6-003 - 11
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EXAMPLE 6-003 - 14
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EXAMPLE 6-003 - 15
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EXAMPLE 6-003 - 16