Output Convention for Shell Element Internal Forces Page 1 of 10

Output Convention for Shell Element Internal Forces

z Faces of Shell Elements

The six faces of a shell element are defined as the positive 1 face, negative 1 face, positive 2 face,
negative 2 face, positive 3 face and negative 3 face as shown in the figure below. In this definition,
the numbers 1, 2 and 3 correspond to the local axes of the shell element. The positive 1 face of the
element is the face that is perpendicular to the 1-axis of the element whose outward normal
(pointing away from the element) is in the positive 1-axis direction. The negative 1 face of the
element is a face that is perpendicular to the 1-axis of the element whose outward normal (pointing
away from the element) is in the negative 1-axis direction. The other faces have similar definitions.

Note that the positive 3 face is sometimes called the top of the shell element in ETABS, particularly
in the output, and the negative 3 face is called the bottom of the shell element.
z Shell Element Internal Forces
The shell element internal forces, like stresses, act throughout the element. They are present at
every point on the midsurface of the shell element. ETABS reports values for the shell internal
forces at the element nodes. It is important to note that the internal forces are reported as forces
and moments per unit of in-plane length.
The basic shell element forces and moments are identified as F , F , F , M , M , M , V
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and V . You might expect that there would also be an F and M , but F is always equal to
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F and M is always equal to M , so it is not actually necessary to report F and M .
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The figure below shows internal F forces acting on the midsurface of a shell element. In the
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figure, the force distribution labeled (a) represents an actual F force distribution. The force
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distribution labeled (b) shows how ETABS calculates only the internal forces at the corner points of
the shell element. Note that we could calculate these stresses at any location on the shell element.
We simply choose to calculate them only at the corner points because that is a convenient location
and it keeps the amount of output to a reasonable volume.

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The force distribution labeled (c) in the figure above shows how ETABS assumes that the F
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forces vary linearly along the length of the shell element between the calculated F force values at
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the element nodes for graphical plotting purposes only.
The figure below illustrates the positive directions for shell element internal forces F , F , F ,
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V and V . Note that these shell element internal forces are forces per unit length acting
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on the midsurface of the shell element. ETABS only reports the value of these forces at the
shell element corner points.

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The figure below illustrates the positive direction for shell element principal forces, Fmax and Fmin.
It also illustrates the positive direction for the shell element maximum transverse shear force, Vmax.

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For values of V and V at any angle, the maximum transverse shear stress, V-Max, can be
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calculated as:

The figure below illustrates the positive directions for shell element internal moments M , M
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and M . Note that these shell element internal moments are moments per unit length acting on the
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midsurface of the shell element. ETABS only reports the value of these moments per unit length at
the shell element corner points.

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Use the right hand rule to determine the sense of the moments shown in the figure above.

The figure below illustrates the positive direction for shell element principal moments, Mmax and
Mmin.

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z Shell Element Internal Stresses

The basic shell element stresses are identified as S , S , S , S , and S . You might expect
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that there would also be an S , but S is always equal to S , so it is not actually necessary to
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report S . S stresses (where i can be equal to 1 or 2 and j can be equal to 1, 2 or 3) are stresses
21 ij
that occur on face i of an element in direction j. Direction j refers to the local axis direction of the
shell element. Thus S stresses occur on face 1 of the element (perpendicular to the local 1 axis)
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and are acting in the direction parallel to the local 1 axis (that is, the stresses act normal to face 1).
As another example, S stresses occur on face 1 of the element (perpendicular to the local 1 axis)
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and are acting in the direction parallel to the local 2 axis (that is, the stresses act parallel to face 1,

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like shearing stresses). The figure below shows examples of each of these basic types of shell
stresses. ETABS reports internal stresses for shell elements at the four corner points of the
appropriate face of the element. For example, refer to Figure "a" below. On the positive 1 face
internal stresses are reported by ETABS at points A, B, C and D.

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Shell internal stresses are reported for both the top and the bottom of the shell element. The top
and bottom of the element are defined relative to the local 3-axis of the element. The positive 3-axis
side of the element is considered to be the top of the element. Thus in Figure "a" above, internal
stresses at the top of the element include stresses at the joints labeled A and C and internal
stresses at the bottom of the element include stresses at the joints labeled B and D. The Figure
below clearly illustrates the points where ETABS reports the shell element internal stress values.

The transverse shear stresses calculated by ETABS (S and S ) are average values. The actual
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transverse shear stress distribution is approximately parabolic; it is zero at the top and bottom
surfaces and has its maximum or minimum value at the midsurface of the element. ETABS reports
the average transverse shear value. An approximation to the maximum (or minimum) transverse
shear stress would be 1.5 times the average shear stress.
The figure below illustrates the positive directions for shell element internal stresses S , S , S ,
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S and S . Also shown are the positive directions for the principal stresses, S-Max and S-Min,
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and the positive directions for the maximum transverse shear stresses, S-Max-V.

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For values of S and S at any angle, the maximum transverse shear stress, S-MaxV, can be
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calculated from:

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