Notional Loads Page 1 of 5

5.32.14 Notional Loads

A notional load is a lateral load (horizontal load) which is derived from an existing
vertical load case. This load type has been introduced to accommodate a requirement in
design codes. The AISC 360-05 specification for example defines notional loads as lateral
loads that are applied at each framing level and are specified in terms of gravity loads.

Description

Both Principal and Reference load cases can be selected and moved into the Notional
Load Definition where the required factor and direction can be specified. The notional
loads are calculated and applied as joint loads.

The actual values of the applied loading are not displayed in the User Interface
until after the analysis has been performed.

General Format
LOAD nLoad LOADTYPE type TITLE title
…
Load items
…
NOTIONAL LOAD
n { X | Z } (f1)

Where:

n = Load case number of the primary load case or reference load case which
contains the vertical load items.
f1 = factor by which the contents of LN are to be multiplied. Typically, codes
recommend 0.2 to 0.3 % (0.002 to 0.003). The default is 0.002 or the factor
specified in DIRECT ANALYSIS definition block. .

Multiple load items can be specified under any NOTIONAL LOAD and there can be one or
more blocks of NOTIONAL LOAD command(s) in any load case.

Notional Loads can be derived from gravity load cases specified under the DEFINE
REFERENCE LOAD table which are described in section 5.31.6

Example 1

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LOAD 1 : DEAD
JOINT LOAD
13 TO 16 29 TO 32 45 TO 48 61 TO 64 FY -100
LOAD 2: DEAD NOTIONAL LOAD
NOTIONAL LOAD
1 X 0.002
…
LOAD 10: IMPOSED
JOINT LOAD
13 TO 16 29 TO 32 45 TO 48 61 TO 64 FY -50
LOAD 11:IMPOSED NOTIONAL LOAD
NOTIONAL LOAD
10 X 0.002

Example 2

If we want to combine the load cases in the example shown above, the correct syntax
would be

LOAD 3 : LOAD 1 + LOAD 2 + Notional Loads

REPEAT LOAD
1 1.0 2 1.0
NOTIONAL LOAD
1 X 0.002 2 X 0.002

The following syntax would not include the contributions of Notional loads for each
component cases as Notional Loads are not going to be repeated.

LOAD 3 : LOAD 1 + LOAD 2 + Notional Loads

REPEAT LOAD
1 1.0 2 1.0

Example 3

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Similarly,

Load 1 LOADTYPE None TITLE TEST

SELFWEIGHT Y -1.15
MEMBER LOAD
143 145 CON GY -16
502 515 CON GY -95
Load 2 LOADTYPE None TITLE TEST-NOTIONAL
NOTIONAL LOAD
1 X 1.0
Load 3 LOADTYPE None TITLE TEST-COMBO
REPEAT LOAD
2 1.0

Load case 3 in the above example would produce no loads.

Example 4

Using Notional loads with REFERENCE loads

DEFINE REFERENCE LOADS

LOAD R1 LOADTYPE Dead TITLE REF DEAD LOAD
SELFWEIGHT Y -1 LIST 1 TO 120
FLOOR LOAD
YRANGE 19 21 FLOAD -0.05 GY
YRANGE 39 41 FLOAD -0.05 GY
LOAD R2 LOADTYPE Live TITLE REF LIVE LOAD
FLOOR LOAD
YRANGE 19 21 FLOAD -0.03 GY
YRANGE 39 41 FLOAD -0.03 GY
END DEFINE REFERENCE LOADS
**********************************************
* LOAD COMBINATIONS INCLUDING NOTIONAL LOADS *

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**********************************************
*
*DEAD + LIVE +/- NOTIONAL LOAD
*
LOAD 1
REFERENCE LOAD
R1 1.2 R2 1.6
NOTIONAL LOAD
R1 X 0.0024 R2 X 0.0032
LOAD 2
REFERENCE LOAD
R1 1.2 R2 1.6
NOTIONAL LOAD
R1 X -0.0024 R2 X -0.0032
LOAD 3
REFERENCE LOAD
R1 1.2 R2 1.6
NOTIONAL LOAD
R1 Z 0.0024 R2 Z 0.0032
LOAD 4
REFERENCE LOAD
R1 1.2 R2 1.6
NOTIONAL LOAD
R1 Z -0.0024 R2 Z -0.0032

If a PRINT STATIC CHECK or PRINT LOAD DATA command is added with any analysis
specification in the input file, the generated NOTIONAL LOADs would be printed as in
the following:
   NOTIONAL LOAD - (POUN,FEET) 
    LOADING    4  DL+NDLX 
      JOINT          DIRECTION                    LOAD 
… 
        6117            X     -0.00200 X       74124.266 =        -148.249 
        6118            X     -0.00200 X     115504.569 =        -231.009 

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        6119            X     -0.00200 X       38397.157 =        -76.794 
        6120            X     -0.00200 X       15551.155 =        -31.102 
        6121            X     -0.00200 X       17347.718 =        -34.695 
        6122            X     -0.00200 X       29341.723 =        -58.683 
        6123            X     -0.00200 X       39771.147 =        -79.542 
        6124            X     -0.00200 X       39712.750 =        -79.426 
        6125            X     -0.00200 X       34006.254 =        -68.013 
                             ============================================== 
48554642.872     -97109.290 

Related Information
1.18.2.1.4 AISC 360-05 Direct Analysis
Reference Materials
2.17 Steel Design per AISC Unified 2005 Specification
5.31.7 Definition of Direct Analysis Members
5.32.11 Repeat Load Specification
5.33 Reference Load Cases - Application
5.37.5 Direct Analysis

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